SEG 29.167 Honours for Augustus Caesar the New Apollo

Honours for Augustus Caesar the New Apollo

SEG 29.167 Date: 21-19 BC?

[(This statue of) Augustus] Caesar, [the New] Apollo,^[1] (was erected by) Pos[eidoni]os son of Deme[trios] of Phlya, having been competition director (agōnothetēs) among the ephebes of him.^[2]

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References:

SEG 29.167 (Translated text) (PHI)

IG II² 3262 (PHI)

IG II² 4725 (PHI)

Højte, Statue Bases Augustus 127

Schmalz 127

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Base

Inscription type: Statue base (competition-director)

a - Findspot: Unknown (EM 2844)
b - Findspot: Unknown (EM 3130)
c - Findspot: Unknown (EM 4561)
d - Findspot: Unknown (EM 4929)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This fragmentary inscription is the upper part of a statue base for Augustus as the New Apollo, perhaps to be associated with Augustus' visit to Athens in 21/0 BC (D. Ρeppa-Delmouzou, AJP 100, 1979, 125-132) or 19 BC (Schmalz). On Augustus and Athens, see SEG 29.168 with notes. There is a large deep cutting on top for the insertion of a marble statue, probably with its left foot forward. Augustus was closely associated with Apollo in iconography and cult, as the young son of a god (Zeus / the deified Julius Caesar), a force of order in opposition to the Dionysiac Marcus Antonius, and because his final victory at Actium had taken place beneath a Temple of Apollo (e.g. P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, 1988, 49-53; M. Kantiréa, Les dieux et les dieux augustes, 2007, 93-98). In Athens the celebrations for his birthday were modelled on this of Apollo (cf. Agora XVI 336 with notes). The Athenians linked Augustus in to their worship of Apollo on Athenian-administered Delos (I Délos 1588-1591; T. Mavroyannis, Ostraka 4, 1995, 85-102 = SEG 45.223), and at Delphi (Choix de Delphes 213). Several other Imperial figures are identified in inscriptions as the "new" versions of deities in Athenian inscriptions: Marcus Antonius "the New Dionysos" (IG II² 1043, l. 23), Gaius Casear the New Ares (IG II² 3250), Drusus the Younger as the New God Ares (IG II² 3257), Julia Drusilla as the New Aphrodite (Agora XVIII 257), Nero as the New Apollo (IG II² 3278, SEG 32.252, 44.165, Peek Attische Inschriften 45, no. 60), and Antoninus Pius "the New Dionysos" (AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees), no. 9). Non-Imperial benefactors were identified as the "new" versions of historical figures like Homer and Themistokles, see IG II² 1069 with notes. Imperial figures are also often outright identified with deities: Augustus as Zeus Boulaios (I Eleusis 297), Livia as Artemis (?) Boulaia (Agora XVIII 254), Livia as Augustan Foresight (IG II² 3238), Livia as Nemesis (?) (I Rhamnous 156), Claudius as Apollo Patroos (IG II² 3242), Domitian as Zeus Eleutherios (IG II² 1996), Trajan as Zeus Eleutherios (Raubitschek Hadrian 1), and Hadrian frequently as Olympios (Benjamin, Altars of Hadrian 7). [2] Poseidonios also appears in a late first-century BC list of ephebes (IG II² 1964, l. 2). The inscription seems to indicate that there were ephebic games in honour of Augustus at this date. These are not otherwise attested and were perhaps one-off games associated with a visit by Augustus (F. Lozano Gómez, La Religion de Podér (2002), 38-42). This is the earliest evidence for games in honour of a Roman emperor at Athens. Regular ephebic games for members of the Imperial family are first attested for Germanicus in 45/6 AD (IG II² 1969, ll. 24-25). Regular, non-ephebic games connected with the Imperial cult appear at Athens under Claudius (see IG II² 3270 with notes).

Added: 24 Jul 2026
Updated: 24 Jul 2026
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ID: AIO_3825