AIUK11 no. 16 Herm of Aurelius Apphianos

Herm of Aurelius Apphianos

AIUK 11 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) no. 16 Date: 234/5 AD

The Council of the Areopagos having decreed it,^[1] the college of magistrates of the Diogeneion (hoi peri to Diogeneion sunarchontes) (5) (erected this for) the son of the superintendent, Aurelius (kosmētou) Apphianos son of Chrestos of Marathon, on account of his excellence (aretēs).^[2]

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(10) Who I am and whose son I am, the letters on the front declare, but about my fate, the entire host sheds tears, since I had not yet (15) placed the cloak (chlainan) around my neck, when I departed from life, in most holy revel (kōmō).^[3]

Previous - AIUK 11 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) no. 15
Greek text

References:

AIUK 11 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) no. 16 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG II² 3765 (PHI)

Wilson, Ephebic Inscriptions E.067

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

AIO Images: 1 2 3

Monument type: Herm

Inscription type: Herm (Areopagos permits)

Original location: Diogeneion

Findspot: Athens, near the Tower of the Winds (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford ANChandler 2.61)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is one of five inscriptions acquired by James Dawkins on a visit to Athens in 1751 and donated to the University of Oxford on his death in 1757 (cf. AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 1).

This herm was erected in accordance with a decree of the Areopagos, a council of ex-magistrates which had existed in Athens since the Archaic period and maintained an amorphous responsibility for maintaining moral standards throughout the classical period (cf. RO 79). In the Roman Imperial period it achieved a pre-eminent position in Athens (see AIUK 4.3A (BM), no. 10). Athenians wishing to erect honorific monuments in public spaces seem to have been required to seek permission from it. As was normal in the Roman period, the full decree is not inscribed – it could perhaps be consulted in the city archives. [2] Aurelius Apphianos died as an ephebe, a young man undertaking a year of official training. The ephebes were based in the Diogeneion gymnasium and were overseen by a set of annual officials, headed by a superintendent (kosmetes, see IG II² 3739). In the year of Apphianos’ death, the superintendent was his father, Chrestos. The sons of the superintendent often went through the ephebate in their father’s year of office, providing an opportunity for their family to introduce their next generation to public life. Apphianos’ death before completing the ephebate turned this public triumph into a tragedy. The erection of this herm, as well as a bronze statue in the Agora (Agora XVIII 145), with official permission, affirmed that it was a public tragedy, afflicting a prominent family to the detriment of the whole community. The official ephebic catalogue for the year also survives (IG II² 2235, cf. AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 10), which indicates that the year was the archonship of Epiktetos of Acharnai, some time in the 230s AD, possibly 234/5 AD (Shear) or 235/6 AD (Follet and Byrne). [3] The inscribed poem in two elegiac couplets (ll. 10-17) was a demonstration of education and culture (paideia), a crucial aspect of public prominence in this period (cf. AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 6 and 15). The poem employs topoi of Classical Greek funerary epigrams and poetic vocabulary. The cloak was a central symbol of the ephebate, such that “putting on the cloak” was a standard term for enrolling in the ephebate. The cloak is also depicted visually by the drapery around the herm’s shoulders. The “revel” (komos) probably refers to a celebratory procession in honour of athletic victors, which would be in keeping with the athletic dimension of the ephebate in this period.

For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 16. For a general discussion of the ephebate in Roman Athens see AIO Papers 12.

Added: 14 Jan 2021
Updated: 27 Jun 2024
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