science

Gaius Valerius Eudaemon

Gaius Valerius Eudaemon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gaius Valerius Eudaemon rather than just read about it. In short: Gaius Valerius Eudaemon was a Roman eques who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reigns of the Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, which includes praefectus of Roman Egypt. He is known as a close friend of the emperor Hadrian.

Key takeaways

Gaius Valerius Eudaemon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gaius Valerius Eudaemon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gaius Valerius Eudaemon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gaius Valerius Eudaemon was a Roman eques who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reigns of the Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, which includes praefectus of Roman Egypt. He is known as a close friend of the emperor Hadrian. His career is documented in two inscriptions. One is in Latin from Ephesus, erected by an imperial freedman named Hermes. The name of the subject is missing, but from the other inscription, erected in Syria and written in Greek, Eudaemon is confirmed as the subject. The date of his death is not known, although he may be the same Eudaemon Marcus Aurelius mentions in a list of dead men he looked up to, along with Demetrius and Aulus Claudius Charax.

Career Eudaemon first appears in history when Hadrian appointed him procurator Caesar Trajani Hadriani Augusti ad diocesin Alexandriae, or "procurator of Emperor Hadrian for the administration of Alexandria". Anthony Birley provides context for this, placing the appointment at the time Hadrian was proclaimed emperor; Birley is certain that Eudaemon was present at the occasion (August 117), noting that Historia Augusta describes Eudaemon as conscius imperii, Hadrian's "accomplice in attaining the throne". "Eudaemon was evidently dispatched almost at once to Egypt", Birley writes, given a minor posting "to keep an eye on things there." Birley speculates that he arrived with a letter of dismissal for the current prefect, Marcus Rutilius Lupus. Birley further speculates that Eudaemon also encouraged Hadrian "to issue an edict confirming the privileges to philosophers, rhetors, grammatici, and doctors granted by Vespasian and Trajan." His next recorded appointment was to manage the Greek and Latin libraries at Rome. This was followed by the ab epistulis graecis, or overseer of the Emperor's Greek correspondence; Birley dates this to 126 or 127, after the emperor had returned to Italy and found himself busy attending to the petitions of the cities of Greece. Further appointments followed. Eudaemon held a procuratorship in Asia Minor comprising Lycia, Pamphylia, Galatia, Paphlagonia, Pisidia and Pontus, with a salary of over 100,000 sesterces. Then followed procurator hereditatium and procurator provinciae Asiae. This is an abnormal combination of two appointments, the first concerning Rome and the second in the provinces; Henriette Pavis d'Escurac explains this combination with the supposition that Hadrian took Eudaemon with him on his travels in the East. Eudaemon then became procurator Syriae, probably when Hadrian spent the winter of 129/130 in Antioch. The Greek inscription allows us to add more two posts to the career of Valerius Eudaemon, which includes a palatine secretariat. The Historia Augusta notes that Hadrian turned against many of his friendships by the last years of his reign, providing a list of names that includes Eudaemon, whom Hadrian "reduced to poverty." However, after a space of several years Antoninus Pius rehabilitated him. We know that Eudaemon was appointed governor of Egypt, which he held from 142 to 143. Beginning with Arthur Stein and Hans-Georg Pflaum, it has been assumed he was appointed to one of these other two prefectures first: praefectus vigilum or praefectus annonae. Pavis d'Escurac believes it was more appropriate that Eudaemon was praefectus annonae, the immediate predecessor of Lucius Valerius Proculus. His primary concern as governor of Egypt was to safeguard the harvest and delivery of grain to the populace of Rome, but surviving letters from his administration show his responsibilities extended further. One concerns his investigation and grant of immunity from liturgy to a doctor who mummified corpses. Another also concerns the liturgy: in it Valerius Eudaemon berates a village clerk for nominating a man to this responsibility, who was too poor to handle this responsibility, and as a result fled his farm and home.

References

Further reading Hans-Georg Pflaum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I-III (Paris, 1961), no. 110 William Linn Westermann, "The Prefect Valerius Eudaemon and the Indigent Liturgist", Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 40 (1954), pp. 107-111

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gaius Valerius Eudaemon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gaius Valerius Eudaemon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gaius Valerius Eudaemon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gaius Valerius Eudaemon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gaius Valerius Eudaemon

In research: Gaius Valerius Eudaemon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gaius Valerius Eudaemon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gaius Valerius Eudaemon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2nd-century Roman governors of Egypt, 2nd-century Romans, Ancient Roman equites, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gaius Valerius Eudaemon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gaius Valerius Eudaemon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gaius Valerius Eudaemon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gaius Valerius Eudaemon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gaius Valerius Eudaemon in simple terms?

Why does Gaius Valerius Eudaemon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gaius Valerius Eudaemon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gaius Valerius Eudaemon.