Claudia

CLAUDIA (klô'dĭ-a). A member of the Christian church at Rome who, along with other members of that church joined with Paul in sending greetings to Timothy (2Tim.4.21).

Claudia, with Eubulus, Linus and Pudens, was a close friend of the Apostle Paul during his second Rom. imprisonment. She with the others sent greetings to Timothy. In the Apostolic Constitutions VII. 46 she is called the mother or wife of Linus (Λίνος ὁ Κλαυδίας), the first bishop of Rome.

Some have thought she was the wife of Pudens. She has been identified as Claudia Rufina, wife of Aulus Pudens, the friend of the poet Martial, and as Claudia Quinctilla, the wife of Claudius Pudens. They erected an inscr. to their infant son between Rome and Ostia (CIL VI. 15, 066).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

A member of the Christian congregation at Rome, who, with other members of that church, sends her greetings, through Paul, to Timothy (2Ti 4:21). More than this concerning her cannot be said with certainty. The Apostolical Constitutions (VII, 21) name her as the mother of Linus, mentioned subsequently by Irenaeus and Eusebius as bishop of Rome. An ingenious theory has been proposed, upon the basis of the mention of Claudia and Pudens as husband and wife in an epigram of Martial, that they are identical with the persons of the same name here mentioned. A passage in the Agricola of Tacitus and an inscription found in Chichester, England, have been used in favor of the further statement that this Claudia was a daughter of a British king, Cogidubnus. See argument by Alford in the Prolegomena to 2Ti in his Greek Testament. It is an example of how a very few data may be used to construct a plausible theory. If it be true, the contrast between their two friends, the apostle Paul, on the one hand, and the licentious poet, Martial, on the other, is certainly unusual. If in 2Ti 4:21, Pudens and Claudia be husband and wife, it is difficult to explain how Linus occurs between them. See argument against this in Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers.