Role Wife of Saturninus Name Fulvia Fulvia | ||
Fulvia, the wife of Tiberius' 'amicus' Saturninus, lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. (She is sometimes confused with Fulvia the wife of Marcus Antonius who died before the Principate began.)
Fulvia converted to Judaism through the teachings of a Jew who had sought refuge in Rome to escape punishment. This impostor, together with three others, persuaded her to contribute purple and gold for the Temple at Jerusalem, which contributions they kept for themselves. The discovery of this fraud by the emperor Tiberius through his friend Saturninus, Fulvia's husband, caused the banishment of the Jews from Rome (19 C.E.; Josephus, "Ant." xviii. 3, § 5; comp. Philo, "In Flaccum," § 1; idem, "Legatio ad Caium," § 24; Tacitus, "Annales," ii. 85; Suetonius, "Tiberius," § 36).