Aurelius Agathopus

Aurelius Agathopus is mentioned in a bronze plaque found in Sisak. He bears a Greek name, which does not imply that he was of Greek or Eastern origin.

Agathopus could have been a free provincial who was not a Roman citizen, in which case the inscription is to be dated before 212 C.E, since only his Greek name is mentioned. Or, instead, he could have been a slave, but neither his master’s name nor his own servile status is indicated.

However, his status could have been identical to that of his 'brother' Heraclides, with the craftman deliberately having omitted the nomen Aurelius because of its redundancy and the lack of space for it.

But then, in the latter case, why was the nomen not simply inscribed in the plural [Aurelii]? Presumably because this would have implied that the two men were actual biological brothers, which was clearly not the case. It is therefore most probable that the two fratres, perhaps freedmen of the same patron, were brothers in the sense of belonging to the same Mithraic community.