AgoraXVI 336 Council decree on divine honours for Augustus

Council decree on divine honours for Augustus

Agora XVI 336 Date: ca. 24/3-20/19 BC?

Fragment a

[The Council decided], Aiantis^X was the prytany . . . was secretary . . . -ios was chairman . . . was archon.^[1] [Antipatros] son of Antipatros of Phlya proposed:^[2] whatever the People previously voted to be done (5) for Emperor Caesar Augustus . . . . . . with the previous honours . . . . . . to hold a festival on the twelfth [of Boedromion], [Caesar's] birthday, [with sacrifices, just] [as we observe] the seventh day as sacred to Apollo.^[3] (10) . . . are at public cost (dēmoteleis) . . . ^[4] . . . being present . . . . . . purifying . . . . . .

Fragment b

(15) . . . . . . . . . . . . altar . . . . . . but . . . (20) . . . through . . . . . . being, whatever . . . . . . scrutinised . . . . . . whatever . . . . . . equal-to-Pythian [games?] . . . ^[5] (25) . . . most conspicuous . . . . . . and in . . . . . . penteteric or saviour . . . ^[6] . . .

Fragment c

(30) . . . . . . . . . . . . the . . . . . . (35) . . .

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References:

Agora XVI 336 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 1071 (PHI)

SEG 17.34 (fr. b-c)

Schmalz 8

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2)
Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Council)

Frag. a - Findspot: Athens (Library of Hadrian) (EM 5314)
Frag. b - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 2619)
Frag. c - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 5334)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a decree of the Council augmenting honours for the Emperor Caesar Augustus granted by the People at some previous point. The best-preserved portion of the decree deals with a festival for Augustus' birthday (see n. 3). The rest of the decree probably addresses the details of that festival, but it is possible that it outlines additional honours. On the cult of Augustus at Athens, cf. IG II³ 4, 10, 1928, SEG 29.167, A. J. Spawforth in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, The Romanization of Athens (1997), 183-201, and M. Kantiréa, Les dieux et les dieux Augustes, 2007. For other decrees relating to the Imperial cult at Athens, see Agora XVI 340-341, and Agora XV 460 (all late second or early third century AD), and Oliver, Constitutions 78 (passed by the Achaian League).

The date of this decree is uncertain; it must be after Caesar received the title Augustus in 27 BC. The archon’s name in l. 2 is not preserved, but must consist of 9 letters. A number of inscriptions from this archonship survive, suggesting a particularly active year (SEG 28.161, 47.143b, I Eleusis 300, Agora XV 281 and 291). The expansion or institution of cult for Augustus could be one of the year's initiatives (see G. Schmalz, GRBS 37, 1996, 381-98). Alternatively or additionally, the decree may be connected with a mysterious incident during Augustus’ second visit to Athens in 21/0 BC in which the statue of Athena on the Acropolis was said to have spat blood at Rome (Dio Cassius 54.7). This decree might have formed part of the reconciliation which occurred when Augustus visited Athens again in 20/19 BC (Dio Cassius 54.9.7-10, Donatus, Life of Virgil 35; Stamires = SEG 17.34 and Geagan AJP 100, 1979, 62-65).

The inscription has a number of archaising features, including the use of the stoichedon format (this is the last decree in the format) and the formulae in the prescript (ll. 1-2), both modelled on decrees of the 5th and early 4th centuries BC (see S. D. Lambert, in E. Mackil and N. Papazarkadas, Greek Epigraphy and Religion, 2021, p. 99, comparing with AIUK 4.2 (BM Decrees), no. 17). The restoration as a Council decree is based on the stoichedon format. On decrees of the Council and People in the period between the Sullan sack in 86 BC and the death of Augustus in AD 14, noting the prominence of Council decrees in this period, see I Rhamnous 423 with notes. [2] Antipatros of Phlya was a key figure in Augustan-period Athens, serving as hoplite general on seven occasions. He is the earliest Athenian active at Athens known to have received Roman citizenship (under the patronage of Augustus' second-in-command, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, likely during the latter's visit to Athens in 16 BC), which might be connected to his role in instituting the cultic honours for Augustus here. See AIUK 2 (BSA) pp. 20-22. [3] Honouring rulers with birthday festivals became a common part of Greek ruler cult in the early Hellenistic period (e.g. OGIS 222 [translation]). The only example from Hellenistic Athens is IG II² 1330 for King Ariarathes V and Queen Nysa of Cappadocia (ca. 157-130 BC). The Athenians may have taken their lead from the Roman Senate, which added Augustus’ birthday to the celebrations of the Arval Brothers in 30 BC (Dio Cassius 51.19.2; I. Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, 2002, 130-131). Other Greek communities instituted similar honours around the same time as this decree (e.g. Mytilene in IG XII.2 58, l. 21 [translation], ca. 20 BC). A proconsular edict in 9 BC, instituting a common calendar for the province of Asia, made Augustus' birthday the first day of the year (IK Priene 14). See generally S. Price, Ritual and Power (1984), esp. 54-62. The restoration of ‘Boedromion’ (l. 7) is certain; it is the only month that fits the space. 12 Boedromion roughly coincides with Augustus’ birthday on 23 September, but was also a significant day for Athens, as the day before the start of the Eleusinian Mysteries (for their chronology, see AIUK 4.2 (BM Decrees), pp. 134-36), into which Augustus had been initiated in 31 BC (Plut. Life of Antony 67), and the date of celebratory sacrifices commemorating the restoration of the democracy in 403 BC (Plut. De glor. Ath. 349f.). See M. Kantiréa, Les dieux et les dieux augustes (2007), pp. 46-47. The celebrations for Augustus are modelled on festivities held on the seventh day of each month, Apollo's birthday (J. D. Mikalson, Sacred and Civil Calendar, 1975, 13-14, 19). Augustus was associated with Apollo in Rome (e.g. P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, 1988, 49-53) and in Athens, where he was also honoured as ‘New Apollo’ (cf. SEG 29.167) and shared his cult with Apollo (cf. T. Mavroyannis, Ostraka 4, 1995, 85-102 = SEG 45.223). [4] L. 10 probably refers to publicly funded sacrifices. [5] If restored correctly, l. 24 institutes a set of games in honour of Augustus, with the same status as the Pythian Games, the Panhellenic games held at Delphi in honour of Apollo – another instance of assimilation of Augustus to Apollo. Games for Augustus at Athens are recorded in IG II² 1069 and possibly SEG 29.167. The Athenians had already established festival games in honour of the Roman commanders Sulla and Marcus Antonius earlier in the first century BC (IG II² 1006+1039, l. 58; 1043, ll. 22-23). [6] ‘Penteteric’ would indicate a festival held every four years, like the Panathenaia. Saviour (soter) was one of the epithets used in the cult of Augustus at Athens (cf. IG II³ 4, 10).

Added: 12 Dec 2022
Updated: 17 Sep 2025
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