At some unspecified time, but before the end of the 6th century, the Round Building is ruined forever, and a curved line of an aqueduct is laid from the North Mill, passing over the ruined

FROM DIOCLETIAN TO THE VISIGOTHIC INVASION

ALARIC IN GREECE (A.D. 396)

5) At some unspecified time, but before the end of the 6th century, the Round Building is ruined forever, and a curved line of an aqueduct is laid from the North Mill, passing over the ruined

monument base and the Round Building.

Probably related to these activities is the construction in the 5th century of a stoa, at the end of the Panathenaic Way before it turns into the Agora, its east end built against the still standing Stoa Poikile.26

While these sometimes makeshift operations were going on in the Agora, where mere clearing away of the ruins was a formidable task, at least one building of a more monumental character was being erected on the foundations of an earlier structure, probably just east of the post-Herulian enceinte. All that remains is the epistyle of a porch (PI. 46:e) bearing the dedication of a building

"with its porches" to the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius by Severus Aetius, Proconsul (of Achaea).27 There is some reason to believe that this may be the Hellenistic gymnasium, the Dio- geneion, the headquarters of the ephebes from at least as early as the 2nd century ^B.C., repaired or rebuilt several times, most recently in the Antonine period, until it was finally rebuilt, still under its own name, even though the ephebes had ceased to exist as an institution.28

Whether or not the identification is correct, the building itself is evidence that substantial con- struction was being encouraged at a high level almost immediately after Alaric's departure. This impression is supported by another dedicatory inscription from the same general area, of which only a fragment remains, with letters very similar in size and shape to those of the Diogeneion.29

Another building is shadowy but important. It is represented by three inscribed blocks relating to philosophy, known for many years but never satisfactorily explained. Two bear, respectively, the words TflIKiIN and KYNIKI2N (PI. 47:a, c). The third is a fragment from the right side of the east on a curved line which continued on to meet the northeast corner of the Square Building (below, p. 109). Here it followed around or across the corner and resumed the same curved course through the middle of the Round Building.

The line of the curve when projected eastward would fetch up near the point where the Late Roman aqueduct coming through the Agora changes its course to run westward (below, p. 81). The wall probably carried a branch of that aqueduct and would have been built to provide power for the mill which must have been destroyed by the railway (below, p. 81). The firmness of the concrete precludes a date later than the 6th century. It may be contemporary with the main line of the water system (ca. 475) or else a later addition. In Byzantine times much of the interior of the statue base was dug out and a vaulted tomb constructed inside.

26 Hesperia 53, 1984 (Shear, Jr.), p. 16, fig. 10.

27 IG II2, 5205.

28 For a fuller account, with reasons for the identification and date, see A. Frantz, "A Public Building of Late An- tiquity in Athens (IG II2, 5205)," Hesperia 48, 1979, pp. 194-203 and pls. 62-64.

29 E.M. 1861. Frantz, op. cit., pl. 64:f.

© American School of Classical Studies at Athens For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

IV. PROSPERITY, DECLINE, AND DISASTER (A.D. 396-582)

block, with only the letters . . . IfN preserved, but the close correspondence of the three pieces in all other respects makes the restoration [EIIKOYPE]IfIN almost inevitable.30

W. Judeich was the first to consider the blocks as a group and to attribute them to a single build- ing.31 He was followed by A. von Premerstein, who repeated Judeich's brief description of them as epistyles.32 But a slight taper in the block inscribed ITfIKfN shows that it must have been a door jamb.33 Its projected length (originally height) of ^ca.3.50 m. is close to the height of the doors of the

Stoa of Attalos. The fragmentary Epicurean block, too short for the taper to be detected, is similar in its other dimensions and was probably also a jamb. The Cynics block, with a length of only 2.57 m., was probably a lintel or a crowning member of some sort. The surfaces that would have abutted against a wall are rough picked, as for rubble, thus making a Roman date probable. The inscriptions must have been added after the destruction of the building for which the blocks were made. A sugges- tion that they were carved while they were still serving as a door frame is untenable, not only because of the unparalleled vertical arrangement of the letters (as would have been the case) but also for the uncomfortably close association of Stoics, Cynics, and Epicureans in one portal.

