Antipater of Phlya
Antipater of Phlya was a leading statesman at Athens during the reign of Augustus, serving as Hoplite General an unprecedented seven times. He appears to have been the main force in the establishment of the Imperial cult of Augustus at Athens. He is known exclusively from inscriptions.
Life
Nothing is known about Antipater's father or his earlier ancestry, except that he derived from the deme of Phlya and thus belonged to the tribe of Ptolemais. He is one of several Athenian statesmen whose families had apparently not been part of the Athenian aristocracy before the mid-first century BC, who rose to prominence during the Roman civil war and whose descendants remained prominent in the Roman Imperial period.The first attestation of Antipater is a decree which honours him for his service as hoplite general around the year 28 BC. A statue base and a decree commemorate his third term as hoplite general in the archonship of Apolexis. The date of this archonship disputed. Sean Byrne puts it in 24/3 BC, Geoffrey Schmaltz in 20/19 BC. Around this time he appears as the proposer of a decree which established new divine honours for Augustus, notably a festival celebrating his birthday. Another decree commemorates Antipater's fifth term as hoplite general in the archonship of Demeas of Azenia. Two statue bases commemorate his seventh term as hoplite general. One was erected by a Roman called Proculus and the other by a group who identify themselves as "merchants". Byrne places this term around 16 BC and Schmalz ca. 15 BC. He is probably also the honorand of a statue base at Delphi for "Antipater son of Antipater the Athenian", erected in the 20s BC. He was one of the three leading figures in Athens in the Augustan period, alongside Pammenes of Marathon and Eucles of Marathon.
Antipater was granted Roman citizenship by Vipsanius Agrippa, making him the first Athenian to receive this honour. This citizenship grant is known from the fact that several of his descendants bear the nomen Vipsanius and from a tombstone for three of his shipwrecked slaves who are named as "Rufio, Philemation, and Ma, Vipsani of Antipater". He seems never to have used the name Vipsanius himself. The date of the grant is likely to have been Agrippa's visit to Athens in 16 BC, during which work was begun on the Odeon of Agrippa. As the leading figure of Athens at the time, Antipater was probably responsible for hosting him and negotiating the construction of the building.