Mentioned (2 Timothy 4:21) with Pudens, whose wife she afterward became (Martial, 4:13; 11:54); he was a Roman knight; she was a Briton, surnamed Rufina. Tacitus (Agricola, 14) mentions that territory in S.E. Britain was given to a British king, Cogilunus, for his fidelity to Rome A.D. 52, while Claudius was emperor. In 1772 a marble was dug up at Chichester (now in the gardens at Goodwood) mentioning Cogidunus, with the surname Claudius from his patron the emperor's name. Pudens is also mentioned, Cogidunus' son-in-law. Cogidunus' daughter would be Claudia, probably sent to Rome for education, as a pledge of her father's fidelity.
There she was put under the patronage of Pomponia, wife of Aulus Plautius, conqueror of Britain. Pomponia was accused of foreign superstitions A.D. 57 (Tacitus, Annals, 3:32), probably Christianity. Claudia probably learned Christianity from Pomponia, and took from her the surname of the Pomponian clan, Rufina; so we find Rufus, a Christian in Romans 16:13. Pudens in Martial, and in the inscription, appears as a pagan. He, or perhaps his friends, through fear, concealed his Christian faith. Tradition represents Timothy, Pudens' son, as taking part in converting the Britons.