IGII2 3739 The ephebes honour their superintendent, 141/2 AD

The ephebes honour their superintendent, 141/2 AD

IG II² 3739 Date: AD 141/2

The ephebes in the archonship of P(ublius) Aelius Phileas of Melite (141/2 AD) (honoured) their own superintendent (kosmētēn) Sosistratos (son of Sosistratos) of Marathon (5) on account of the good will (eunoias) which he maintained towards them,^[1]

phallus

the trainer being (paidotribountos) for life Abaskantos son of Eumolpos of (10) Kephisia.^[2]

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References:

IG II² 3739 (Translated text) (PHI)

Wilson, Ephebic Inscriptions E.037

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Images: Wikimedia Commons - (1)

Monument type: Herm

Inscription type: Herm

Original location: [Diogeneion]

Findspot: Athens, St. Demetrios Katephores (NM 385)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This is an honorific herm set up by the ephebes of 141/2 AD for their superintendent (kosmetes), Publius Aelius Phileas. The text appeared on the herm's shaft and the head, which survives, is a portrait of Phileas himself. The superintendent was the annual magistrate in charge of the ephebate in the Roman period (see AIO Papers 12 sect. 2.1), as in the Classical and Hellenistic periods (for the Classical ephebate, see RO 89, for the Post-Sullan period, see IG II² 1039). As manager of the ephebate, the superintendent organised and led the ephebes in processions (AIUK 4.2 (BM), no. 17, ll. 10-12, 19-24), oversaw building works in the ephebes’ headquarters, the Diogeneion gymnasium (see IG II² 3741, IG II³ 4, 416) and acted as the interface between the ephebes and the rest of the civic government (see IG II² 3737). He was also meant to act as a role model, ensuring that the ephebes developed the proper decorum (kosmiotes) of an adult male citizen (see SEG 50.155 for an ephebic oration articulating this). In the Hellenistic period, the superintendent had been honoured at the end of his term with a bronze statue or a painting (IG II² 1006, ll. 86-88, 95-96; 1039, l. 36). This practice seems to have ceased at the end of the first century BC, but in the second century AD, the ephebes began to set up herms in the superintendents’ honour (see AIO Papers 12 sect. 1.4). Around seventy of these herms survive. The earliest examples are AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 6 (108/9 AD) and IG II² 2023 (112-114 AD); the latest are IG II² 3768 and 3769 (240s AD). Herms were an appropriate monument for honouring the superintendent because Hermes was the god of the gymnasium and because herms were considered to be a quintessentially Attic type of monument. In this case, the herm is erected by the ephebes as a collective; it is more common for the sons of the superintendent, serving as ephebes, to do this (e.g. IG II² 2048). The inscription on this herm is relatively brief, emphasising the virtue of good will (eunoia). Other herms honour the superintendent for glory, decorum, excellence, and usefulness (kleos, kosmiotes, arete, chrestotes). But the inscriptions can be much more extensive, especially in the third century AD, often including a poem in praise of the superintendent and lists of ephebic staff, gymnasiarchs, even full catalogues of all the ephebes in the cohort (e.g. IG II² 2193). Like most of the surviving ephebic herms, this inscription was found in excavations under St. Demeterios Katephores among the material taken from the ephebes’ headquarters, the Diogeneion gymnasium, to be incorporated into the Post-Herulian wall. In most cases, the heads of the herms were separated from their shafts, in order to be used in a different part of the wall. This herm is one of three where the head remained connected or has been reunited with its shaft (cf. IG II² 2021 and 3744). The portrait combines motifs from fourth-century BC portraits of Attic orators, like the full but carefully trimmed beard, with motifs used in Imperial portraiture, like the long, curly hair and the direction of the figure’s gaze up and to the right. This combination of classical democratic and contemporary imperial elements does not seem to have been considered incongruous or problematic; it is characteristic of the whole set of portrait heads (see R. Krumeich in B. E. Borg, Paideia, 2008, 131-56). Although most ephebic herms honoured the superintendent (kosmetes), they could also be erected for his deputy (e.g. SEG 26.172), for prominent ephebes who died during their year of service (e.g. AIUK 11 (Ashmolean), no. 16), and on one occasion for the ephebes’ trainer (e.g. IG II² 3737). [2] For the trainer Abaskantos, see IG II² 3737.

Added: 14 Jan 2021
Updated: 29 Mar 2024
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