AgoraXVIII 379 Statue base for Regilla

Statue base for Regilla

Agora XVIII 379 Date: 160-161 AD

[(This statue of) Appia Annia Re]gill[a] [Ati]lia [Caucidia Tertulla], daughter of Ap[pius, consul], pontifex, wife of [Herodes] of Marathon (5)the consul and interpreter (exēgētou),^[1] (was erected by) Flavius Sulpicianus Dorion archon of the Panhellenes (161-165) for the consolation of a friend.^[2]

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Greek text

References:

Agora XVIII 379 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 4076 (PHI)

Raubitschek, Greek Inscriptions 1943 22

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 11

Ameling, Herodes Atticus II 133

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Agora Excavations - (1, 2)

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base

a - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 3461)
b - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 3486)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is a statue base erected in the Agora by Sulpicius Dorion for Regilla, who died in mysterious circumstances in which her husband, the second-century AD Athenian sophist and magnate Herodes Atticus was implicated (see I Eleusis 476, which this inscription imitates). Philostratos Vit. Soph. 2.1.6 seems to place the death during Regilla’s brother’s consulship (160 AD) and IG XIV 1392 before the death of Antoninus Pius (March 161 AD), but this inscription must post-date the beginning of Sulpicianus Dorion’s archonship in autumn 161 AD (cf. J. Tobin, Herodes Atticus and the City of Athens, 1997, 81 n. 52). Perhaps Dorion had chosen to wait until Herodes' acquittal before monumentalising his support for his friend. [2] The erector of this statue, Flavius Sulpicianus Dorion of Hierapytna in Crete was archon of the Panhellenion from 161 to 165 AD. On the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215 with notes. The Cretan League, a confederation of all Cretan cities, participated in the Panhellenion as a unit. Dorion’s successor as archon of the Panhellenion, Flavius Xenion was also Cretan (see I Eleusis 491) and other Cretan Panhellenes are known from in IC I xviii 56 and SEG 28.740. Dorion’s family history illustrates how engagement with the Panhellenion could form part of a family’s upward social mobility (A. Spawforth and S. Walker, JRS 75, 1985, 91). His father had been part of the provincial aristocracy, serving as high priest of Cretan Leage in 129 AD (I Cret. IV 275). Dorion himself erected statues of the emperors and his own family at Hierapytna (I Cret. III.3, 16-18, 20-21) and was honoured with a statue at Gortyn (SEG 38.907). His son, L. Flavius Sulpicianus Polymnis, became a Roman praetor (I Cret. III.3 21) and governor of Bithynia et Pontus (IC III 20). A possible brother, the consular Sulpicianus Flaccus, was urban prefect at Rome for his father-in-law, emperor Pertinax (reigned Jan.-Mar. 193 AD), and attempted to claim the imperial throne after his death. Dorion’s friendship with Herodes Atticus may also have played a role in the family’s rise (I. Romeo ASAA 70-71, 1998, 336).

Added: 21 Jan 2024
Updated: 21 Jan 2024
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ID: AIO_2876