Caenis (Antonia Caenis) (died c. AD 75)

Bust of a woman of the Flavian era, Getty Museum (73.AA.13): an image of the era, not a portrait of Caenis. No identified portrait of her survives.

She served as secretary to Antonia the Younger. Dio writes that Antonia dictated to her a secret letter to Tiberius about Sejanus, and that Caenis replied that she carried everything in her memory and it could not be erased.

Before his marriage she was Vespasian’s mistress. After the death of his wife she returned to him, and as emperor he treated her almost as a lawful wife. Dio adds that she amassed an enormous fortune by selling offices, priesthoods and the emperor’s decisions, and that people suspected Vespasian of allowing it. She died before him.

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