AIO 2736 Base for Septimius Severus

Base for Septimius Severus

AIO 2736 Date: 193-211 AD

With good [fortune] [To Saviour Emperor] Lucius Septimius [Severus Pertinax Pius] [Felix Augustus . . . ], Hippodame (dedicated this statue) . . . . . . Athena or Athenian or Athenaios . . . ^[1] . . .

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Greek text

References:

AIO 2736 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 34.184 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base

Findspot: Athens, near Roman Agora (?) (Athens Ephoria ΡΑ 763)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: AIO follows the text of Oikonomides (BASP 21, 1984, 179-180 = SEG 34.184), excluding the restoration of ll. 2-4 Ἱπποδάμη̣ [ἱέρεια Ἰουλίας Σεβαστῆς τῆς] | [Ἀθηνῶν Σωτείρας κ]αὶ Ἀθηνᾶ[ς Πολιάδος θύσασα καὶ καλλιερή]|[σασα ὑπὲρ ἔργου μείζ]ονος κ[αὶ σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ καὶ νείκης] "Hippodame [priestess of Julia Augusta the ]|[ saviour of Athens] and of Athena [Polias (dedicated this statue), having sacrificed and obtained] | [good omens about a greater work and his salvation and victory]." The identification of Hippodame is possible (see below), but there is no parallel for the title and formulation.

This fragmentary cylindrical base, found near the Roman Agora, was dedicated to the Emperor Septimius Severus (reigned 193-211 AD). The small base supported a votive of some kind, apparently not a statue (Oikonomides). The titulature (as restored) and the apparent absence of Severus' sons, Caracalla and Geta, suggests a date early in his reign. Eight other Athenian statue bases and dedications for the Severans survive: I Eleusis 517, and IG II² 3417 for him alone; I Eleusis 518 for him and his empress Julia Domna; AIUK 7 (Chatsworth), no. 2 and probably IG II² 3418 for Domna alone; SEG 34.185 for Severus and his son and co-regent Caracalla; SEG 33.180 for his other son and co-regent Geta; IG II³ 4, 1397 for the whole family; and I Eleusis 630, for the Praetorian Prefect, Plautianus. Most of these seem to have originally been located on the Acropolis or at Eleusis. The monuments show a greater emphasis on the Imperial family group than in the preceding Nerva-Antonine period. This emphasis on the whole family is also clear in Athenian decrees instituting cult honours for Severus, Caracalla, Domna, and Geta (Agora XVI 340-341; Agora XV 460) and was part of the regime's self-representation throughout the Empire under Septimius Severus (see C. Rowan, Under Divine Auspices, 2013, 91-93; A. M. Kemezis, Greek Narratives of the Roman Empire under the Severans, 2014, 55-74). Honours for emperors become rare at Athens following Severus' death in 211; there are a few references to Alexander Severus (r. 222-235) and Gordian III (r. 238-244) in catalogues of ephebes and prytaneis (SEG 26.184, 192; Agora XV 491; IG II² 2242), but no further imperial images are attested at Athens until I Eleusis 647 and IG II² 3420 for Maximinius Thrax (r. 235-238).

The erector of this base, Hippodame, is not otherwise attested; Oikonomides suggests that she was the priestess of Athena Polias, whose cult was closely associated with that of Domna by Agora XVI 340-341 (see textual note and compare IG II² 3418). In that case, this statue might have originally stood on the Acropolis and then rolled down the north slope to its findspot, somewhere around the Roman Agora.

Added: 28 Jul 2023
Updated: 28 Jul 2023
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ID: AIO_2736