A Christian woman, probably a convert of Paul at Rome

2Ti 4:21.

a female Christian mentioned in 2Ti 4:21. It is a conjecture having some probability that she was a British maiden, the daughter of king Cogidunus, who was an ally of Rome, and assumed the name of the emperor, his patron, Tiberius Claudius, and that she was the wife of Pudens.

Mentioned (2Ti 4:21) with Pudens, whose wife she afterward became (Martial, 4:13; 11:54); he was a Roman knight; she was a Briton, surnamed Rufina. Tacitus (Agricola, 14) mentions that territory in S.E. Britain was given to a British king, Cogilunus, for his fidelity to Rome A.D. 52, while Claudius was emperor. In 1772 a marble was dug up at Chichester (now in the gardens at Goodwood) mentioning Cogidunus, with the surname Claudius from his patron the emperor's name. Pudens is also mentioned, Cogidunus' son-in-law. Cogidunus' daughter would be Claudia, probably sent to Rome for education, as a pledge of her father's fidelity.

There she was put under the patronage of Pomponia, wife of Aulus Plautius, conqueror of Britain. Pomponia was accused of foreign superstitions A.D. 57 (Tacitus, Annals, 3:32), probably Christianity. Claudia probably learned Christianity from Pomponia, and took from her the surname of the Pomponian clan, Rufina; so we find Rufus, a Christian in Ro 16:13. Pudens in Martial, and in the inscription, appears as a pagan. He, or perhaps his friends, through fear, concealed his Christian faith. Tradition represents Timothy, Pudens' son, as taking part in converting the Britons.

A Roman Christian, perhaps wife of Pudens and mother of Linus (2Ti 4:21); but Lightfoot (Clement, i. 76) shows that this is improbable. The two former names are found in a sepulchral inscription near Rome, and a Claudia was wife of Aulus Pudens, friend of Martial. If these are identified, Claudia was a British lady of high birth; but this is very unlikely.

A. J. Maclean.

Clau'dia

See PUDENS.

Clau'dia

(lame), a Christian woman mentioned in

2Ti 4:21

as saluting Timotheus.