IGII2 3410 Honours for Marcus Aurelius

Honours for Marcus Aurelius

IG II² 3410 Date: 176 AD?

(This statue of) Marcus Aurelius Caesar, son of Emperor Antoninus,^[1] their patron (prostatēn) (5)(was erected by the) Athenians.^[2]

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References:

IG II² 3410 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (Athenians)

Findspot: Theatre of Dionysus (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This statue base was erected for Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180 AD). He was educated in Greek rhetoric by the Athenian aristocrat Herodes Atticus (on whom see AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 15 with notes) and maintained a close relationship with Athens. In SEG 29.127 of 174/5 AD, he resolves a range of legal disputes revolving around Herodes. His visit to Athens in 176 AD with his son, the future emperor Commodus, was perhaps the occasion for the erection of this monument. During the visit, Marcus and Commodus were initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries (I Eleusis 503, ll. 14-16), while Marcus probably began the establishment of the Athenian Gerousia (Oliver, Constitutions 193-203) and endowed chairs of rhetoric, Platonic, Stoic, Peripatetic, and Epicurean philosophy at Athens (Philostr. Vit. Soph. 2.2; Cassius Dio 72.31.3). He was also the author of the fragmentary letters SEG 30.87 (with his first co-ruler Lucius Verus), 58.151 and perhaps SEG 19.115.

This base appears to be in its original location in the orchestra of the Theatre of Dionysos, where it would have supplemented a set of statues that had earlier been erected for the Emperor Hadrian (IG II² 3286 with notes). In addition to this statue base, Marcus was also honoured with IG II² 3409, Agora XVIII 264 and I Eleusis 495-497, 499. A statue group depicting him, his wife, and his daughters was erected at Eleusis shortly after his death (510). His mother Domitia Lucilla and wife Faustina were also honoured in I Eleusis 461 and his marriage to Faustina was commemorated by SEG 39.245. He and Lucius Verus were commemorated as ‘brother-loving emperors’ by a set of altars (Agora XVIII 315 with notes) and the ephebes celebrated the Philadelphia and Epinikeia festivals in their honour (AIO Papers 12, pp. 40-44). On Marcus’ relations with Athens, see G. Mitropoulos in A. Kouremenos, The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE (2022), 143-65, and for a general study, A. R. Birley, Marcus Aurelius (2000). [2] This is one of only two examples of a person being honoured as the patron of the Athenians. The other is Fulvius Plautianus (I Eleusis 630).

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_3683