The date of the blocks in their re-used form is difficult to determine. As is so often the case, the letter forms can be matched from the 2nd century all through Late Antiquity, with formal in- scriptions of a single word continuing to be carved with greater care than are the longer texts, which tend to become cramped and irregular in the later centuries. Close resemblances may be seen in the Panathenius inscription of the second half of the 3rd century,34 but that does not necessarily exclude a later date for those discussed here.

Also puzzling is the way in which the blocks were re-used. Certainly they were laid horizontally.

Two of them are too long and thin for lintels, unless they were embedded in the masonry of the walls above them; probably this would also be true for epistyles. Otherwise it would be tempting to suggest that they were placed over the entrances to different departments in one building housing several branches of philosophy. An attractive suggestion35 is that they were built into the masonry over alcoves for books in a library, to designate the categories. One such library might be that in the Ptolemaeion, to which the ephebes were required to present books on the completion of their stud- ies.36 What the bookss were is unknown, but the fact that philosophy was an important part of their education, as attested by inscriptions,37 suggests that philosophical works were well represented. Or the inscriptions might have been used simply as appropriate decoration on either a facade or an inner wall to emphasize the intellectual nature of the contents, as sometimes on modern buildings, e.g. the National Archives Building in Washington. But the genitive in all these inscriptions makes that less likely.

A much earlier parallel for this type of use may perhaps be seen in a series of inscriptions painted on a plastered wall in the Gymnasium at Taormina, with brief descriptions or biographies of

30 TWLKwUv, E.M. 70. First noted in the Metochi Penteli on Metropolis Street; later in the Stoa of Attalos; now in the courtyard of the Epigraphical Museum. D. Kambouroglou, 'AOi7va 2, 1980, p. 154, also ^?roa 1, 1981, pp. 47 ff.

KVVLKwV, IG II2, 5184. Found in the excavation of the Church of the Serapheim on the north slope of the Acropolis. P. Kavvadias, 'E4'ApX 1898, cols. 17-18, no. 15. Present whereabouts unknown.

' E7rKovpeLwv. Now among the marbles gathered in front of the Asklepieion, on the south slope of the Acropolis.

31 Topographie von Athen, 1st ed., Munich 1905, p. 100, note 4; Judeich2, p. 105, note 5.

32 "Der Parthenonfries und die Werkstatt des panathenaischen Peplos," OJh 15, 1912, pp. 30-35.

33 Noted and measured by J. Travlos. The diminution is 10 cm. from bottom to top.

34IG II2, 5201, above, p. 10; PI. 15:c.

3S Made by Robert Sinclair.

36 M. N. Tod, "Sidelights on Greek Philosophers," JHS 77, 1957, p. 139.

37 Ibid., p. 137.

© American School of Classical Studies at Athens For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

PROSPERITY (A.D. 396-450)

historians.38 But all this must remain speculative. What seems to be certain is that the three inscrip- tions, on blocks taken from an earlier structure, were used in some way in one building devoted to intellectual pursuits.

Building Activity of Herculius

Some ten or twelve years after the rebuilding of the "Diogeneion", what was apparently a con- certed and intensive building operation was launched in Athens, probably by Herculius, Prefect of Illyricum from 408 to 410.39

The key to the action, both in the Agora and elsewhere in the city, and to its initiator is probably to be found in the Library of Hadrian. The Library had evidently been out of use since the Herul- ian attack, when much of the inner colonnade was destroyed. It was reconstructed in Late An- tiquity, as shown by several bases in the east colonnade, carved in crude imitation of their fine Hadrianic predecessors.40 An inscription carved high on the wall of the porch of the main (west) entrance, to the left of the doorway, leaves little doubt of the identity of the sponsor of the recon- struction. This is a dedication of a statue of Herculius by Plutarch, who signs himself a sophist (PI. 47:c)

rTO OEO,v ravTa'7 v EpKOVA&oV ayvov vfapXov nIAovrapXos0 p.Ucv0 TrajuA7v ca-rr7 (reoourrfr.41

The height at which the inscription is set indicates a statue of over life size. In its prominent po- sition beside the main entrance it would have been conspicuous to every visitor to the library.

