Aphrodisias and Rome: Documents from the excavation of the theatre at Aphrodisias conducted by Professor Kenan T. Erim together with some related texts

266 Pages·1982·34.733 MB·English

by  Joyce Reynolds

APHRODISIA' S
AND
ROME
\ JOYCE REYNOLDS
DOCUMENTS FROM THE EXCAVATION
OF THE THEATRE AT APHRODISIAS
CONDUCTED BY PROFESSOR KENAN T. ERIM,
TOGETHER WITH SOME RELATED TEXTS
SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF ROMAN STUDIES
JOURNAL OF ROMAN STUDIES MONOGRAPHS NO. 1
1982
First published in 1982 by
The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPP
© The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
All rights reserved-
ISBN 0-90-7764 00 2
Printed in England by Stephen Austin and Sons Ltd., Hertford.
CONTENTS
Page
Preface and Acknowledgments . V
Epigraphic conventions . viii
Bibliographical abbreviations viii
Previous transcribers of Aphrodisian texts republished here xi
Illustrations: Text-figures and Plates xi
Introduction .
XV
Chapter I: The Late Republic
Document 1: Oath of Plarasa/Aphrodisias, Cibyra and
Tabae 6
Document 2 : Decree of Plarasa/A phrodisias 11
Document 3 : Letter of Q. Oppius . 16
. Document 4: Letter of Nicomedes IV(?) 20
Document 5 : Decree of the koinon of Asia 26
Chapter 11: The Archive Wall. 33
Chapter Ill : The Triumviral period 38
Document 6 : Letter of Octavian to Plarasa/A phrodisias • 41
Document 7 : Triumviral decree . · 48
Document 8 : Senatus consultum de Aphrodisiensibus 54
Document Sa-: Senatus consultum or law, a contemporary
copy 92
Document 9 : Extracts from awards to PlarasajA phrodisias 92
Document 10 : Letter of Octavian to Stephanus 96
Document 11: Letter of Stephanus to PlarasajAphrodisias 99
Document 12: Letter of Octavian to Ephesus . 101
Document 13 : Subscript ofOctavian ( ?)/A ugustus to Samos 104
Chapter IV: The Imperial Letters 107
Document 14 : Subscript of Trajan to Smyma 113
Document 15 : Letter of Hadrian to Aphrodisias 115
Document 16 : Letter of Commodus to Aphrodisias 118
Document 17: Letter of Severus and Caracalla to
Aphrodisias 124
Document 18 : Letter of Severus and Caracalla to
Aphrodisias 127
Document 19 : Letter of Severus Alexander. to Aphrodisias 129
Document 20 : Letter of Gordian Ill to Aphrodisias 131
Document 21 : Letter of Gordian Ill to Aphrodisias 133
Document 22 : Letter of Gordian Ill to Epaphras 136
IV CONTENTS
Page
Document 23 : Fragmentary letter, possibly from Gordian
Ill to Aphrodisias . 139
Document 24: Fragmentary letter from Gordian Ill to
Aphrodisias . 139
Document 25 : Letter of Traianus Decius and Herennius
Etruscus to Aphrodisias . 140
Appendix I: Unassigned fragments, probably from the Archive Wall 144
Appendix 11: William Sherard's copies of Aphrodisian inscriptions 147
Appendix Ill: Artemidorus 149
Documents 26, 27
Appendix IV : An Aphrodisian of the Late Republic honoured for bravery 150
Documents 28-32
Appendix V: C. lulius Zoilus 156
Documents 33-40
Appendix VI: Founders' Kin 164
Appendix VII : Other inscriptions recording Aphrodisian privileges 166
Documents 41-43
Appendix VIII : Roman governmental officials in Aphrodisias to A.D. 250 170
Documents 44-56
Appendix IX: Curatores Reipublicae at Aphrodisias 184
Documents 57-62
Epigraphic Indices: 1. Personal names 198
2. Roman dictators, triumvirs, emperors 199
3. Foreign kings 200
4. Divinities, personifications, festivals and months 200
5. Geographical terms 201
6. Selected Greek words 202
General Index 210
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The core of this book is the publication of two archives of inscribed documents
bearing on the official relationship between Rome and the city of Aphrodisias in
Caria from the late republic to the middle of the third century A.D. ; to these I have
added some other texts which seem to me to be directly relevant to their interpreta
tion. Its theme is, precisely, an official relationship; and, while it necessarily
touches upon some less formal aspects of the connection (for instance, imperial
cult, participation of individual Aphrodisians in Roman public life), it does not
attempt to explore them in any depth, nor, indeed, to collect all evidence that would
throw light upon them. It is the first volume of a projected three in which the corpus
of Aphrodisian inscriptions, comprising old as well as new discoveries, is being
collected. The second to appear, as I hope, is now in an advanced stage of prepara
tion by Charlotte Rouech6 ; that will present the unique series of Byzantine texts
from the site. The third, which is in an active, but less advanced, stage of prepara
tion by Charlotte Roueche and myself in collaboration, will contain essentially the
inscriptions of local concern ; these fall, on the whole, into well-known categories,
