A Plea for the Christians, inscription

Summary: The address: the plea is presented to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus.

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Greek text · Otto 7:4

Αὐτοκράτορσιν Μάρκῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Ἀντωνίνῳ καὶ Λουκίῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Κομμόδῳ, Ἀρμενιακοῖς, Σαρματικοῖς, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον Φιλοσόφοις.

To the Emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, conquerors of Armenia and Sarmatia, and, above all, philosophers.

Source: Otto 7:4 · Johann Carl Theodor Otto, ed., Athenagorae philosophi Atheniensis opera, Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 7 (Jena: Mauke, 1857) · Greek text: J. C. T. Otto, Athenagorae philosophi Atheniensis opera (Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 7, 1857), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Otto, CorpApol 7. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Otto (1857); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Marcus Aurelius made his son Commodus co-emperor in AD 177, which dates the Plea to 176–180.
“Conquerors of Armenia and Sarmatia” renders the victory titles Armeniacus and Sarmaticus.

Athenagoras, Leg. 0 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/0/).

Plain text

Athenagoras, Leg. 0 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/0/).