The appearance of Plutarch, a sophist, in the epigram raises some questions. Three Plutarchs achieved distinction of various sorts in Athens at this time; or else one man (or perhaps two) ac- quired fame for three different reasons. The three (if there were three) had most of their known characteristics in common. They were at least near contemporaries, devoted to intellectual pursuits, and pagan. Probably all were wealthy. The most famous of the three was the founder of the Neo- platonic School in Athens, who died ca. ^432.42Another was the donor of the statue of Herculius, and a third, very probably the same man, was honored by the city of Athens for three times de- fraying the cost of the sacred ship at the Panathenaia (PI. 47:e).

Az os? [' E]pex os o8atP A^i[a] Xoywv ^avEOflKEV nIXovrapxov a-rTaOEp7^s Yp,ua o-aoppocvvs!

o KatL rp\s Iror vqrov 'AOqva?T;s eeAaa-crev vavv ecAaras Lep/v, rXAovrov bAov 7rpoXeas.43

The question is, can the last two be equated with the founder of the Neoplatonic School?44 The donor of the statue describes himself as a sophist. Although even in classical times the terms

38 G. Manganaro, "Una biblioteca storica nel ginnasio di Tauromenium e il P. Oxy. 1241," La parola del passato 29, 1974, pp. 389-409; also idem in A. Alfoldi, Romische Frimhgeschichte, Heidelberg 1976, pp. 83-96, pls. I-IV. I am grateful to J. F. Gilliam for these references.

39 These dates are secure. References in PLRE II to the Codex Theodosianus may extend the span to 407-412.

40 Some of the replacements have long been visible (cf. Frantz [footnote 33 above, p. 5], pl. 91). More recently new evidence in the form of more bases and other architectural fragments has been uncovered during excavations on the south side of the Library (H. W. Catling, JHS Archaeological Reports 1983-1984, pp. 8-9).

41 IG II2, 4224. I am grateful to Glen Bowersock for illuminating comments on this question and for the inter- pretation offered here.

42 PLRE I, Plutarchus 5 (and II, Plutarchus 1).

43 IG II2, 3818, carved on the back of IG II2, 3692 (PI. 47:d). (The epsilon and alpha in line 1, bracketed in IG, are clearly visible in the photograph.) Both men are regarded as the same individual in PLRE II, Plutarchus 2.

44 As by Wilamowitz ap. G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca, Berlin 1878, p. 376.

© American School of Classical Studies at Athens For personal use only. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.

IV. PROSPERITY, DECLINE, AND DISASTER (A.D. 396-582)

philosopher, sophist, and rhetor were not always mutually exclusive,45 most commentators now reject a common identity on the ground that a philosopher would not style himself a sophist.46 The essence of the epigram, however, is a subtle comparison of the dual and contrasting roles of both honorand, "steward of laws and gentle administrator", and donor, "steward of myths" (with over- tones of Platonic philosophy) and "sophist". The benefactor of the Panathenaia is honored as "king of logoi" (,3ao<L&evs Aoywv), presumably sophist, but not incompatible with "philosopher".

The intractability of LXAoo6o40os in elegiac or hexameter verse as an argument for allowing more flexibility ^too-oLo-r's ^'47 would have much weight in earlier times but less in the less careful 5th century. At any rate, it might be a factor against excluding Plutarch the Neoplatonist as the sophist who honored Herculius.

