A01.031.0.pdf

ROMAN PELOPONNESE I
and the descendants of Herodes. On Herodes Atticus and tyranny in the Roman
empire, for which Herodes' grandfather, Hipparchus, was already charged, as well as
its connection with the letter of M. Aurelius to Athens (Oliver, Marcus Aurelius),
see N.M. Kennell, "Herodes Atticus and the rhetoric of tyranny", CPh 92,1997, 346-
362. He was well educated in the house of the grandfather of M. Aurelius and a
famous sophist of his time, married to Regula, a member of a patrician family, and
became consul Ordinarius in A.D. 143.
His family's most important public work at Olympia was the so-called nymphaeum.
It is strange that this impressive work is not described by Pausanias, which is
interpreted by Ch. Habicht, Pausanias und seine »Beschreibung Griechenlands«
(München 1985) 137-138, η. 74 (cf. AnnÉpigr 1987, 914) as an act of the peregete's
lack of interest in contemporary monuments and events. K.W. Arafat, Pausanias'
Greece. Ancient artists and Roman rulers (Cambridge 1996) 37-38 supposes that
Pausanias omits the description of the nymphaeum not only because of his dislike of
contemporary works, but also because its role had nothing to do with the character
of the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. For observations on the architectural features
of the structure see Tobin, op. cit., 314-323. On the arrangement and date of the
nymphaeum see I. Avotins, "On the dating of the exedra of Herodes Atticus at
Olympia", Phoenix 29, 1975, 244-249, who argues for the year A.D. 153 based on
the narrative of Lucian's, De mort. Pereg. 19-21, but does not exclude the year A.D.
149. Tobin, op. cit., 321 finds it probable that the work was finished by A.D. 153,
which is also in agreement with the identifications of the statues suggested by Bol,
Herodes- Atticus-Nymphäum, pointing out the alterations carried out later by
Vibullius Hipparchus, who replaced three of the original statues of the structure.
Herodes and his family are attested in several other regions of the Péloponnèse.
Though his father held many offices and seems to have played an important role in
the Spartan public life, Herodes is attested only in a dedication from a family statue
group of his sister Claudia Tisamenis in the theater of Sparta dated after the mid. 2nd
c. A.D. (Woodward 1927/8, 37 ff. no. 59 11. 4 sq. emended by Spawforth 1980, 208.
211-7. pi. 23 a [SEG 11, 1950, 781; 30, 1980,407]; Ameling, Herodes Atticus II, no.
68); cf. LAC 271 [1].
On the basis of internal dating in the inscription IGV 1, 45, which contains a cursus
honorum of Corinthas, son of Nicephorus, synephebos "Αττικού τοΰ Ήρώδου (1. 9-
10), it seems unlikely that he is identified with the person discussed here, as is
supported by Chrimes, Ancient Sparta, AAA no. 20; Bradford, 494 and Ameling,
Herodes Atticus I, 37-38 n. 14. II no. 70. The document must be dated about the end
of the 2nd c. A.D. and connected with Herodes' son Ti. Claudius Appius M. Attilius
Bradua Regillus Atticus, as suggested Boeckh, CIG 1256 and accepted by Kolbe (in
the comments of IG V 1, 45); Graindor, Atticus, 103 ns 5-6; Follet, Athènes, 134;
Halfmann, Senatoren, no. 128 [5]; Spawforth, ABSA 75, 1980, 208-10 (cf. SEG 30,
1980,406).
The relationship of Herodes Atticus, as well as his father's, with Corinth is known
from both literary and epigraphical sources; he is connected with several public
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