OGIS 505 Letter for M. Ulpius Eurykles of Aizanoi

Letter for M. Ulpius Eurykles of Aizanoi

OGIS 505 Date: 157 AD

The Council of the Areopagos and its herald and competition-director (agōnothetēs) of the games of the Augusta, Nummius Menis, to the Officials, Council and People of Aizanoi, greetings:^[1] Your citizen (politēs), Marcus Ulpius Eurykles, the most noteworthy (axiologōtatos),^[2] (5)was resident (epedēmēsen) in our city for all this time in a manner worthy of his own rank (axiōmatos) and of your city, as he employed his stay in Athens, as if it was his fatherland, conversing in an educated manner (paideia) and showing a thoroughly excellent (enareton) attitude through his zeal for what is most beautiful and revered (semnotata). And for this we honoured (10)him with fitting honours and the dedication of a statue and a portrait both in our fatherland, Athens, in whatever place he wishes, and among you.^[3] And we considered that these things give a just testimonial (marturēsai) of the man before you, on account of his decorum (kosmiotētos) and his character and his love of honour (philotimias) regarding education (paideian)

References:

OGIS 505 (Translated text) (AIO)

IGRR IV 574

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Arachne - (1)

Monument type: Wall

Inscription type: Letter (Areopagos)

Findspot: Aizanoi (Temple of Zeus) (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This letter from the Areopagos reports the honours that it had decreed for Marcus Ulpius Appuleius Eurykles for his good service while resident in Athens as the representative to the Panhellenion for the Phrygian city of Aizanoi. It is part of a dossier inscribed in a band on the north wall of the Temple of Zeus in Aizanoi (on which, see R. Posamentir and M. Wörrle, Istanbuler Mitteilungen 56, 2006, 227-46, and E. Roels in M. Böttner et al (edd.), 5300 Jahre Schrift, 2017, 50-53). The text is covered with graffiti depicting horsemen, carved by the Çavdar Tatars, who occupied Aizanoi in the 13th century AD. The dossier consists of a letter from the archon of the Panhellenion and the Panhellenes of the 152/3-156/7 AD session announcing that they have honoured Eurykles (OGIS 504), this letter from the Areopagos, a brief letter from Emperor Antoninus Pius to the Panhellenes acknowledging the honours (OGIS 506), and a fourth letter about the honours from the archon of the Panhellenion and the Panhellenes of the 156/7-160/1 AD session to the League of the Greeks of Asia (OGIS 507). For the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215; Aizanoi was a founding member (IGRR IV 562). For decrees of the Areopagos and other Athenian bodies in the first and second centuries AD, see SEG 21.499 with notes.

The Areopagos writes on behalf of the whole Athenian community, apparently without reference to the Council or People. The Areopagos controlled Athens’ correspondence in the Imperial period (cf. IG IV² 1, 83, ll. 17-19), but this, along with the existence of a similar letter recording honours for another Panhellene, Polybios of Sardis, around the same time (see I Sardis VII 2, 319-320), the brevity of Antoninus’ response to the honours in OGIS 506, and the existence of many statue bases for delegates to the Panhellenion, suggests that honours like these were fairly routine. The Aizanians decided to inscribe them in unusual detail, perhaps at Eurykles’ behest (see n. 2) and perhaps also because the honours from the Panhellenion, Emperor, and the Athenian Areopagos brought prestige to their community. On the broader practice of hoarding and displaying letters of praise from prestigious individuals, see J. E. Lendon, Empire of Honour, 1997, 48-49.

The herald of the Areopagos, Nummius Menis of Phaleron, was an ephebic gymnasiarch ca. 115-125 (IG II² 2029, l. 20) and eponymous archon ca. 152-154 AD (Byrne, Roman Citizens, pp. 377-80). The games of the Augusta over which he had presided are not otherwise attested. They might honour Antoninus Pius’ wife Faustina the Elder, who died and was deified in 140 AD (cf. C. Rowan in N. Holmes, XIV International Numismatic Congress, 2012, 991-98), or more likely his daughter, Faustina the Younger, who married the heir Marcus Aurelius in 145 and was promoted to Augusta in 147 AD (cf. IG II² 5210 with E. Sironen, Arctos 23, 1989, 179-81). [2] Marcus Ulpius Appuleius Eurykles is the best known delegate to the Panhellenion and appears to have been typical of them in being wealthy, educated, relatively young, and a leading figure in his own community. His service on the Panhellenion and these honours seem to have jumpstarted a successful career in his home province of Asia (A. J. Spawforth and S. Walker, JRS 75, 1985, 84-90). On his return from Athens in late 157, Eurykles erected a dedication to Antoninus Pius, Hadrian Panhellenios, the Eleusinian Goddesses, Athena Polias, Poseidon, and Amphitrite (SEG 42.1191). He was then high priest of the provincial imperial cult in 161 AD (IGRR IV 564), curator of the Gerousia in Ephesos in 162 or 163 AD (I Ephesos Ia 25), Asiarch (a type of priest, RPC IV.2 1690 and 9536), and then imperial curator to Aphrodisias and high priest once more in the 180s AD (IAph2007 12.538). On his career, see R. Kearsley Antichthon 21, 1987, 49-56, M. Wörrle, Chiron 22 (1992) 349-368. This inscription indicates that he was also an accomplished orator or sophist. This seems to have been typical of Panhellenes: Polybios of Sardis, honoured by the Areopagos for his service as a Panhellene in I Sardis VII 2, 319-320 was also a rhetor and literary critic and his subsequent career was similar to that of Eurykles. Statue bases in honour of Panhellenes generally emphasis their rhetorical prowess (e.g., IG IV 858; Corinth VIII 3, 264), their provincial officeholding (e.g., IG IV 590), or both (e.g. IG VII 106). For the title “most noteworthy” (axiologotatos, not used in any of the other letters of the dossier), see I Sardis VII.2, 319-320 with notes. [3] Neither of these statues is preserved. The grant of permission to set up a statue in Aizanoi, a separate city-state over which Athens had no authority, must be permission for the statue there to be inscribed with the name of the Athenians, rather than permission for it to be erected at all.

Added: 20 May 2023
Updated: 25 Jul 2023
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