Thrasyllus of Mendes (died 36 AD) was an Egyptian Greek grammarian, astrologer, literary commenatator, and personal friend of the Roman emperor Tiberius. He was the grandfather of Ennia Thrasylla, the wife of Naevius Sutorius Macro and the lover of Caligula.
Biography[]
Thrasyllus was born in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt, and he met Tiberius for the first time during his voluntary exile on Rhodes between 1 BC and 4 AD. He predicted that Tiberius would be recalled to Rome and named Emperor Augustus' successor, and, after Tiberius became Emperor in 14 AD, Thrasyllus became Court Astrologer and a Roman citizen. However, he secretly supported the plotter Sejanus and Tiberius' insane nephew Caligula, and, in 36 AD, he falsely predicted that Tiberius would live ten more years in order to save the lives of Roman nobles who were plotting against him, and Thrasyllus predeceased Tiberius, having been unable to live long enough to see his prophecy of Caligula succeeding Tiberius.