AgoraXVI 342 Honours for an uncertain individual

Honours for an uncertain individual

Agora XVI 342 Date: i AD-mid-iii AD

Fragment a

In the archonship of - . . . ^[1] . . . of the city [Dionysia (?)] . . . . . . common . . . . . . to the gods, both El[eutherios Zeus and . . . ] (5) . . . -ius Caesar . . . . . . shall set alongside (?) . . . . . . colossal statue . . . . . . in which he . . . . . . and will make . . . (10) . . . tribe of Leontis or Aiantis . . . . . .

Fragment b+c

. . . . . . Elaphebolion the -th day . . . Assembly. The (15) . . . self . . . the children and the ephebes . . . shall read out. Patron (prost-) (?) . . . shall be of the People and the Council of the [Five Hundred?] in which [most revered (?)] city . . . board (sunedron) (20) . . . of him and from . . . bronze statues . . . and shall have dining rights (sitēsin) . . . crown . . . with headbands (strophiois) (25) . . . and wearing gold (chrusophorian) . . . uninscribed space . . . . . . . . . (30) . . .

Fragment d

(1) . . . . . . . . . gold . . . . . . this or emperor . . . (5) . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fragment e

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) . . .

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References:

Agora XVI 342 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 1081 (PHI)

IG II² 1116 (PHI)

SEG 30.83 (ll. 16-17)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Areopagos?), Decree (Council and People)

a - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 9484)
b - Findspot: Unknown (EM 9483)
c.1 - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 8582)
c.2 - Findspot: Unknown (EM 5728)
c.3 - Findspot: Unknown (EM 5831)
c.4 - Findspot: Unknown (EM 8583)
d - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4853a)
e - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4853b)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This very fine but extremely fragmentary Imperial-period inscription seems from the findspots of its fragments to have originally been located on the Acropolis. A brief prescript at the top of the stele (fr. a, ll. 1-2) gives an archon date which is too fragmentary to restore; there appears to be a second prescript at fr. b+c, ll. 13-14. The latter mentions the Assembly, so should be the start of a decree of the Council and People; the former may be a decree of the Areopagos (cf. IG IV² 1 82-84, SEG 30.82). Both decrees appear to concern extraordinary honours for an individual. These include a colossal statue (l. 7), accompaniment by boys and ephebes to a public event where the honours will be read out (ll. 14-17), bronze statues (ll. 21-22), banqueting rights (sitesis, l. 22), a crown (l. 24), and the right to wear golden clothing (l. 25). The reference to a tribe in l. 10 might indicate that the honorand is also granted citizenship.

J. H. Oliver suggested that the honorand was Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, praetorian prefect under Septimius Severus (Hesperia 10, 1941, 85-90, no. 37 = SEG 30.83). Cassius Dio emphasises the unprecedented degree of power arrogated by Plautianus in the years 202-205 AD, epitomised by the vast numbers of statues awarded to him by the cities of the empire (Dio 75.14.6-7; Hist. Aug. Vit. Sev. 14.5; on Plautianus, see especially D. S. Potter The Roman Empire at Bay Rev. ed., 2014, 115-118). Oliver's identification was strongly criticised by L. Robert REG 57, 1944, 204 no. 82 and S. Follet, Athènes, 1976, 37, but is followed by D. Geagan Aufstieg und Niedergang 2.7.1 (1979) 408 and S. Follet, BCH 144, 2020, 695-96. The grounds for it are: the scale of the honours, especially the colossal statue (although this might not be a statue of the honorand) and the close association with an unnamed Caesar (sharing a statue base?) in ll. 4-7. Oliver concludes that this is Caracalla, Plautianus' son-in-law from 202 AD (although the latter should be Augustus by this point). In addition, a statue base erected for Plautianus at Eleusis (I Eleusis 630), refers to him as "patron" (prostates) of the city and there may be a fragmentary reference to this in l. 17 (προστ-, prost-). Finally, Plautianus was executed and suffered damnatio memoriae in 205; Oliver suggests that the unworn state of this inscription indicates that it was smashed after a short life. However, several of the honours assume an honorand who is physically present (the accompaniment by boys and ephebes, the dining rights, the crown, and the right of golden clothing), but Plautianus is not known to have ever visited Athens. Aside from the colossal statue, the honours are appropriate for an impressive civic benefactor, like Q. Trebellius Rufus in the mid-first century AD (IG II² 4193, Agora XVIII 398) and M. Ulpius Eubiotos ca. 230 AD (SEG 30.82), whereas a praetorian prefect would have expected most of these privileges by dint of his office. The second line of the inscription —]ων ἐν ἄστει [— is most easily restored as Διονυσί]ων τῶν ἐν ἄστει ("of the city Dionysia"). Perhaps the honorand had funded this festival, which was a major event in Imperial-period Athens (see IG II³ 4, 558). In that case, the inscription could date to any point between the first and the mid-third centuries AD, although the presence of cursive omega favours the later part of this range.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 28 Jul 2023
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ID: AIO_2732