The field is limited to some extent by the one fixed chronological point, 407-412 (the outer limits of Herculius' term of office) or thereabout, for the erection of the statue. The donor must have been a man of considerable wealth, distinction, and influence for such a conspicuous gesture, especially if, as is generally agreed, he was also responsible for three times mounting the Panathenaic pro- cession. Plutarch the Neoplatonist at age about sixty fits all these specifications. No sophists of the same name are known. Among the few Plutarchs listed in PLRE for the appropriate time only the otherwise unknown father of the philosopher Hierius has been suggested, but he is mentioned by Damascius only in a context of philosophers (Vita Isidori 88 [Epitoma Photiana] + Frag. 289), and so his claim is no more valid than that of the famous Plutarch. Lacking further evidence the problem may never be solved definitely, and the question remains open.48

Incidentally, the impression of Herculius as a man of letters (and also a pagan) is strengthened by a statue base bearing the dedication of another statue of Herculius by another sophist, Apro- nianus (PI. 47:f), this one on the Acropolis, beside the statue of Athena Promachos.49

At about the same time as the rehabilitation of the Library of Hadrian, the center of the Agora, which had escaped the modest beginnings of reconstruction on the west side, was finally cleared of the most obstructive of the Herulian debris. Here an imposing complex was erected over the

45 For a number of examples see Tod (footnote 36 above, p. 62), p. 138, note 93. An outstanding example in the 4th century is the philosopher-sophist Themistius (PLRE I, Themistius 1). For the possibility that even Syrianus, in his commentary on Hermogenes, referred to himself as a sophist, see RE IV A, col. 1732. On the intricacies of the dis- tinctions between sophist, rhetor, and philosopher, see G. W. Bowersock, Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire, Ox- ford 1969, pp. 10-16. See also G. Fowden, "The Pagan Holy Man in Late Antique Society," JHS 102, 1982, pp. 43-45.

46 E.g., Robert (footnote 38 above, p. 6), pp. 73, 95; Saffrey and Westerink, p. xxx; Millar, "Dexippus," p. 17 and note 64. PLRE follows Robert and Saffrey-Westerink and gives him a separate identity.

47 Observed by Tod ([footnote 36 above, p. 62] as in his note 127, p. 141).

48 A suggestion made by W. Peek ("Zwei Gedichte auf den Neuplatoniker Plutarch," ZPE 13, 1974, pp. 202-204) that the Neoplatonist, or at least another philosopher of the same name, appears on an inscription in the Epigraphical Museum, no. 4713, must be rejected. The drawing accompanying that article shows that the proper name is restored.

(Cf. the photograph of the fragment in M. Mitsos, ^<'Arob^TOVSKaraAoyovs 'AOqvaicov 'E ,83owvo, 'ApX'Ej 1971, pl. 7.) This was pointed out to me by G. W. Bowersock. For another Plutarch "Praeses Insularum", see A. Chaniotis,

"Plutarchos, Praeses Insularum," ZPE 68, 1987, pp. 227-231. But he presumably would not qualify.

49 IG II2, 4225.

[r]ov 7rpoplaxov 0e0/rzhv 'E[px]ovA&o[v Tiro]v &7rafrLv

f'C0ovov OC KwV [V]1O6OEv a[L7r]vrrTawv [8]e&vbos 'AOTqvawv 'A7rpomavo' -E? a'o f[tor]rT7s

[1o]T?Jc? 7rapa IHpo,AuaX) HaxAabt KfKpoT7l['7r].

Cf. A. Frantz, "Herculius in Athens: Pagan or Christian?" Akten d. VII Int. Kongr. f. Christl. Arch. Trier, 5.-1i1.

Sept. 1965, Vatican 1969, pp. 527-530. Groag (Achaia, p. 73) suggests that Apronianus, unknown except for this epigram, may have been the predecessor of Leontius in the chair of sophistic in Athens.

