Asinius Pollio and Herod's sons

Extract

In a recent note, D. Braund has challenged my identification of the Pollio (Josephus, Antiquities 15.343) at whose home in Rome Herod's sons Alexander and Aristobulus stayed in 22 b.c. as Gaius Asinius Pollio, the famous consul of 40 b.c., who was a close friend of Julius Caesar and to whom Virgil dedicated his Fourth Eclogue. Braund's argument rests upon five grounds. (1) If this Pollio were a man of the stature of Asinius Pollio, we would expect Josephus to make his identity clear and not to describe him solely as one of Herod's most devoted friends (⋯νδρ⋯ς τ⋯ν μάλιστα σπουδασάντων περ⋯ τ⋯ν Ἡρώδου ɸιλίαν). (2) Josephus' reference to Pollio here is different from the definite references to Asinius Pollio elsewhere in Josephus, where he is referred to as Asinius (Ant. 14.138) or Gaius Asinius Pollio (Ant. 14.389). (3) In the latter passage his name is spelled Πωλίωνος, whereas the name of the host of Herod's sons is spelled Πολλίωνος. (4) When Herod sent two other sons to Rome, they stayed ‘with a certain Jew’ (Ant. 17.20), and hence it seems likely that the two other sons likewise stayed with a Jew. (5) Asinius' role in the elevation by the Roman Senate of Herod to the kingship of Judaea was no greater than that of any other magistrate.