AIO 3829 Honours for Augustus Caesar Zeus Boulaios

Honours for Augustus Caesar Zeus Boulaios

AIO 3829 Date: 27 BC – 14 AD

[(This statue of) Augustus] Caesar Zeus Boulaios [and . . . ] [ . . . (was erected by)] his priest and . . . [ . . . and herald] of the Council and People . . . [son of - ] of Trikorynthos . . . (5) . . .

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References:

AIO 3829 (Translated text) (AIO)

SEG 47.218 (PHI)

Højte, Statue Bases Augustus 141

I Eleusis 297 (PHI)

Schmalz 115

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Cornell - (1)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (priest)

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 887)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: AIO follows the text of I Eleusis, except for two restorations. In l. 2 Clinton, I Eleusis restores ἀ̣[γωνοθέτης?] (“competition director,” as an additional title of the dedicator), while Schmalz proposes Ἀ[θηνᾶν βουλ]|[αίον (“Athena Boulaia,” as an additional statue). Both seem possible but speculative. In ll. 3-4, Clinton restores the dedicator as Καλλι]|[κρατίδης Συνδρόμου Τρικ]ο̣ρ̣ύ̣σ̣[ιος and Schmalz as Οἰνό]|[φιλος Καλλικρατίδου Τρικ]ο̣ρ̣ύ̣σ̣[ιος, see note below.

This is a statue base for the emperor Augustus (r. 31 BC – 14 AD), erected by a priest of the emperor. The identification of the emperor with Zeus Boulaios ("of counsel") mirrors the role of the dedicator as herald of the Council (Clinton) and the identification of his wife Livia with a goddess Boulaia in Agora XVIII 254 (Schmalz). Clinton identifies the dedicator as Kallikratides of Trikorynthos, who was herald of the Council and People and held other important roles in the third quarter of the first century BC (see Agora XV 286 with notes). If this is correct, then the inscription should date shortly after 27 BC when the emperor assumed the name Augustus and this would be the earliest evidence for a cult of Augustus at Athens (K. Clinton in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, The Romanization of Athens, 1997, 166-67). However, the name is restored and Schmalz suggests instead identifying the dedicator as Kallikratides’ adoptive son Oinophilos, archon of 28/9 AD and dates the inscription to the late Augustan period. On Augustus and Athens, see SEG 29.168, on his ruler cult, see IG II³ 4, 10, and on priests of the Roman emperors and their family at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1928 with notes. On commemoration of Roman emperors and their families at Eleusis, see I Eleusis 296 with notes; K. Clinton in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, The Romanization of Athens, 1994, 161-82.

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3829