IEleus 333 Honours for Menandros, priest of the Senate, People, and the Graces

Honours for Menandros, priest of the Senate, People, and the Graces

I Eleusis 333 Date: ca. 20 AD

(This statue of) the priest of the Senate [of the Romans] and the People and the Graces, having served as eponymous archon, on lower moulding Menandros son of Asklepiodoros (5) of Gargettos (was erected by . . . ).^[1]

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References:

I Eleusis 333 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3547 (PHI)

SEG 33.183 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Cornell - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 1019)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is the crowning block of a statue base for Menandros of Gargettos as priest of the Senate of the Romans, the People (of Athens), and the Graces. The authority responsible for the erection of the statue presumably appeared on the lost main body of the base. The cult of the People and the Graces was established on the norther side of the Kolonos Agoraios after the Athenian liberation from Macedonian control in 229 BC (see IG II³ 4, 8 with notes). The Goddess Roma appears in connection with this cult in IG II³ 4, 1943 from the Augustan period; this inscription appears to be the only instance of a connection with the worship of the Roman Senate. On the cult of the Roman Senate elsewhere in the Greek world, see G. Forni, Epigrafia e ordine senatorio (1982), 31. On priests of the Roman emperors and their family at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1928 with notes.

Menandros appears to be the father/ancestor of Claudius Asklepiodoros (I Eleus 358) and Claudia Tatarion, priestess of Demeter and Kore (see I Eleusis 369; she may also have erected IG II² 3241 for Livia). For a suggested stemma, see Clinton, I Eleusis II, 2008, pp. 317-18. There are cuttings on top for the feet of a life-sized bronze statue.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3763