Background
According to Tacitus, Felix and his brother Pallas originated from the Greek rulers of Arcadia.
According to Tacitus, Felix and his brother Pallas originated from the Greek rulers of Arcadia.
Felix was the younger brother of the Greek freedman Mark Antony Pallas. He was also a freedman of either Emperor Claudius or his mother Antonia Minor. The ruthlessness and depravity of Felix, combined with his corruptibility, led to a high crime rate in Judea. The period of his reign was marked by internal strife and riots, which he brutally suppressed. According to the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, after the Romans arrested the apostle Paul in Jerusalem and rescued him from the conspiracy of the Jews for the purpose of murder, the local Roman cleric, Claudius Lysias, sent him to Caesarea, where he appeared before Felix. A few days later, Felix listened to Paul's speech with his wife Drusilla; Later he often sent for him and talked with him. When a new procurator was sent instead of Felix, he left him in custody for two years in prison to please the Jews. Returning to Rome, Felix was accused of using enmity between the Jews and the Syrians of Caesarea for the murders and robberies of the local inhabitants, but thanks to the intercession of his brother Pallas, who had great influence on Nero, he was not punished. At the post of procurator of Judea, he was replaced by Porcius Festus.
Felix was married three times. His first wife was Drusilla, the Moorish princess, the grand-niece of Emperor Claudius on the maternal side. Claudius arranged the marriage of Felix and Drusilla in Rome that was dated around the ad 53 year. Like Felix, Drusilla was partly of Greek origin. They had no children. In the area of 54-56 years, Felix divorced her, to make a new marriage.
The second wife of Felix was a Jew, also Drusilla, daughter of the king of Judah Herod Agrippa I from his cousin and wife Cypress. Felix and Drusilla had a son, Mark Antony Agrippa, who died with his mother during the Vesuvius's eruption on August 24, 79, and daughter, Antonia Clementiana. Perhaps their son had the daughter, Antonia Agrippina.
After the death of his second wife and his son during the eruption of the volcano Felix married again, but the name of his third wife is unknown.
