OliverConstitutions 209 Letter from Commodus on a festival (186/7)

Letter from Commodus on a festival (186/7)

Oliver, Constitutions 209 Date: 186/7 AD

Fragment abcd

[Emperor Caesar, son of the God Marcus Aurelius Antoninus] Pius^[1] [Germanicus Sarmaticus, grandson of the God Pius, great-grandson of the God] Hadrian, descendant [of the God] Trajan Parthicus [and the God Nerva], ⟦Marcus⟧^[2] [⟦Aurelius Commodus⟧] Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus Sarmaticus (5)Germanicus Maximus Britannicus, pontifex maximus tribunician power for the 12th time (186/7 AD), acclaimed emperor [8 times, consul 5 times, father] of the fatherland, to the Areopagos Council and the Council of the Five Hundred and the People of the Athenians, [greetings] . . . gladly . . . (10) . . . spent time . . .

Fragment efg

. . . and to celebrate the festival together [ . . . send a copy of?] these (letters) on these matters also to my procurator (epitropōi)^[3] [Farewell (?). The advisors were] ⟦[Au]f[idius Vict]o[r]i[nus]⟧; Acilius Glabrio [who were my fellow consuls in consulships]; Aurelius Cleander my tutor (tropheus) (15) and the one in [charge of my bedchamber and] assigned the protection (pistin) of my body [with a sword; Aurelius] Larichos, my friend and the one entrusted with the role (taxin) of letters [in the Greek language]; Julius Candidus . . . the one tasked with protection (prostasian) of the general accounts . . . ; Aurelius . . . ^[4]

Previous - Oliver, Constitutions 207 Next - Oliver, Constitutions 210

References:

Oliver, Constitutions 209 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1109 (PHI)

IG II² 2771 (PHI)

IG II² 3412 (PHI)

SEG 26.128 (PHI)

SEG 59.138

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Krateros - (1, 2)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Letter (emperor)

Fr. a - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 9503)
Fr. b - Findspot: West of the City Eleusinion (Ag. I 3025b)
Fr. c - Findspot: Agora (Ag. I 4077)
Fr. d - Findspot: Unknown (EM 3428)
Fr. e - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 9512)
Fr. f - Findspot: Unknown (EM 2381)
Fr. g - Findspot: Unknown (EM 10006/7)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: AIO follows the text presented by Oliver, Constitutions. S. Follet, Athènes, 1976, 24-25 (= SEG 26.128) and S. Follet and D. Peppas-Delmousou, BCH 133, 2009, 411 (= SEG 59.138) offer alternative restorations of the gap between the two fragments in the lower portion, which seem to be too short relative to those in the upper portion of the stone. In ll. 13-14, they followed earlier scholars in restoring the consular date Μ. Αὐρ. ⟦Κόμμοδος Σεβαστὸ⟧ς̣ τ̣[ὸ] ε̣ʹ, Ἀκείλιος | Γλαβρίω[ν ὑπάτευον (“farewell (?)] M(arcus) Aur(elius) ⟦Commodus Augustus⟧] for the 5th time, Acilius Glabrio [were consuls”). This is inconsistent with the traces visible on fragment f.

These fragments derive from the beginning and end of an Imperial letter from the Emperor Commodus (r. 177-192 AD), which apparently dealt with a festival. The fact that Commodus begins his response in l. 9 with "gladly" suggests that the Athenians had awarded him some honours which he now accepted (and perhaps moderated, cf. AIO 3644, ll. 55-64, with notes). On inscribed Imperial letters, see I Eleusis 513.

Commodus visited Athens and was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries along with his father Marcus Aurelius in 176 AD (I Eleusis 503, l. 15-16, 516, l. 7). He maintained a close relationship with the city throughout his reign, serving as archon in absentia in 188/9 (Agora XV 416, 418-419; S. G. Byrne, Roman Citizens of Athens, 2003, 509) and festival commander (panegyriarch) for the Eleusinian Mysteries ca. 190/1 (I Eleusis 514). Other inscribed letters from him include AIO 3644 (a dossier on the establishment of the Gerousia), I Eleusis 513 (in which he accepts appointment as archon of the genos of the Kerykes), as well as the fragmentary Oliver, Constitutions 207 and 210. The ephebes celebrated a Commodeia festival in his honour (AIO Papers 12, pp. 40-44). The only surviving statue base dedicated to him is IG II² 3393. Commodus suffered damnatio memoriae in 193 AD after his assassination, but was rehabilitated by the Emperor Severus in 197 AD. In most Athenian inscriptions his name has been thus erased and then reinscribed; see IG II² 2119 with notes for details. On Commodus’ relations with Athens, see G. Mitropoulos in A. Kouremenos, The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE (2022), 143-65. [2] A procurator (epitropos) managed affairs, often financial, on behalf of the emperor. [3] Under Commodus, Imperial letters begin listing the members of the Imperial council (consilium), the informal group of advisors who had met with Commodus to help formulate the decision (J.H. Oliver, AJPh 71 (1950) 177-179; on this Imperial council, see F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 1992, 119-22; it also appears in Oliver, Constitutions 207 and perhaps 193–203). Gaius Aufidius Victorinus was consul in 155 AD and in 183 AD with Commodus as his colleague, and served as Urban prefect of Rome, but apparently fell from favour after this and committed suicide (Cass. Dio 73.11), which might explain why his name has been erased (cf. n. 2 above). Manius Acilius Glabrio was consul with Commodus as his colleague in 186 AD (i.e. earlier in the year of this inscription). Cleander (ll. 4-5), an Imperial freedman, was the dominant figure in Commodus’ administration from 182 AD until rioters forced Commodus to execute him in 190 AD. He eventually rose to the position of praetorian prefect, but here he is still a cubiculo et a pugione (chamberlain and personal bodyguard). Literary sources on him are unanimously hostile. Aurelius Larichos was the ab epistulis graecis, the official in charge of Greek correspondence (and apparently an Imperial freedman), while Julius Candidus, who also appears in IG II² 1114, appears to be the a rationibus, the official in charge of the Imperial finances.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
Feedback

ID: AIO_3657