The enigma of the name of Clement of Alexandria

In this article an attempt is undertaken to explain the appearance of a full Roman name for the Greek Christian writer Clement of Alexandria on basis of the custom of the early Christians to take the martyrs' names. The author of The Stromateis's use of the praenomen and nomen of the consul of 95 B.C. Titus Flavius Clement, who was put to death by the Emperor Domitianus, is explained by the desire of the Alexandrine presbyter to express fuller his literary conception.To prove this hypothesis, it is taken into account the Emperor Septimius Severus taking the name of his murdered predecessor, reference in the beginning of The Stromateis to The Shepherd by Hermas, who mentioned a Clement, the testimony of the physician Galenus about Flavius Clement and Clement's of Alexandria interest to pharmacology.