IGII2 3701 Statue base for Marcus Ulpius Flavius Teisamenos

Statue base for Marcus Ulpius Flavius Teisamenos

IG II² 3701 Date: ca. 230 AD

The city (erected this statue of) Marcus Ulpius Flavius Teisamenos the mighty (kratiston), the court president (thesmothetēn), the son of the benefactor Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos (5)the eponymous archon, on account of his fairness (epieikeias) and his good will regarding the fatherland.^[1]

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References:

IG II² 3701 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (City)

Findspot: Athens (Panagias Kandeles in the Plaka) (EM 10512)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Teisamenos was the elder son of Marcus Ulpius Eubiotos Leuros and was honoured with him as a benefactor ca. 230 AD. The decrees of the Areopagos and Council and People authorising those honours (probably including this statue), survive as SEG 30.82. On the family, see IG II² 3697 with notes. Teisamenos and his brother Pupienus (IG II² 3702) had served as two of the six court presidents (thesmothetai), during their father's archonship. The praise of Teisamenos for his "fairness" (epieikeia) in place of the more normal "excellence" (arete) is appropriate for a judge, suggesting that the thesmothetai continued to play a role in the organisation of the Athenian courts at this time (on Athenian courts in this period, cf. IG II² 1113). The status designation "the mighty" (kratistos) translates the Latin vir egregius to which equestrians and their families were entitled. On "the City" (polis) as honouring authority, see IG II² 3699 with notes.

Only the top portion of the base, with traces of a statue, is preserved. The inscription has been partially erased, probably in the course of subsequent reuse. In the fourth century, the base was repurposed for a statue of the archon Hegias (IG II² 5, 13273) and in the fifth century for the sophist Ploutarchos (IG II² 5, 13281). On the reuse of statue bases in the Imperial period, see J. L. Shear in Z. Newby and R. E. Leader-Newby, Art and Inscriptions in the Ancient World, 2007, 221-46.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 27 Jun 2024
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ID: AIO_2750