IGII34 1928 Seat of the priest and high priest of Augustus Caesar

Seat of the priest and high priest of Augustus Caesar

IG II³ 4 1928 Date: 1st century Ad

Inscription III (Seat) of the priest Inscription II and «high priest» of Augustus Caesar.^[1]

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References:

IG II³ 4 1928 (Translated text) (PHI) (IG Online)

IG II² 5034 (PHI)

Maaß, Prohedrie 116

Translation by: Chris de Lisle, Claudio Huayna Avila

Monument type: Throne

Inscription type: Theatre seat

Findspot: Theatre of Dionysos (Athens Ephoria ΝΚ 214)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription was engraved on one of the numerous allocated seats at the Theatre of Dionysos at Athens (on the seats of priests, see IG II³ 4, 1938 with notes). It is the left half of a double seat together with IG II³ 4, 1929, and was originally situated in the fourth spot in the eighth wedge of seating from the west, but was later moved to the second spot, where it remains. There were at least three phases of inscription. The earliest inscription (I) has been fully erased and is now completely lost. Inscription II was inscribed in this erasure, reassigning the seat to the priest of Augustus Caesar (second half of line 2 and line 3). Inscription III was then added to reflect the later subsequent development of the title of the office-holder (line 1 and the first half of line 2).

From the reign of Augustus onwards, the Athenians established cults in honour of the emperor and his family, which included priests. There were two phases to this process. In the first, which runs from ca. 20 BC to 55 AD, many priesthoods were established for individual emperors and their family members. The following priesthoods are attested at this stage: the priest of Goddess Roma and Augustus Caesar (IG II³ 4, 10, 1984, I Rhamnous 156), the separate priest of Augustus Caesar (here, perhaps also I Eleusis 297), the priest of Drusus the Consul (held concurrently with the eponymous archonship from 9 BC onwards), a priest of Augustan Justice (IG II³ 4, 1042), the priest of the Roman Senate, the Athenian People, and the Graces (I Eleusis 333), the priest of Tiberius (I Eleusis 334, 344), the priest of Julia Augusta, i.e. Livia (I Eleusis 335), perhaps a priest of Julia Drusilla (SEG 59.207), priest of Claudius (Agora XVIII 258), the priest of Agrippina the Younger (I Eleusis 354), the priest of Antonia Minor (SEG 21.742; IG II³ 4, 1996), and the high priest of Nero (IG II³ 4, 1881). From midway through the reign of Tiberius (r. 14 – 37 AD), one of these priests – usually but not always the priest of the emperor – was also the "high priest," the leader of the Imperial cult in Athens (M. Kantiréa, Les dieux et les diuex augustes, 2007, 61-62, 218-22).

In the second phase, the Athenians created a high priest of the Augusti (or high priest of the house of the Augusti), who was in charge of the Imperial cult at Athens (I Eleusis 361 with notes). This high priest seems to have inherited this throne. The post was held by Tiberius Claudius Novius, then three generations of the same family: Claudius Hipparchos, Claudius Attikos, and Herodes Atticus, then by Aelius Ardys, Tiberius Claudius Lysiades of Melite, Furius Marcellus of Gargettos, and Flavius Asklepiades of Diomeia (F. Camia in E. Mackil and N. Papazarkadas, Greek Epigraphy and Religion, 2021, 150-159). Similar high priests are common in other communities throughout Greece and the eastern Mediterranean (e.g. IG II² 3538). Priests of named emperors and their relatives almost entirely disappear from the record in this period, except for the priests of Hadrian and his lover Antinoos (IG II³ 4, 1901 and 1929). On the Imperial cult in general, see IG II³ 4, 10 and Agora XVI 336 with notes.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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