IEleus 655 Letter from Gallienus (265 AD)

Letter from Gallienus (265 AD)

I Eleusis 655 Date: 265 AD

Emperor Caesar Publius [Licinius Gallienus Pius] Felix [Augustus, pontifex]^[1] maximus [Germanicus] Maximus, tribunician power for the 14th time, consul [6 times, designated] for the 7th time, father of the fatherland (265 AD), to the [Areopagos] Council and the Council of the [750 (?)^[2] and the People] of the Athenians, uninscribed space greetings. uninscribed space (5)It is sufficient for the [initiates (mustais) coming] to you to get market-provisions (agoran) in town . . . . . . all . . . . . . not the – of the . . . who are arranged . . . . . . in accordance with the memorandum (hupomnēmatismon) [of the Areopagos] [Council . . . ] to the two goddesses . . . (10) . . . throughout town . . . . . . . . . and the same . . . the market . . . the general?^[3] . . . get . . . elect . . . to all . . . the . . . (15) . . . he, having been summoned before the - for the Athenians to stand trial.^[4] Junius Minucianus was the envoy.^[5] Farewell. uninscribed space

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References:

I Eleusis 655 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 26.129 (PHI)

Oliver, Constitutions 288

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Letter (emperor)

Fr. a - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 170)
Fr. b - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 920A)
Fr. c - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 45)
Fr. d - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 480)
Fr. e - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 258)
Fr. f - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 55)
Fr. g - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 196)
Fr. h - Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 808)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This fragmentary inscribed letter from Eleusis was written by the Emperor Gallienus (r. 238-268 AD), who served as Athenian archon, was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries in 264/5 AD (Historia Augusta duo Gallieni 11), and prompted a substantial new Athenian coinage (Agora XXVI, pp. 116-18). The Imperial titulature indicates that this letter dates between 10th and 31st December 265 AD (cf. D. Kienast, W. Eck, M. Heil, Römische Kaisertabelle⁶, 2017, 209-11). It responds to a memorandum of the Areopagos (l. 8, cf. IG IV² 1 82-84 with notes), but presumably arose out of discussions during his visit.

The fragmentary state of the letter makes the topic unclear. Clinton (I Eleus.) suggests that it focussed on ensuring adequate supplies of food and necessities at Eleusis during the Eleusinian Mysteries (esp. ll. 5, 12). For earlier Imperial concern with the supply of necessities at the Mysteries, which was the largest annual event in Greece in the Imperial period, cf. IG II² 1103 with notes. D. Armstrong’s alternative interpretation of the letter as a military edict, initiating the fortification of Eleusis is based on the reference to a general in l. 12 (D. Armstrong, ZPE 70, 1987, 250–251), but does not seem sustainable, since this is probably the Athenian civic official (who was responsible for administration of the food supply in this period) and archaeological evidence for the Late Antique fortifications at Eleusis indicates that they post-date Gallienus (cf. Clinton in I Eleus.). On inscribed Imperial letters, see I Eleusis 513 with notes. [2] By the 270s, the Council had expanded from 500 to 750 members (IG II² 5, 13262, l. 2), but it is unclear whether that had taken place at this time. [3] The hoplite general had responsibility for the food supply in the Imperial period, cf. Geagan, Athenian Constitution after Sulla, 1967, 21-23. [4] In l. 15, those who fail to follow the rules established in the letter are to be summoned for trial before a single official, whose title is unfortunately lost. [5] Marcus Junius Minucianus, who carried out the embassy, was a sophist and member of the genos of the Kerykes, and erected statues of the provincial governor in the 280s (Suda Μ 1087; IG II² 5, 13263-13264). His father Nikagoras was a sophist and Eleusinian sacred herald; his son, also called Nikagoras was dadouch, priest of Asklepios at Epidauros, and left graffiti in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt (G. Fowden, JHS 107, 1987, 51-57; S. Byrne, Roman Citizens, 2003, 336-37). The family epitomises the combination of mystic and philosophical interests characteristic of the Athenian elite in the third and fourth centuries AD. On the naming of the envoy at the end of letters, see IG II² 1114 with notes

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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