PROSPERITY (A.D. 396-450)

foundations of the Odeion of Agrippa and adjacent buildings to the south. Formerly known as the

"Gymnasium of the Giants", it will henceforth be referred to as the "Palace of the Giants".50 Conclusive evidence for the construction of the Palace between about 410 and 425 was provided by pottery and coins.51 Considering its proximity to the Library of Hadrian, it is perhaps not stretching a point to suggest that Herculius might be credited with this establishment as well.52

Probably to be connected with the Palace is a statue found built into a modern wall not far from the entrance (PI. 66:b). The statue is slightly over life size, weighing about half a ton, and so it had probably not strayed far from its place of origin. The costume, the toga trabeata, betokens an official of high rank.53

In considering the setting of the Palace complex, notice should be taken of a series of statues, probably made for the Odeion of Agrippa in its Antonine phase and salvaged from the ruins to adorn the environment of its successor. Three were seated figures, one recognizable as Epicurus, which may have originally occupied three bases in front of the entrance to the Odeion.54 Seven more are of a single type, a standing figure wearing a himation.55 Five of the seven were found in a straggling row just opposite the east wall of the great court of the Palace and more or less coinciding with its length. The other two were found in fragments near by. Their position makes it probable that all seven had stood against the aqueduct of the late 5th century on the other side of the Pan- athenaic Way.56 Since the aqueduct is some sixty years later than the Palace it seems probable that during those sixty years the statues were more closely related to the Palace and were later shifted to their final position, perhaps to mask the utilitarian aqueduct where it rose above ground level.

A similar situation might be observed in a series of five seated figures discovered outside the city wall, northwest of the Dipylon Gate. Four were found in 1968 built into a Late Roman wall; the fifth, discovered in 1963, was in a Late Roman building close by.57 Although headless, two are identified as Epicurus himself, one as possibly the Epicurean philosopher Colotes; the other two are unidentified philosophers. In the re the foundations of a Late Roman building. This leads to the speculation that here might have been the "Garden of Epicurus" in a 2nd-century rebuilding prompted by the encouragement of Hadrian and his mother Plotina, which gave rise to a strong revival of Epicureanism.58 Opinion is divided on the location of the Garden, whether within or outside the walls. Dontas, relying on Cicero's description (de fin., 5.1-3) favors a location out- side the walls. R. E. Wycherley, on the basis of a passage in Pliny, the other major literary source

50 For the reasons, and a detailed description of the building, see Chapter V.

51 Including 41 coins of which 14 (the latest) were struck in the decade 383-392 (reigns of Theodosius I and Ar- cadius), found in a lime-slaking pit obviously used in the construction of the building. John H. Kroll was kind enough to examine the coins in detail and concluded that all had been in circulation for more than a decade and that they had been thrown into the pit "somewhat after 400, certainly in the first quarter of the 5th century." An adjacent pit pro- duced 24 coins of which the latest were 9 of Theodosius II and 2 of Arcadius, also struck in the decade 383-392. For the pottery, see Thompson, "Odeion," p. 134.

52 It should be noted that Herculius' benefactions were not limited to Athens. He was honored by the people of Megara for the gift of an aqueduct, presumably to replace one destroyed by Alaric (IG VII, 93).

53 S 657. For a fuller description of the statue and its significance, with references, see below, p. 113.

54 S 826, S 930, S 1304. Thompson, "Odeion," pp. 124-125. S 1304 is represented only by a fragment of the chair.

55 Agora I, nos. 57-63.

56 Agora I, pp. 74-75 (note by H. A. Thompson).

57 G. Dontas, <<?EKOVLrTLKa B'?, ^AEAr26, 1971, A' (1973), pp. 16-33, where the statues themselves and the sig- nificance of their finding place are studied in detail.

58 Cf. ILS 7784 ( = SEG III, 834) and J. H. Oliver, "An Inscription Concerning the Epicurean School at Athens,"

Transactions of the American Philological Association 69, 1938, pp. 494-499.

IV. PROSPERITY, DECLINE, AND DISASTER (A.D. 396-582)

(NHxIx.5o-5sI), referring to the Garden as in ipsa urbe, would place it within the walls.59 Dontas counters with the suggestion that in view of the crowded conditions within the walls Epicurus' own house, with a very small garden, might have been inside, while the actual Garden was outside. The archaeological evidence seems to favor Cicero's account.60 Dontas notes that when a series of por-

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