The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70 · External witness
Antonius Felix
recalled c. AD 59/60, d. thereafter · Procurator of Judaea · Paul’s first Roman judge · Caesarea Maritima
External witness
Who Antonius Felix was
A freedman raised to a province — Tacitus’s epigram: “he exercised the power of a king with the mind of a slave.” He kept Paul two years at Caesarea, listening often (“and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled”), half hoping for a bribe, and left him bound “to shew the Jews a pleasure.” Married to Drusilla, youngest daughter of Agrippa I. Recalled under Nero after riots at Caesarea; his hearing-room procrastination — “when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” — became the church’s byword for the postponed conscience.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Antonius Felix live?
Antonius Felix is dated recalled c. AD 59/60, d. thereafter in the archive, which places Antonius Felix in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Antonius Felix?
Antonius Felix is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Luke, Flavius Josephus and Cornelius Tacitus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Antonius Felix from?
The archive associates Antonius Felix with Caesarea Maritima.
Who were Antonius Felix’s contemporaries?
The archive links Antonius Felix to 7 other figures, including Paul of Tarsus, Porcius Festus, Herod Agrippa II and Drusilla. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Acts 24:25
c. AD 85And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.Luke · read ↗
Antiquities of the Jews 20.7.1–2 (his marriage to Drusilla)
c. AD 93He sent to her a person whose name was Simon, one of his friends, a Jew he was, and by birth a Cypriot, and one who pretended to be a magician, and endeavored to persuade her to forsake her present husband and marry him.Flavius Josephus · Antiquities 20.7.1 · source text
Histories V.9
c. AD 109Antonius Felix, practising every kind of cruelty and lust, wielded the power of a king with all the instincts of a slave.Cornelius Tacitus · read ↗
Connected in the archive
People
- Paul of Tarsus
- Porcius Festus
- Herod Agrippa II
- Drusilla
- Claudius Lysias
- Tertullus
- Ananias son of Nedebaeus
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
- AD 49 · The Council of Jerusalem, AD 49
- AD 57 · Paul writes Romans, AD 57
- AD 62 · James the Just stoned, AD 62
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Antonius Felix.