Verdelis 1 Letter from Septimius Severus and Caracalla to the Panhellenion on the Panhellenia (201 AD)

Letter from Septimius Severus and Caracalla to the Panhellenion on the Panhellenia (201 AD)

Verdélis, Inscriptions 1 Date: July-December 201 AD

[Emperor Caesar, son of the God Marcus] [Antoninus Pius Germanicus] [Sarmaticus, brother of the God Commodus], [grandson of the God Antoninus Pius, descendant of the God] (5)[Hadrian, and of the God Trajan Parthicus, and] [of the God Nerva, Lucius Septimius] [Severus Pius Pertinax] [Augustus Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus] [Maximus, Pontifex Maximus, tribunician] (10)[power 10 times, acclaimed emperor 11 times], [consul twice, designated consul for a third time, father] [of the fatherland, proconsul, and Emperor] [Caesar, son of Lucius Septimius] Severus Pius [Pertinax Augustus Arabicus Adiabenicus] (15)[Parthicus Maximus, grandson of the God] [Marcus Antoninus Pius Augustus] Germanicus Sarmaticus, great-grandson of the God Antoninus Pius, descendant of the God Hadrian, and of the God Trajan Parthicus, (20)and of the God Nerva, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Augustus, tribunician power 4 times, designated consul (July-December 201), proconsul, to the Panhellenion, greetings.^[1] Cocceius Timasarchos, your archon, (25)made clear to us that some athletes, having scorned the games, sailed past Athens, and we renew . . . and^[2]

References:

Verdélis, Inscriptions 1 (Translated text) (Persée)

Oliver, Marcus Aurelius 21

Oliver, Constitutions 245

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Letter (emperors)

Findspot: Roman Agora (Athens Ephoria ΡΑ 598)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: AIO follows the text of Verdélis, including the restorations of the Imperial titulature in ll. 1-12, which are widely paralleled, but restore the expected τὸ Ιʹ ("10 times") in l. 10, instead of τὸ Δ' ("4 times"), which appears to be a typo.

This is a letter from Emperor Septimius Severus and his thirteen-year-old son and co-regent Caracalla (regnal name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) sent to the Panhellenion in the second half of 201 AD. The date is indicated by the full imperial titulature. From 197 AD, Severus claimed to be the posthumously adopted son of Marcus Aurelius and brother of Commodus. On inscribed Imperial letters at Athens, see I Eleusis 513; on the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215 with notes. [2] The scorned games (ll. 25-27) are the Panhellenia, which were created by Hadrian and held by the Panhellenion at Athens every four years in summer shortly before the Olympic Games (SEG 56.1359, ll. 73-74). They held the status of "crown games", the highest-ranking category of Panhellenic competition. The Panhellenia Games are mentioned in several athletes' victory dedications (e.g. IG II³ 4, 613-614, 628-630). The Athenian ephebes and probably other groups received distributions of money at the festival (IG II² 2221 = Wilson, Ephebic Inscriptions, E.283, ll. 153-155; SEG 60.162). A set of letters from Alexandria Troas, show that Hadrian rearranged festival calendars throughout Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy, so that athletes and musicians could attend the whole circuit of crown games (SEG 56.1359, cf. C.P.Jones, ZPE 161, 2007, 145-56). Attendance nevertheless seems to have been a persistent problem. This inscription reports that they skipped the Panhellenia of 200/1 AD, apparently sailing straight from Asia Minor to the more prestigious Olympic Games (J.-Y. Strasser, REG 123, 2010-2012, 617), in such numbers that Marcus Cocceius Timasarchus of Rhodes, who was archon of the Panhellenion from 198 to 201 AD, travelled to discuss the matter with the emperors at Antioch, where they were based at the time (A. R. Birley, Septimius Severus, 1999, 139-140). Their response is almost entirely lost, but they probably renew the sanctions outlined in SEG 60.162, a letter from an unknown pair of emperors dealing with the same issue (unless they are two parts of the same letter). The problem was not unique to the Panhellenia; a letter of Trajan seems to address the same problem in relation to games at Miletos (Milet VI.3 1072, with B. Fauconnier, Athletes and Artists, 2023, 320-321). The archons of the Panhellenion usually also served as competition-director (agonothetes) of the Panhellenia festival that fell during their tenure, so Timasarchos had probably funded the failed games himself. He also served as agonothetes of the Great Halieia at Rhodes three times and of the Olympic Games once (Parola del Passato 5 (1950) 76,1, H. W. Pleket, ZPE 20, 1976, 7-8). His appearance as archon in this inscription is the only evidence for Rhodes' membership in the Panhellenion.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_2849