IEleus 621 Statue base for the hearth-initiate Publia Aelia Herennia

Statue base for the hearth-initiate Publia Aelia Herennia

I Eleusis 621 Date: End 2nd cent.-beginning 3rd cent. AD

For good fortune. For the two goddesses,^[1] the from the hearth^[2] Publia Aelia Herennia^[3], daughter of Publius Aelius 5 Apollonios^[4] who served as eponymous archon and served as king archon and served as hoplite general and took care 10 of the gymnasiarchy and was herald of the Council of the Areopagos; her mother, Publia Aelia Herennia^[5] dedicated her, the descendant of Konon^[6] and Kallimachos,^[7] next to her 15 great-uncle, Publius Aelius Dionysios, the dadouch.^[8]

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References:

I Eleusis 621 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3688 (PHI)

Translation by: Feyo Schuddeboom, Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (private)

Findspot: Eleusis (Telesterion) (Eleusis Museum E 974)

Transliterations on No places

[1] Demeter and Kore ("the Girl"). [2] The hearth-initiate (aph' hestias) was a child initiated at the Eleusinian Mysteries, who seems in some way to have been a representative of the city. The "hearth" was perhaps that of the city hall (prytaneion). Porphyry, De Abstinentia 4.5 says that “on behalf of all those being initiated, they appease the divinity by precisely doing what is ordained.” The child could be male or female, seems to have ranged in age from around ten to the late teens, and belonged to either the Eumolpidai or the Kerykes. In the Classical period, the child was selected by lot (Harp. sv ἀφ’ ἑστίας μυηθῆναι). The child’s father served as their mystagogue (guide to the Mysteries). They were perhaps the only child allowed to participate and, uniquely, were initiated at public expense (Anecdota Greca p. 204; AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees), no. 1, C, l. 25). I Eleusis 507 may indicate that the hearth-initiate was crowned before initiation by a chorus of the hearth-initiates of previous years. Several statues survive, which show the hearth-initiate wore a myrtle crown, carried a myrtle staff, and wore a short chiton and a single long lock of hair which was probably offered as a dedication after the initiation. From the late second century BC, the role was often held by the children of leading Athenians and commemorated through the dedication of a statue at Eleusis (I Eleusis 238, 244-245, 251-253, 269-270, 273, 282-283, 299, 302, 307, 323, 329, 351-352, 357, 364-365, 370, 373-374, 391, 393, 395-396, 399, 414, 416, 429, 431, 441-442, 458-459, 464, 467, 474-475, 477, 480-481, 485, 511, 520-522, 524, 535, 551, 568, 587, 591, 628, 635-636, 639-640, 642, 645, 648, IG II² 3477, 3554). This was part of a wider trend towards the commemoration of children's performance of religious duties, cf. IG II² 3488 on the arrhephoroi and AIUK 1 (Petworth), no. 1 on the maidens who made Athena's robe. On the role, see K. Clinton, Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries, 1974, 98-114 and L. Bruit Zaidman, Archimède 5, 2018, 113-23. On the Eleusinian Mysteries, see AIUK 4.2 (BM, Decrees), no. 1, C with note. [3] = Clinton, Sacred Officials 111 no. 43; Byrne, Roman Citizens, Aelia 62. [4] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Aelius 61. [5] = Clinton, Sacred Officials 88 no. 11; Byrne, Roman Citizens, Aelia 201, cf. IG II² 3764, 2-4. [6] Athenian general during the later stages of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. 7.31, Xen. Hell. 1.6.15) and victor of the battle of Knidos in 394 BC, for which he was honoured by a statue (Dem. 20.69-70, cf. IG II² 457+3207, n. 6). [7] Athenian polemarch at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC (Hdt. 6.109). [8] = Clinton, Sacred Officials 60-61 no. 22; Byrne, Roman Citizens, Aelius 50.

Added: 15 Sep 2016
Updated: 23 Apr 2025
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ID: AIO_997