IEleus 476 Statue base for Regilla

Statue base for Regilla

I Eleusis 476 Date: 160-161 AD

Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caucidia Tertulla,^[1] daughter of Appius (5)consul and pontifex, wife of Herodes of Marathon consul and interpreter (exēgētou); her husband dedicated (the statue).^[2]

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References:

I Eleusis 476 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 4072 (PHI)

Ameling, Herodes Atticus II 132

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (private)

Findspot: Eleusis (Telesterion Court) (Eleusis Museum E 1002)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a statue base for Regilla (= PIR² A 706) erected by her husband, the second-century AD Athenian sophist and magnate Herodes Atticus (on whom see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 15 with notes). She was the daughter of Appius Annius Gallus (PIR² A 654), consul of 139 AD, and a relative of Faustina the Elder and Younger, empresses of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius respectively. After her marriage around 138/9 AD, she became the first priestess of Fortune at Athens (IG II² 3607) and priestess of Demeter Chamyne at Olympia in 153 AD, where she funded the construction of the great nymphaeum (IvO 610, cf. 210). She also funded the fountain of Peirene at Corinth (Corinth VIII.1, 86). Herodes’ estate at Marathon included a cοmpound for Regilla, surrounded by a high wall and entered through a gate "of immortal harmony" (IG II² 5189-5189a; cf. SEG 23.121). She died in mysterious circumstances around 160-161 AD (on the date, see Agora XVIII 379 with note) and her brother charged Herodes with her murder, but he was acquitted, probably owing to Imperial intervention and his extravagant public displays of grief, which included the construction of a theatre dedicated to Regilla, now known as the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the erection of this statue (see Philostr. Vit. Soph. 2.1.6; Lucian, Demonax 33; J. Tobin, Herodes Atticus and the City of Athens, 1997, 76-83, 174-76, 206-9, 242-49; S. Pomeroy, The Murder of Regilla, 2007, with L. Holford-Strevens, BMCR 2008.01.44). Other posthumous monuments for Regilla include Agora XVIII 379, which is directly modelled on this inscription; IG II² 3607 at the Panathenaic Stadium; IG II² 12568/9 and 13200 on their estate at Kephisia; Tobin 1997, p. 250 on their estate at Marathon; Corinth VIII.3 128 at Corinth; IvO 612 on the Nymphaeum at Olympia, also modelled on this inscription; FD III 3, 71-72 at Delphi; and IG XIV 1389, 1391, and 1392 on their Triopion estate outside Rome. Other members of Herodes’ household also received extensive commemoration at their deaths, most controversially his ward, Polydeukion (see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 15). There are three dowel holes on top of the base. [2] The inscription presents a close parallel between Appius as consul and pontifex (a Roman priesthood), and Herodes as consul and interpreter. The last title is probably the Athenian priesthood (on which see IG II² 1035 with note) or possibly the Roman priesthood XV vir sacris faciundis, responsible for interpreting the Greek oracles and rituals of the city of Rome. Either way, the inscription is an example of Herodes’ self-presentation as simultaneously and complementarily Roman and Greek.

Added: 21 Jan 2024
Updated: 27 Jun 2024
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ID: AIO_2875