IGII2 3699 Statue base for Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos

Statue base for Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos

IG II² 3699 Date: ca. 230 AD

For good fortune, (this statue of) Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos the most brilliant (lamprotaton) (5)consular and eponymous archon, (was erected) by decree (dogmati) of the most revered (10)board (sunedriou) and of the whole City, (by) Aurelius Hermonax, the herald (15)(for) their benefactor (euergetēn).^[1]

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References:

IG II² 3699 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (Synedrion and City permits)

Findspot: Asklepieion (At findspot)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This statue base was erected in ca. 230 AD for the benefactor Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos Leuros, who had organised the Panathenaia festival, served as archon, and provided grain during a famine. He was honoured for this in decrees of the Areopagos and the Council and People, which survive as SEG 30.82. Aurelius Hermonax appears there as herald of the Areopagos (l. 23). The status designation "the most brilliant" (lamprotatos) translates the Latin vir clarissimus to which Roman senators were entitled. On Eubiotos and his family, see IG II² 3697 with notes.

The "most revered board" (synedrion) is the Areopagos (cf. D. Geagen, Athenian Constitution after Sulla, 1967, 36-37), while "the whole city" (polis) seems to be the Council and People. Honorific inscriptions and dedications attributed to "the City" (polis) first appear at Athens at the beginning of the second century AD (IG II² 3571) and become increasingly common in the second half of the second century AD. They are attested elsewhere in the Greek world from the first century AD (e.g. IG V,1 375). The phrase places less emphasis on the idea of Athens as a community of citizens than the older "(Council and) People of the Athenians." The use of the term "the City" does not seem to be wholly consistent. The contrast between the Areopagos and the City might be connected with the development of the Areopagites into a privileged, elite order (cf. IG II² 2773 with notes). In this case, the City seems to represent the masses as opposed to the civic elite. However, in IG II² 3700 and 3701, both erected under the same decree as this base, the City is sole honourer, apparently encompassing the Areopagos, Council, and People. Finally, the - admittedly early - IG II² 3605 distinguishes the City from the People, suggesting the former represents the civic authorities and the latter the masses. These different usages have been explained as indicating change over time (cf. Geagen 1967, 38-39, 145-46), but perhaps rather indicate that the term was fluid, capable of referring to civic authority generally without necessarily implying specific institutions.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 17 Aug 2024
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ID: AIO_2748