IGII2 3700 Throne for Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos

Throne for Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos

IG II² 3700 Date: ca. 230 AD

(1) The City (polis) (gave this) traces traces uninscribed space (2) to Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos the most brilliant (lamprotaton) consular (5) and eponymous archon, the benefactor himself and ⟦his⟧ ⟦sons Tei⟧samenos and Maximus.^[1]

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References:

IG II² 3700 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Throne

Inscription type: Theatre seat

Findspot: Theatre of Dionysos (Athens Ephoria)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This throne was set up in the Theatre of Dionysos for the benefactor Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos Leuros ca. 230 AD, in accordance with decrees of the Council and People and of the Areopagos (SEG 30.82). On Eubiotos and his family, see IG II² 3697. On theatre seats, see IG II³ 4, 1938 with notes. This was at least the second reuse of the throne (M. Maass, Die Prohedrie des Dionysostheaters in Athen, 1972, 101-102). It was originally the chair for a seated statue, probably of early Hellenistic date, and two holes for attaching the statue are still visible in the seat. At some point, it was repurposed as a throne in the theatre; a few letters of the inscription from this use are visible between ll. 1 and 2 (M. Guarducci dated them to the first half of the third century BC in G. M. A. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, 1966, 30). In order to reuse it for Eubiotos, the craftsmen cut back the inscribed surface so substantially that they broke through to the front dowel hole that originally attached the chair to its base. SEG 30.82 ll. 7-8 provides for the throne to be erected on the third row of seating belonging to Oineis and archaeological traces indicate that it was set up on the third row in "Kerkis C," the third wedge of seating from the western end of the theatre (Maass 1972, 101-102). This seems to confirm that each of the thirteen wedges of seating in the lower part of the theatre was assigned to one of the thirteen Athenian tribes (cf. IG II² 3286, 3287a-d, the set of statues erected for Hadrian in the theatre, one from each tribe). "The City" (polis) regularly erects honours in the late second and early third centuries AD; it often refers to the Council and People as opposed to the Areopagos, but here it seems to contain both (see IG II² 3699 with note). In ll. 7-8, the text was erased and reinscribed, presumably to correct an error.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 28 Jul 2023
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ID: AIO_2749