SEG 22.153 Honours for Claudius Apollo Patroos

Honours for Claudius Apollo Patroos

SEG 22.153 Date: 41-54 AD

(This statue of) Tiberius Claudius Caesar [Augustus] Germanicus Emperor [Apollo] Patroos (was erected by) his priest [and high priest] for life and hoplite general (5) for the third time, Dionysodoros son of So[phokles] of Sounion, for his own benefactor and his whole house's saviour and benefactor.^[1] Euboulides (son of Euboulides) of Piraeus made it.^[2]

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References:

SEG 22.153 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3274 (PHI)

Højte, Statue Bases Claudius 87

Schmalz 148

Agora XVIII 258

DNO 4143

Leone, Polis, Platz und Porträt 46

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2, 3, 4)
Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (priest)

Findspot: Agora, near Panagia Pyrgotissa (Ag. no inv. number)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: The end of l. 3 has alternatively been restored by Kirchner in IG II² as καὶ τοῦ γένους ("and of his family") and by J. H. Oliver, Expounders of the Ancestral Law, 1950, 86 as καὶ Ῥώμης ("and of Roma").

This is the base from a statue of the emperor Claudius (r. 41-54 AD). On Claudius and Athens, see IG II² 3268 with notes. The text identifies Claudius with Apollo Patroos ("of fathers" or "of ancestors"), whose temple was located on the west side of the Agora, not far from where this base was found. Apollo was closely associated with the Julio-Claudians from the reign of Augustus onwards (see SEG 29.167 with notes) and Apollo Patroos in particular is connected with the imperial cult under Tiberius and Nero respectively, see IG II² 3530 and Agora XVIII 283. On the veneration of Julio-Claudians as versions of Olympian gods, see SEG 29.167 with notes. There are two holes on top of the base for the feet of a life-size bronze statue, striding, with right foot forward. A cutting on the bottom seems to derive from an earlier use of the stone as the base of a herm. [2] The priest Dionysodoros belonged to the Flavii of Sounion, a family who were prominent at Athens from the late first century BC until the early second century AD. His father, Sophokles, dedicated IG II³ 4, 909 and his son, Konon, received Roman citizenship under the Flavian emperors. On the family, see S. Aleshire, Asklepios at Athens, 1991, 223-34; S. G. Byrne, Roman Citizens of Athens, 2003, 243-45). On priests of the Roman emperors and their family at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1928 with notes and on the post of high priest, see also I Eleusis 361 with notes. [3] The sculptor Euboulides of Piraeus (DNO 4143) is not otherwise attested.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3782