Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate: A Novel (38 page)

H
ow do you weave a story around a person who is only mentioned in one paragraph in the Gospels? There is also a Claudia mentioned in 2 Timothy. Is this the same Claudia? This is where research comes in. I had to determine Claudia’s background.

Claudia is believed to be the daughter of Julia, who was the only daughter of Caesar Augustus. Julia’s mother, Scribonia, was divorced by Augustus when Julia was born because he wanted to marry another woman. He takes Julia away from Scribonia to be brought up in the palace. Julia was married at fourteen to a cousin, and widowed at the ripe old age of sixteen. As she is recovering from that, her father marries her to Agrippa, who is forty-one. They have five children before he dies. While she is still in mourning from that marriage, her father marries her to Tiberius, who is being groomed as his successor to the throne. One problem: Tiberius is happily married to Vipsania, who is expecting their first child. He is forced to divorce Vipsania and marry the emperor’s daughter, who by now is rebelling and generally living a wild lifestyle. Tiberius and Julia hate each other. They have one child who dies. Then, due to her growing reputation and his embarrassment, Tiberius leaves for Rhodes while Julia’s father, Augustus, serves
her with the divorce papers. The senate, ready to condemn Julia to death, allows her father to save her life by banishing her from Rome.

After years of separation, Scribonia is finally given permission to join her daughter in exile. Julia, not about to give up her suitors, gives birth to Claudia illegitimately and refuses to reveal the father . . .

Well, I could go on, but do you see a story here? So much intrigue and changing of partners, it read like Hollywood.

Due to what she has experienced, Claudia becomes a strong woman, one who must temper the personality of Pontius Pilate as he makes blunder after blunder as governor of Judea.

Much speculation exists about whether Pilate became a believer. There is an Orthodox church named for him, so I would like to believe that he finally realized who Jesus was and that he was forgiven. How Pilate died is also speculation. Some say he committed suicide, some say he died in exile of natural causes. No two accounts were consistent. Some historians didn’t even mention Claudia, and the timelines I looked at did not always agree.

At least that left things open for some poetic license and freedom to write my own story. Was it true? Is that the way it happened? No one knows but our Lord.

I
would like to thank my editor, Lonnie Hull Dupont, at Revell, for her encouragement and for giving me the opportunity to write for a great publishing house; my agent, Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency, for believing in me for so many years and for her encouragement; Barb Barnes, editor, who made sure my timelines, maps, and locations were right on; Lindsay Davis, marketing manager, and Jennifer Nutter, marketing assistant, for a job well done; Michele Misiak, for her expertise as marketing manager in previous books and early work on
Claudia
; and Cheryl Van Andel, senior art director, for her exquisite taste in cover design. I’d also like to thank the members of the San Diego Christian Writer’s Guild critique group at the home of Martha Gorris and the online critique group for their insights and suggestions in so many chapters in the writing of this story. I would especially like to thank my friend Dr. Vicki Hesterman for helping me pare down the final manuscript when I got carried away with the Roman Empire and the history of this fascinating woman who appears so briefly in the Scriptures. Her expertise in the field of journalism and editing was invaluable.

I thank my daughter, Karen Eubanks, for her encouragement and
insights as the story progressed. Also, I thank my Spiritual Life Book Club ladies for their prayers and encouragement through the years.

I would like to thank the people who tirelessly input information on the internet for seekers like me; for the authors of other books on Claudia, for their wonderful and unique stories; and lastly, I thank the Holy Spirit, for giving me inspiration when I wasn’t sure which direction to go when I came to an impasse.

Kudos to my patient husband, Frank, who entertains himself while I spend hours on my computer!

Lastly, I am grateful to the Lord, who has allowed me the amazing privilege of sharing my stories at this time of my life.

Diana Wallis Taylor
is an award-winning author, poet, and songwriter.
Journey to the Well
debuted in 2009, as did her Christian romance,
Smoke Before the Wind
. Her collection of poetry,
Wings of the Wind
, came out in 2007. A former teacher, she retired in 1990 as director of conference services for a private college. After their marriage in 1990, she and her husband moved to northern California where she fulfilled a dream of owning a bookshop/coffeehouse for writers’ groups and poetry readings and was able to devote more time to her writing.

The Taylors have six grown children between them and ten grandchildren. They now live in the San Diego area, where between writing projects Diana participates in Christian Women’s Fellowship, serves on the board of the San Diego Christian Writers Guild, and is active in the music ministry of her church. She enjoys teaching poetry and writing workshops, and sharing her heart with women of all ages.

Visit Diana’s website at
www.dianawallistaylor.com
.

Journey to the Well

Martha

Mary Magdalene

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