OliverMarcusAurelius 20 Statue base for Casianus Antiochos Synesios

Statue base for Casianus Antiochos Synesios

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 20 Date: Early 3rd century AD

For Good Fortune, (this statue of) Casianus Antiochos also called Synesios, in charge of the Mouseion, (5)archon of the Panhellenes, (was erected by) the Areopagos, the Council, and the People.

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Greek text

References:

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 20 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 3712 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (Areopagos, Council, and People)

Findspot: Roman Agora

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is the base for a statue of Casianus Antiochos Synesios of Steiria, member of a prominent family of the second and third centuries AD, whose members somehow used both Julius and Casianus as nomina (see S. Byrne, Roman Citizens, 2003, 314-320, stemma xiv). He may be the sophist Cassianus mentioned by Philostratos as an unworthy aspirant to the chair of rhetoric at Athens (Vit. Soph. 2.33). A funerary heroon was erected for him by his wife Antonina Sokratike (IG II² 13209). The Mouseion is named as the seat of a group of philosophers in IG II² 3810 of the early third century AD. It also appears on a fragmentary statue base from the second or third centuries AD (Agora XVIII 515), and Pantainos was serving as "priest of the philosophical muses" when he dedicated his library in the Athenian Agora in the early second century AD (Agora XVIII 217). It was probably an institution for philosophers in Athens, perhaps linked to Pantainos' library and/or associated with the Hill of the Muses. Similar institutions for scholars and philosophers are attested elsewhere in the Greek world, most famously the Mouseion associated with the Great Library at Alexandria (J. H. Oliver, Hesperia 3, 1934, 191-96). On the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215 with notes. For the connection of the Panhellenion with traditional Greek education, cf. OGIS 504-507 C and I Sardis 319-320 with notes. There are two holes on top of the base for the feet of a statue; the back is worn from secondary use as a threshold.

Added: 21 Jan 2024
Updated: 28 Apr 2025
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ID: AIO_2873