SEG 32.251 Honours for Nero (Parthenon inscription)

Honours for Nero (Parthenon inscription)

SEG 32.251 Date: 61/2 AD

The Council of the Areopagos and the Council of the 600 and the People of the Athenians (honour) the greatest emperor, Nero Caesar Claudius Augustus Germanicus, son of a god,^[1] when the hoplite general for the eighth time (61/2), who was also the manager (epimelētou) of the city and the lawgiver (nomothetou), was Tiberius Claudius Novius son of Philinos, when the priestess was Paullina, daughter of Capito.^[2]

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References:

SEG 32.251 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3277 (PHI)

Sherk, Translated documents 78

Schmalz 155

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Commemorative (Areopagos, Council, People)

Original location: Acropolis, Parthenon

Findspot: Acropolis, Parthenon (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription in honour of the emperor Nero (r. 54 – 69 AD) consisted of a set of bronze letters attached to the east frieze of the Parthenon, interspersed by twelve shields. The letters were later removed, probably following Nero's death (for other instances of damnatio memoriae at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1397). The inscription has been painstakingly reconstructed by modern scholars from the holes left in the stone for the insertion of the letters. Nero's name is in the accusative case, which suggests that the inscription should be interpreted as a summary of an honorific decree for Nero, not as a rededication of the Parthenon to him (in which case, the dative would be expected; K. Carroll, The Parthenon Inscription, 1982, 62-63, 67-73 = SEG 32.251). A building inscription on the stage-building of the Theatre of Dionysios from the same year dedicated the structure to Nero and Dionysos Eleutherieus (IG II³ 4, 1881). The Athenians also erected altars in his honour, probably in the (unfulfilled) expectation that he would visit the city during his tour of Greece in 66-67 AD (see SEG 32.252 with notes. A statue of Nero has been found at Eleusis (inv. 5086) and Ag. S 347 may have originally been a statue of Nero in the guise of Apollo Patroos (B. Martens, JRS 113, 2023, 153, n. 650. A statue base for his third wife, Statilia Messalina, is also preserved (IG II² 3280). Several ancient authors report that Nero's agents, C. Carrinas Secundus and Akratos, travelled to Athens and the rest of Greece to forcibly acquire statues to redecorate Rome after the great fire of 64 AD (Tac. Ann. 15.45.2; Dio Chrysostom, Or. 31.148-149; Paus. 5.25.8, 5.26.3, 10.7.1, 10.19.2; E. Kaplan, Greeks and the Imperial Court, 1990, 320-21). There is no unambiguous epigraphic or archaeological evidence for this at Athens, unlike the confiscations under Gaius Caligula, for which see IG II² 5173 with notes.

The occasion for the inscription was probably the Roman conquest of Tigranocerta during the Armenian War against the Parthians. The Parthenon was an appropriate location for a commemoration of this victory because of its links to the Athenian victory in the Persian Wars and because of the concentration of Imperial monuments to the east of the Parthenon, namely the shrine of Augustus Soter and Goddess Roma, which served as the ritual heart of the Imperial cult at Athens (see IG II³ 4, 10) and the monumental quadriga group dedicated to one of the Julio-Claudians (SEG 59.211). [2] On the hoplite general Novius, see IG II² 1990 with notes. The priestess of Athena Polias, Scribonia Paulina, also appears in IG II³ 4, 1393. IG II² 12431/2 might be her tombstone.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3772