AIUK46 no. 73 Funerary monument of Publius Aelius Phaidros

Funerary monument of Publius Aelius Phaidros

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 73 Date: ca. AD 170-180

Upper band Publius Aelius Phaidros of Sounion, son of the expounder (exēgētou) of the Eupatridai and victor in crowned games (hieroneikou) and president of the athletic association (xustarchou) Aelius Theophilos, son of Praxiteles of Sounion, and Kekropia, daughter of Athenion of Phaleron, official guide (periēgētou) for life.

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Kekropia is my prudent (saophrōn) mother, stranger, she bears a name our ancestral land shares, (5)and I am born from a father, Theophilos, renowned among the descendants of Kekrops, Eupatrid by ancestry and genos. Cruel Fate had already carried away a child from my parents, the blossoming girl Athenais,

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but for me also the whole People of Athens wept (10)on account of my youth and modesty (saophrosunēs), the manly beauty of my form, and as I worked so diligently for learned education (paideiai) and wisdom (sophiei). And my pitiable father’s tears dry not, for he lost the joy of his life and the hands that would tend his old age.

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(15)Twenty years long was my life, my name is Phaidros, I left the marriage bed, my wife Leukeia a widow. The girl we brought into the world, the aged parents now care for, little in place of such splendour, ill-fated ones.^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 73 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 7447 (PHI)

GIBM I 93

Peek, GVI, no. 1068

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1 2 3

Monument type: Block

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens (BM 1816,0610.274)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This large episytle block in the British Museum is part of the Elgin collection (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2) and likely formed the upper element of a sculpted monument on a scale that matches the elite status of this family, several members of which are known to have held state and religious offices, as well as being active in the training programme for young men, the ephebate. A prose text with the family's titles is carved onto an upper band and an epigram about the deceased below. Phaidros died at twenty and had already been an ephebe and likely also one of the monthly gymnasiarchs for his year around AD 170-176 (see de Lisle, AIO Papers 12, p. 85). An honorific marble (statue?) base for Phaidros discovered in the Agora contains the same prose text as this gravestone (Agora XVIII 380) and was perhaps erected posthumously by his family. The verbatim listing of the family lineage, honours and civic roles emphasises the centrality of such office performance to the ideology this family wished to promote to the world. The preponderance of vocabulary related to prudence, moderation, soundness of mind and judgement further announces their suitability for high office.

We learn from an honorific inscription (IG II² 3737) that Phaidros’ father, Theophilos, had also served the ephebeia in 156/7 or 157/8 in its highest role, as kosmetes (superintendent), where he is described as paradoxos, a title referring to his athletic distinction, an aspect of his life also emphasised here by the titles hieroneikes (victor in a crown games) and xystarch (president of the athletic association). This concentration on athletic prowess is mirrored by Phaidros’ own active participation in the ephebeia as well as his description in the epigram as being physically beautiful, literally the manly beauty of his limbs, an emphasis on youthful masculine beauty that – together with his display of education – is characteristic of the ephebate (see de Lisle 2020, AIO Papers 12, pp. 31-2). Theophilos was also politically active as a prytanis in 170/1 (Agora XV 405, l. 13), ca. 180 (402a, l. 5), and again in 181/2 (402, l. 7). These prytany lists style him as exegetes (expounder) of the Eupatridai, a priestly office appointed by the People. What exactly is meant by Eupatrid is unclear at this period; the general meaning is well-born, but the epigram suggests they are perhaps thought of as a formal genos by this time. Phaidros’ mother, Kekropia, holds an interesting and – as the epigram notes – seemingly very ancestral Athenian name from the mythical first king of Athens and tribal hero, Kekrops. The name, however, is only attested once more, centuries earlier (IG II³ 4, 1021, ca. 375 BC). Her father, Athenion, held the rare title of periegetes for life, ‘”one who guides”, likely also an office of religious significance. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 73.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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