IEleus 354 Architrave of building for ⟦Agrippina Minor⟧

Architrave of building for ⟦Agrippina Minor⟧

I Eleusis 354 Date: 50-59 AD

Her priest, [Tiberius Claudius] Eukles son of Sostratos of – (dedicated this) to Julia ⟦ . . . ⟧ Augusta.^[1]

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References:

I Eleusis 354 (Translated text) (PHI)

SEG 47.221 (PHI)

Schmalz 156

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Cornell - (1)
Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Epistyle

Inscription type: Building inscription, Dedication (public, priest), Dedication (public, empress)

Findspot: Eleusis (Eleusis Museum E 1107)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription appears on the entablature block from a building, which it dedicated to an empress, whose name has been erased. She is probably Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula, second wife of Claudius, and mother of Nero, who received the title of Augusta in 50 AD and was murdered by her son in 59 AD (K. Clinton in M. C. Hoff and S. I. Rotroff, Romanization of Athens, 1997, 170-71). Agrippina may also have been honoured in Agora XVIII 255. Her name would have been erased as part of the condemnation of her memory after her murder in 59 AD (for other instances of damnatio memoriae at Athens, see IG II³ 4, 1397). M. Kantiréa argues instead that the honorand is Livia, wife of Augustus, who bore the name Julia Augusta from 14 AD (Les dieux et les dieux augustes, 2007, 80-81), but the erasure is then unexplained. 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. Clinton identifies the colonnaded building near where this block was found as a shrine of the Imperial cult (see I Eleusis 361 with notes). There is anathyrosis on the left-hand side for the attachment of another block.

Tiberius Claudius Eukles was perhaps a relative of the family of Herodes Atticus. He also erected I Eleusis 355. His nomen Claudius indicates that he received Roman citizenship under Claudius or Nero. It is possible, but far from certain, that he is a relative the Claudii of Marathon (W. Ameling, Herodes Atticus 1983 II 63).

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3759