Potamiana (or Potamiaena), who lived around 205 AD, is honored as a Christian saint and martyr. According to her story, she and her mother Marcella were arrested in Alexandria, Egypt. Potamiana faced the threat of being subjected to gladiatorial abuse if she refused to renounce her Christian faith. The judge deemed her response impious, leading to their immediate death by fire, with boiling pitch poured over Potamiana's body.

 

Following Potamiana's death sentence, Basilides, a court officer, escorted her to execution, shielding her from the mob's insults. In gratitude, Potamiana pledged to remember him with her Lord upon reaching her destination. After her death, Basilides, now sentenced to be beheaded for refusing a certain oath due to his Christian beliefs, recounted his conversion. Christians, including possibly Origen, visited Basilides in jail, and he explained that Potamiana had appeared to him three days after her death, placing a crown on his head as a pledge of his imminent reception into the Lord's glory. Basilides was baptized and beheaded the next day.

 

Eusebius, in his Church History, recounts that Potamiana appeared to others, urging them towards faith and martyrdom. Origen, an eyewitness, corroborates these conversions in his work Contra Celsum. The episode of Potamiana interceding on behalf of Basilides, as narrated by Eusebius, is one of the earliest documents related to the intercession of saints.

 

Eusebius further describes the martyrdom of six Christians, students of Origen, including Plutarch, Serenus, Heraclides, Hero, another Serenus, and Herais. Basilides is counted as the seventh among them, leading Potamiana to martyrdom. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum commemorates the martyrdoms of Basilides, Potamiana, Marcella, and the disciples on June 28. The Roman Martyrology also observes this commemoration on June 28, except for Basilides, who is remembered on June 30.

 

In Italy, on September 2, 1948, Basilides was declared the patron saint of the Corpo degli Agenti di Custodia, now the Polizia Penitenziaria (Prison Guards).