On the Dating of the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia

Sometime in the middle of the second century of our era Regilla, the patrician wife of the rich Athenian sophist Herodes Atticus,' dedicated to Zeus the well-known exedra, a sumptuously appointed outlet of an aqueduct built to provide good drinking water for those attending the Olympic Games. It was first excavated in 1877-1878, during the German campaign at Olympia. The definitive results were published in 1892 (architecture), 1896 (inscriptions), and 1897 (statues).2 More recent work on the exedra was published by H. Schleif and H. Weber.3 In addition to its primary function of storing and dispensing water the exedra was also a work of art. A semi-circular structure behind two storage basins, it displayed numerous statues of members of the imperial family and of the family of Herodes Atticus and his wife. The identity of many of those honoured is known from the inscribed statue bases found in the exedra and, re-used, in the adjoining Byzantine church. Many statues, too, have been found. Mostly headless and none any longer on its base, they present serious problems of identification. In this paper I propose to discuss the date of completion of the exedra in the light of novel suggestions made in two recent articles. S. Settis has proposed one new argument in favour of the Olympic Games of A.D. 157 as the date of completion as well as one which would exclude the year 149,4 whereas an observation made by T. D. Barnes would restrict the completion to A.D. 153 or, less likely, to A.D. 157.5 My purpose will be to

Archaeology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History

• Les femmes de l’entourage d’Hérode Atticus

  Open Access•Eric Perrin-Saminadayar•Dialogues d histoire ancienne•2019

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