[319] Honors by Paean Singers for a Prophet and “Father” (146 CE)

Rome (Latium, Italy — Pleiades map), 146 CE (May 6)
AGRW 319 = IGUR 77 = R.E.A. Palmer, “Paean and Paeanist of Serapis and the Flavian Emperors.” In Nomodeiktes: Greek Studies in Honor of Martin Ostwald (Ralph M. Rosen and Joseph Farrell, eds.; Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993) 355-66 = RICIS 501/0118 = SIRIS 384 = PHI 187710 = AGRW ID# 1854

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Slab found at the church of Santa Maria on Via Lata (Regio IX), near the ancient location of the sanctuaries of Isis and of Sarapis. This group, who sang paeans (songs of victory or chants), probably included members from Alexandria in Egypt, as indicated by the method of dating. The same group is attested in the fragmentary IGUR 35, which preserves part of an imperial reply (in Latin) to the Paeanists' petition (in Greek).

The sacred order (taxis) of the Paianists (Paianistai) of Zeus Helios, the great Sarapis, in Rome and of the Augusti (Sebastoi) gods (i.e. members of the imperial family) honored Embes, prophet and father (patēr) of the order mentioned above, with a marble bust which was set up in the house (oikos) of the Paeanists on the day before the nones of May, which is the eleventh of the month of Pachon according to the Alexandrians. This was done when Meteilius Ampliatus the elder was curator, during the consulship of Sextus Erucius Clarus – consul for the second time – and Gnaeus Claudius Severus.

Translation by: Harland

ἡ ἱερὰ τάξις τῶν Παιανιστῶν | τοῦ ἐν Ῥώμῃ Διὸς Ἡλίου | Μεγάλου Σαράπιδος καὶ θεῶν | Σεβαστῶν ἐτείμησαν Ἐμβῆν || προφήτην, πατέρα τῆς προ|γεγραμμένης τάξεως, προτο|μῇ μαρμαρινῇ, ἣ ἀνατεθεῖσα | ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τῶν Παια|νιστῶν τῇ πρ(ὸ) ∙ α ∙ νωνῶν || Μαίων, ἥτις ἐστὶν κατὰ | Ἀλεξανδρεῖς Παχὼν ιαʹ, | ἐπὶ κουράτορος Μετειλίου | Ἀμπλιάτου ∙ πρεσβυτέρου· | Σέξτῳ Ἐρουκίῳ Κλάρῳ || β ∙ Γνέῳ Κλαυδίῳ | Σεβήρῳ κως {co(n)s(ulibus)}.

Item added: June 15, 2012
Item modified: April 6, 2016
ID number: 1854
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=1854

Category: 8) Italy, a) All Italian regions, f) 2nd century CE, Helios, Honorary inscription, Member (or leader) of the group, Roman emperor or imperial figure (as a deity), Sarapis, Singing and music, Zeus

Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

[319] Honors by Paean Singers for a Prophet and “Father” (146 CE) ║ Rome - Latium

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