TRIFENA and TRIFOSA (Τρύφωνα καὶ Τρυφῶσα). - Christian women of Rome, greeted by St. Paul in
Rom. 16:12 as women “who laboured for the Lord,” perhaps as deaconesses (R. Cornely). According to the Martyr. Romanum (10 Nov.), which depends on the Acts of Paul and Thecla, they were two sisters converted by Paul, together with Thecla, at Iconium.
In the columbaria of the house of Caesar in Rome these names were found: cf. CIL, VI, 4866 (Tryphosa), 5035, 5343 (Tryphaena). In the Acts of Paul and Thecla mention is made of a Queen Trifena, who protects St. Thecla at Antioch of Pisidia. This Trifena is probably to be identified with the namesake daughter of Polemon I, king of part of Lycaonia and Cilicia, wife of Cotys, king of Thrace, and mother of Polemon II, king of Pontus. She was a descendant of Mark Antony and a distant relative of the emperor Claudius. Her brother Polemon embraced Judaism.
Pietro De Ambrogyi