IEleus 659 Statue base for Eunike

Statue base for Eunike

I Eleusis 659 Date: End-iii AD

Solemnisers of the Mysteries (mustipoloi) of Demeter, let some sacred monument of me stand beside the temple (anaktorōi)^[1] of Deo. My name is Eunike^[2]; glorious (kudēessa) Thaleia^[3] bore me to my dear father, famous (agaklei) Kallaischros,^[4] whose mother was (5) Eunike.^[3] Her mother in turn was the modest (saophrōn) hierophantis who took her name (pherōnumos) from Isaios^[3] from the East (Antoliēthen):^[5] Isidote,^[3] he whose glory (kudos) was to have been one of blameless Hadrian’s teachers of eloquence (rhētērōn).^[5] My grandfather was Zoilos^[6] . . . , who equalled his two brothers in intellect, (10) the one hierophant at the radiant shrine, Glaukos,^[7] and then the leader (hēgētori) in philosophy (sophiēs) - he plucked (drepsato) that of Plato - renowned (periōnumōi) Kallaischros.^[8] My family is not far removed from the senate, for close to me . . . follows the fame of my Ausonian cousins.^[9]

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References:

I Eleusis 659 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3709 (PHI)

Translation by: Feyo Schuddeboom

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base

Original location: Eleusis (By anaktoron of Demeter)

Findspot: Eleusis (Telesterion) (Eleusis Museum E 1015)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] If this is not poetic pars pro toto, the wording here tends to suggest that, at Eleusis, the anaktoron (properly the abode of a king or deity) may not, as has sometimes been suggested, have been a separate shrine within the Telesterion (the great hall where the Mysteries were revealed to the initiates), but a term used to describe the Telesterion itself. [2] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavia 22. What office Eunike had held is unclear. Like other persons closely connected with the sanctuary she was honoured there by a statue erected there after her death by family members. [3] Cf. I Eleusis 502. [4] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavius 21. [5] Isaios had come from Syria, I Eleusis 502, 6, and had been a teacher of Hadrian, I Eleusis 502, 8-9. [6] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavius 15. [7] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavius 17. [8] = Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavius 16. [9] Ausonian = Italian. These distant cousins included Flavius Dryantianos [= Byrne, Roman Citizens, Flavius 18], who served as an ephebe in Athens (IG II² 3763) and held senatorial rank in Rome (IG II² 2208, 8-9).

Added: 12 Sep 2015
Updated: 8 Jul 2021
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