IRhamn 156 Dedication of the temple at Rhamnous to the Goddess Livia

Dedication of the temple at Rhamnous to the Goddess Livia

I Rhamnous 156 Date: ca. 6-10 AD or 44/5 AD

The People (dedicated this structure)^[1] to the Goddess Livia, when the hoplite general and priest of the Goddess Roma and of Augustus Caesar was Demostratos (5) son of Dionysios of Pallene, and the archon was - son of Antipatros of Phlya the younger.^[2]

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References:

I Rhamnous 156 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3242 (PHI)

SEG 19.202 (PHI)

SEG 39.216 (PHI)

Schmalz 132

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Building inscription, Dedication (public, People), Dedication (public, empress)

Original location: Rhamnous, Temple of Nemesis

Findspot: Rhamnous (Rhamnous Fortress 1690 Ν)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription is carved on the central block from the epistyle of the front of the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous (now in four blocks). On the cult of Nemesis at Rhamnous, see I Rhamnous 182 with notes. The temple was damaged, probably in 200 BC when Philip V of Macedon ravaged the Attic countryside during the Second Macedonian War (Livy 31.26) and this epistyle was installed when the structure was repaired in the Julio-Claudian period (on the archaeological evidence for these repairs, see M. Miles, Hesperia 58, 1989, 235-39). The dedicatee is Livia, wife of Augustus and ancestor of all the subsequent Julio-Claudian emperors (on her, see IG II² 3238 with notes). This inscription either identified Livia with Nemesis or installed her as an object of worship alongside Nemesis. I Rhamnous 159 and Pausanias 1.33 show that Nemesis was still the primary goddess of the sanctuary in the late second century AD. The identification of Livia with Nemesis may have been part of efforts to connect Roman wars with Parthia to the Athenian wars with the Persians, with which Nemesis was closely linked (M. Kajava, Arctos 34, 2000, 48-61; M. Kantiréa, Les dieux et les dieux augustes, 2007, 115-16). A hymn to Nemesis for her role in defeating the Persians was (re)inscribed at Rhamnous in the Imperial period (IG II³ 4, 1782). Athenian inscriptions also connect Livia with Artemis Boulaia (Agora XVIII 254), Foresight (IG II² 3238), Hestia (IG II³ 4, 1888), and perhaps Hygieia (IG II² 3240). For a detailed discussion of the broader context, see E. Stafford, Kernos 26, 2013, 205-38. [2] The dates and prosopography are problematic. The archon in ll. 5-6 is usually identified as Antipatros the Younger of 44/5 AD (J. H. Oliver, Athenian Expounders of the Ancestral Law, 1950, 85 n. 18; for his date, see Phlegon of Tralles FGrH 257 F36.6). In this case, the rededication would follow Livia's official deification in 42 AD by her grandson the emperor Claudius. However, her official name became Julia Augusta in 14 AD, so it would be surprising for her to be referred to as Livia at this date. Alternatively, the archon might be Aiolion, an ancestor of Antipatros the Younger, who might date between ca. 6 AD and 14 AD (F. Lozano ZPE 148, 2004, 177-80; Schmalz, pp. 103-105, who also restores this name in IG II² 1733, l. 10). The priest Demostratos might be the hymn-leader (hymnagogos) who appears in I Eleusis 300, l. 25 of 24/5 or 21/0 BC or an otherwise unattested homonymous grandson, depending on the date. On priests of the Roman emperors and their family at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1928 with notes.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3795