IGII2 3238 Honours for Livia as the goddess Augustan Foresight

Honours for Livia as the goddess Augustan Foresight

IG II² 3238 Date: ca. 14 AD

(This statue of) Julia the goddess Augustan Foresight (Sebastēn Pronoian) (was erected by) The Council of the Areopagos and the Council of the Six Hundred and the People,^[1] Dionysios son of Aulos of Marathon (5) having dedicated it from his own resources, when the market-inspectors (agoranomountōn) were the same Dionysios of Marathon and Quintus Naevius Rufus of Melite.^[2]

Previous - IG II² 3230 Next - IG II² 3251

References:

IG II² 3238 (Translated text)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

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

Findspot: Roman Agora, by the Gate of Athena Archegetis (EM 10355)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a base of poros stone for a statue of Livia, wife of the emperor Augustus and mother of emperor Tiberius (r. 14-39 AD). She received the name Julia Augusta after Augustus’ death in 14 AD, so this monument must date to Tiberius’ reign, when she was frequently commemorated as the mother of the reigning emperor, especially in the provinces (O. Hekster, Emperors and Ancestors, 2015, 119-121). Livia is here equated with the divine personification of foresight (‘pronoia’). A temple for Livia Augusta Pronoia is also attested in IG XII Supp. 124 from Lesbos in the reign of Tiberius. The epithet responds to the altar of Providentia Augusta (“Augustan Foresight”) established by Tiberius in the Campus Martius in Rome in 14 AD to commemorate Augustus’ foresight in choosing Tiberius as his heir. The altar is depicted on Tiberius’ early bronze coinage (RIC I² Tiberius 80-81), alongside coins depicting Livia (RIC I² Tiberius 71-73; see R. T. Scott, Historia 31, 1982, 436-459). Livia was also commemorated at Athens in IG II² 3240-3241, I Eleusis 296, I Rhamnous 156, SEG 22.152, and perhaps SEG 35.146. Seats in the Theatre of Dionysos refer to a priestess of Livia and another of the joint-cult of Hestia on the Acropolis, Livia, and Augustus’ daughter Julia (IG II³ 4, 1952, 1997). [2] The statue was found by the Gate of Athena Archegetis, the western entrance to the Roman Agora (see IG II³ 4, 12), which served as a commercial centre in the Roman Imperial period and was managed by the market-inspectors (agoranomoi), whose managed commerce in the Roman Agora and later had an office there (see IG II² 3391 with notes). Aulos, father of the funder Dionysios, bears a Roman praenomen as his personal name (Latin Aulus), but Dionysios was apparently not a Roman citizen since he does not bear the tria nomina and he was not necessarily of Roman origin (cf. IG II³ 4, 275 with notes). On the other hand, Quintus Naevius Rufus does have the tria nomina and therefore possessed both Roman and Athenian citizenship. His tombstone is SEG 13.86.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
Feedback

ID: AIO_3702