IGII2 3266 Honours for Caligula and Drusilla or Claudius and Messalina

Honours for Caligula and Drusilla or Claudius and Messalina

IG II² 3266 Date: 38-41 AD or 41-48 AD

col. 1

[(This is a statue of) Gaius Caesar Augustus] Germanicus, [great-grandson of the God Augustus, grandson of Tiberius] Augustus, son of [Germanicus Caesar].^[1] . . .

col. 2

⟦(This is a statue of) . . . ⟧ (5) ⟦ . . . ⟧ ⟦ . . . ⟧, the construction having been managed from his [private resources], by her priest, (10) the hoplite general, for the -th time, Gaius Silius Po[lykritos]^[2] uninscribed space

Below columns [The Areopagos Council and the Council of the 600] and the People (erected this statue of) the saviour and [benefactor . . . , Gaius Silius] Polykritos, the [hoplite] [general having managed it], uninscribed space (15) [when the priestess was . . . ] daughter of . . .

In margin of col. 2 Of the winds, according to a prophecy.^[3]

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References:

IG II² 3266 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 59.207

Højte, Statue Bases Caligula 13

Schmalz 142

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

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

Findspot: Acropolis

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: Schmalz restores the erased text in ll. 4-6 as νέαν θεὰν (?) Δρουσίλλαν | Σεβαστὴν Γαΐου Καίσαρ|ος Σεβαστοῦ ἀδελφὴν ("the new goddess (?) Drusilla | Augusta, sister of Gaius Caesar | Augustus"), but see notes below.

This double statue base is inscribed with two columns of text naming a Roman emperor, either Gaius "Caligula" (r. 38-41 AD) or Claudius (r. 41-54 AD) and a female member of the imperial house, whose name has been erased (ll. 1-3 and 4-6, on damnatio memoriae at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1397). The female honorand's priest, Gaius Silius Polykritos, is named as having erected the statue of her in the lower part of col. 2 (ll. 7-11, see n. 2). By analogy, the name of whoever was responsible for the emperor's statue probably appeared below the surviving lines of col. 1. The section of text below both columns names the Athenians as the authority responsible for the statues and names Polykritos (and the other erector?) again (ll. 12-14) and probably the priestess of Athena, within whose sanctuary the monument was likely erected (l. 15). A final section of text in the margin of col. 2 probably derives from a secondary use (l. 16, see n. 3).

The usual interpretation is that this monument honoured Gaius Caligula and his favourite sister Drusilla (S. G. Byrne, Roman Citizens of Athens, 2003, 436; Schmalz, Augustan and Julio-Claudian Athens, 2009, pp. 112-113). In this case, the hoplite generalship of Gaius Silius Polykritos has to fall in 38/39 or 39/40 AD (S. G. Byrne, Roman Citizens of Athens, 2003, p. 538) and the monument would commemorate the deification of Drusilla following her untimely death in 38 AD (see Agora XVIII 257 with notes on her and see IG II² 3267 with notes on commemoration of Caligula at Athens).

The alternative interpretation is that the pair are Claudius and his first wife Valeria Messalina, who was executed for conspiracy in 48 AD (E. Kapetanopoulos, "The Early Expansion of Roman Citizenship into Attica," PhD Yale, 1964, I 328-329). The justification for this is that Drusilla never suffered damnatio memoriae, while Caligula did, which seems inconsistent with the pattern of retentions and erasures on this document. Schmalz objects that the traces of the imperial titulature in col. 1 do not fit Claudius. [2] Gaius Silius Polykritos of Azenia, priest of the female honorand, came from a family that can be traced back to the 130s BC and was related to the Claudii Attici of Marathon (Byrne, Roman Citizens 2003, stemma v). He was also archon in 37/8 AD (IG II² 2292, l. 37). If the monument is associated with Claudius and Messalina rather than Caligula and Drusilla, then Polykritos is likely to have received his Roman citizenship from Gaius Silius, a close associate of Messalina (A. J. S. Spawforth in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, Romanization of Athens, 1997, 189). A descendant erected a statue for Hadrian (IG II² 3315). On priests of the Roman emperors and their family at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1928 with notes. [3] The inscription referring to the winds appears in the margin and seems to relate to a reuse of the base as an altar dedicated to the winds, perhaps of Hadrianic date (cf. IG II³ 4, 1742).

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3791