Festus
a favourite freedman aud remembrancer (τῆς βασιλείαρ μνήμης προεστώς) of Caracalla, by whom he was buried in the Troad, with all the ceremonies observed at the obsequies of Patroclus. According to Herodian, a report was current that he had been poisoned by the Emperor, who, being seized with the fancy of imitating Achilles, and being at a loss for a dead friend whose fate he might mourn, after the fashion of the hero, had recourse to this method of supplying the deficiency. Festus, the chamberlain of Caracalla, must have been a different personage, since he is represented by Dio Cassius as alive under Macrinus, and as taking an active part in the proceedings for setting up Elagabalus. (Herodian. 4.14; D. C. 78.33.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.