IGII2 3703 Statue base for Agathos Daimon, Pupienus Maximus, and Agathe Tyche

Statue base for Agathos Daimon, Pupienus Maximus, and Agathe Tyche

IG II² 3703 Date: ca. 230 AD

col. 1

(Statue) of Agathos Daimon

col. 2

(This statue of) the most brilliant (lamprotaton) and worthy of all commemoration, [Marcus] Ulpius Pupienius (5)Maximus (was erected by) Ulpius Nikias (for) his personal patron (patrōna)

col. 3

(Statue) of [Agathe] Tyche

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References:

IG II² 3703 (Translated text) (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base, Dedication (private, Agathos Daimon), Dedication (private, Agathe Tyche)

Findspot: Athens (Hagia Kanon) (EM 1869)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This base supported a statue of Marcus Ulpius Pupienus (on whom see SEG 30.82 and IG II² 3702 with notes), flanked by statues of the Agathos Daimon and Agathe Tyche (Good Spirit and Good Fortune). On the pairing of these two figures, see IG II³ 4, 69 with notes. The erector, Ulpius Nikias, is one of the family's freedmen, as was the erector of IG II² 3702, another statue of Pupienus. Nikias refers to Pupienus by transliterating the Latin term patronus ("patron"), the legal role of a slave's former master under Roman law (on the freedman-patron relationship, see H. Mouritsen The Freedman in the Roman World, 2011, esp. 36-58). Use of this term is attested elsewhere in the Greek world from the second century BC onwards (E. Dickey, Latin Loanwords in Ancient Greek, 2023, 346-47, 577-78), but this seems to be the only instance in Athenian epigraphy. Other inscriptions use Greek terms like euergetes (benefactor, IG II² 3702) or prostates (protector, I Eleusis 630). The status designation "the most brilliant" (lamprotatos) translates the Latin vir clarissimus to which Roman senators were entitled. Pupienus is elsewhere given the lower designation of "the mighty" (kratistos = vir egregius) which was normal for equestrians. He probably bears the higher title here because his father and both grandfathers were senators and former consuls, rather than in his own right - an example of how the rules surrounding these rank titles were not always strictly observed.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 28 Jul 2023
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ID: AIO_2752