Editing Caratacus (section)

===Modern traditions===
Caradog began to be identified with Caratacus only after the rediscovery of the works of Tacitus and new material appeared based on this identification. An 18th-century tradition, popularised by the Welsh antiquarian and forger [[Iolo Morganwg]], credits Caradog, on his return from imprisonment in Rome, with the introduction of Christianity to Britain. Iolo also makes the legendary king [[Coel Hen]] a son of Caradog's son [[Saint Cyllin]].<ref>[[Iolo Morganwg]], ''Triads of Britain'' [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#17|17]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#2|2]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#23|23]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#24|24]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#34|34]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#35|35]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#41|41]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#55|55]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#79|79]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#85|85]], [[Wikisource:Triads of Britain#91|91]]</ref> [[Richard Williams Morgan]] claimed that a reference to Cyllin as a son of Caratacus was found in the family records of [[Iestyn ab Gwrgant]] and used this as evidence of the early entry of Christianity to Britain:  "Cyllin ab Caradog, a wise and just king. In his days many of the Cymry embraced the faith in Christ through the teaching of the saints of Cor-Eurgain, and many godly men from the countries of Greece and Rome were in Cambria. He first of the Cymry gave infants names; for before, names were not given except to adults, and then from something characteristic in their bodies, minds, or manners."<ref name="Morgan1861">{{cite book|author=Richard Williams Morgan|title=St. Paul in Britain; or, The origin of British as opposed to papal Christianity|url=https://archive.org/details/stpaulinbritain01morggoog|access-date=8 August 2012|year=1861|pages=[https://archive.org/details/stpaulinbritain01morggoog/page/n173 161]–|publisher=The Marshall Press}}</ref>

Another tradition, which has remained popular among [[British Israelism|British Israelites]] and others, makes Caratacus already a Christian before he came to Rome, Christianity having been brought to Britain by either [[Joseph of Arimathea]] or [[Paul of Tarsus|St Paul]], and identifies a number of early Christians as his relatives.<ref>This article formerly made reference to a passage of Dio Cassius that described Caratacus as a "barbarian Christian". This derived from a [[transcription error]] in the version of the Cary translation of Dio online on the [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html Lacus Curtius] website, which has now been corrected to read "barbarian chieftain" as per the print edition ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/61*.html#33.3c Dio 61.33.3c]). See also the [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10883 Foster translation] at [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg], which also reads "barbarian chieftain".</ref>

One is [[Pomponia Graecina]], wife of [[Aulus Plautius]], the conqueror of Britain, who as Tacitus relates, was accused of following a "foreign superstition", which the tradition considers to be Christianity.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D13%3Achapter%3D32 13:32]</ref> Tacitus describes her as the "wife of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation", which led [[John Lingard]] (1771–1851) to conclude, in his ''History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church'', that she was British;<ref>"We are, indeed, told that history has preserved the names of two British females, Claudia and Pomponia Graecina, both of them Christians, and both living in the first century of our era." [[John Lingard|Lingard, John]], ''History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church'', 2nd. ed. Newcastle, Walker, 1810 Vol. I., p1.</ref> however, this conclusion is a misinterpretation of what Tacitus wrote. An [[ovation]] was a military parade in honour of a victorious general, so the person who "returned from Britain with an ovation" is clearly Plautius, not Pomponia. This has not prevented the error being repeated and disseminated widely.

Another is [[Claudia Rufina]], a historical British woman known to the poet [[Martial]].<ref>[[Martial]], ''Epigrams'', XI:53 (ed. & trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Harvard University Press, 1993)</ref> Martial describes Claudia's marriage to a man named Pudens,<ref>Martial, ''Epigrams'' IV:13</ref> almost certainly [[Aulus Pudens]], an [[Umbria]]n [[centurion]] and friend of the poet who appears regularly in his ''Epigrams''. It has been argued since the 17th century<ref>Baronius, ''Annales Ecclesiastici'', Antwerp, 1614; Archbishop [[James Ussher]] (1637), ''British Ecclesiastical Antiquities'', Oxford; Cardinal [[Michael Alford (historian)|Michael Alford]] (1663), ''Annales Ecclesiae Britannicae: Regia Fides, Vol 1''; [[John Williams (Ab Ithel)|Williams, J.]] (1848), contributor John Abraham, ''Claudia and Pudens'', Herauld</ref> that this pair may be the same as the Claudia and Pudens mentioned as members of the Roman Christian community in ''[[Pastoral Epistles|2 Timothy]]'' in the [[New Testament]].<ref>''[[Pastoral Epistles|2 Timothy]]'' 4:21 – "Eubulus saluteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren."</ref> Some go further, claiming that Claudia was Caratacus' daughter, and that the historical [[Pope Linus]], who is described as the "brother of Claudia" in an early church document, was Caratacus' son. Pudens is identified with [[Saint Pudens|St. Pudens]], and it is claimed that the basilica of [[Santa Pudenziana]] in Rome, and with which St. Pudens is associated, was once called the ''Palatium Britannicum'' and was the home of Caratacus and his family.

This theory was popularised in a 1961 book called ''The Drama of the Lost Disciples'' by George Jowett, but Jowett did not originate it. He cites renaissance historians such as Archbishop [[James Ussher]], [[Caesar Baronius]] and [[John Hardyng]], as well as classical writers like [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], [[Tacitus]] and [[Satires of Juvenal|Juvenal]], although his classical citations at least are wildly inaccurate, many of his assertions are unsourced, and many of his identifications entirely speculative. He also regularly cites ''[[St. Paul in Britain]]'', an 1860 book by [[Richard Williams Morgan|R. W. Morgan]], and advocates other tenets of British Israelism, in particular that the British are descended from the [[Ten lost tribes|lost tribes of Israel]].<ref>George Jowett, ''The Drama of the Lost Disciples'', Covenant Books, 1961</ref>