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DRUSILLA

(Gk. Droúsilla)

The youngest daughter of Agrippa I (and sister to Agrippa II, Bernice, and Mariamme). Julia Drusilla was born ca. 38 c.e., around the time Emperor Caligula’s sister of the same name died. She was engaged as a child to marry Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus IV of Commagene (Josephus BJ 2:220; Ant. 18.132; 19.354-55). After Agrippa’s death (44), however, Epiphanes backed out on his commitment to convert to Judaism and so the marriage was off. In 53 Drusilla married Azizus, king of Syrian Emesa, after his circumcision.

Contrary to Jewish law she soon left Azizus to marry Antonius Felix, the gentile procurator of Judea. Drusilla’s beauty (which apparently made for an abusive relationship with her likewise beautiful sister Bernice) so enamored Felix that he sent a Jewish friend named Atomus to persuade her that divorce and remarriage to Felix would make her happy (Ant. 20.137-43). With Felix ca. 57 she heard Paul speak about faith in Christ Jesus (Acts 24:24). Drusilla bore Felix a son named Agrippa who was killed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 (Ant. 20.144). Incidentally, of his three wives (Suetonius Claud. 28), Felix is reported to have married another Drusilla, the granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony (Tacitus Hist. 5.9).

Bibliography. R. D. Sullivan, “The Dynasty of Judaea in the First Century,” ANRW II.8, 329-31.

Douglas S. Huffman

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DRUSILLA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)