The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70 · External witness
Ofonius Tigellinus
d. AD 69 (forced suicide) · Praetorian Prefect of Nero · Instrument of the terror · Rome
External witness
Who Ofonius Tigellinus was
Nero's favourite and Praetorian Prefect through the years of the great fire and its aftermath — the administrator of the terror in which the Christians died 'in vast numbers,' as Tacitus's account of 64 records. He survived Nero by abandoning him, and was forced to open his veins under Otho; the historians made his name a byword for the regime the martyrs faced.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Ofonius Tigellinus die?
Ofonius Tigellinus is dated d. AD 69 (forced suicide) in the archive, which places Ofonius Tigellinus in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70).
Which early sources mention Ofonius Tigellinus?
Ofonius Tigellinus is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Plutarch of Chaeronea and Cornelius Tacitus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Ofonius Tigellinus from?
The archive associates Ofonius Tigellinus with Rome.
Who were Ofonius Tigellinus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Ofonius Tigellinus to 1 other figure, including Emperor Nero. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Plutarch, Life of Galba 17
c. AD 100[Plutarch records the fury at Rome that Tigellinus, Nero’s prefect, was still alive when better men had died.]Plutarch of Chaeronea · Life of Galba 17
Plutarch's Life of Galba, one of only two survivors from his lost series of lives of the Caesars, written in Greek c. AD 100–120. Standard text with facing translation: Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library, Plutarch's Lives vol. 11 (1926), public domain.
Histories I.72 (his end at Sinuessa)
c. AD 109He cut his throat with a razor, and aggravated the disgrace of an infamous life by a tardy and ignominious death.Cornelius Tacitus · read ↗
Annals XIV–XV (the Neronian terror)
c. AD 116Tigellinus… supplanted all others in Nero's confidence and was made prefect of the praetorian cohorts — the years in which, after the fire, an immense multitude of Christians was convicted.Cornelius Tacitus · source text
Connected in the archive
People
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
- AD 64 · The Great Fire and Nero’s persecution, AD 64
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Ofonius Tigellinus.
- 1Rome