but constitute an unusually rich documentation for the society, economy and civic
life of a city of Roman Asia Minor. In all three the aim is both to establish the
texts as accurately as possible and to show, in introductory surveys and com
mentaries, how they fit into and illuminate the development of the city and the
history of the Roman Empire.
The archives and several of the other new inscriptions here were found in the
theatre of Aphrodisias, which was excavated between 1966 and 1975 by Professor
Kenan T. Erim, with generous grants from the National Geographic Society and
under the sponsorship of New York University. The remaining new items were
found either in surface survey or, more commonly, during recent excavation
of buildings elsewhere on the site, also by Professor Erim and with the aid and
sponsorship of the same two institutions. To him and to them-fontes et origines
outstanding gratitude is owed ; their enterprise has brought to light sculpture,
architecture and other interesting and often beautiful objects, as well as inscriptions
of the highest quality in remarkably large numbers.
The texts presented here are in most cases complex and often long, in some
cases also fragmentary. Quite certainly more could be made of them than I have
achieved ; and more will be made of them by others, I am very sure, in the future.
I must also explain that the manuscript was ready for press in the spring of 1980,
and, although I .have been able to add some important references subsequently,
it has not been possible to take account as systematically as I would have wished
of more recent books and articles. Delay in printing arose from problems with the
line drawings, which were solved in the summer of 1981, when publication was
undertaken after a very timely intervention by the Society for the Promotion of
Roman Studies. The Society's Council has been willing to, draw upon a bequest
made by Kathleen Chrimes Atkinson in memory of her husband, Professor Donald
Atkinson ; it is good to be able to add that she had in fact shown an interest in these
texts. This volume represents the first of a series of Journal of Roman Studies
Monographs, to be published from time to time by the Society. Professor Fergus
Millar, on behalf of the Society, has acted as editor.
vi PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the preparation of the book I have incurred many more debts to friends
and colleagues who offered suggestions, responded to questions and/or joined in
seminars at which the texts were discussed. Special thanks should be paid to those
who organized these seminars, to Professor Sir Moses Finley and Professor J. A.
Crook in Cambridge, Professors D. Van Berchem and A. Giovannini in Geneva,
Professor Fergus Millar in London, Drs. A. K. Bowman and J. Rea in Oxford.
The help of many individuals is acknowledged in general terms in the introductions
and in some cases in detail in the commentaries to the relevant texts ; but I hope
that it will be understood that it has not always been possible to attribute to a
particular name points that I carried away from discussion with groups ; moreover
I am not less grateful for stimulating comment that I have, in the event, rejected,
than for what I have incorporated. The whole book was read in draft and again in
proof by Mr. Michael Crawford (who has also taken particular responsibility for
the Figures and Plates) and Professor Fergus Millar, and in proof also by Mrs.
Patricia Easterling, Mrs. Charlotte Roueche and Sir Ronald Syme ; their vigilance
has enabled me to remove a number of errors. I must make it clear, however, that
0
I have rarely taken all the advice that was offered to me on any point; it will be
obvious, therefore, that no one but myself is responsible for the errors remaining
and for the omissions.
Those whose photographs and drawings are reproduced here are recorded on
the plates ; but other illustrations too have furthered work on the texts, notably
the magnificent latex squeezes of the archive wall made by Mr. Reha Ancan of the
Istanbul Museum, certain paper squeezes and photographs made in 1934 during
the expedition to Aphrodisias for the Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua to which
the late Professor J. M. R. Cormack gave me access, a squeeze made in 1893 by
W. Kubitschek, which was lent to me by the Osterreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften in Vienna, and the transcriptions in the Spanheim papers of which
copies were sent to Cambridge for me by the Offentliche Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek
in Berlin.
I am grateful also to the British Library for permission to publish photographs
of the manuscripts of William Sherard and others, to the Osterreichische Akademie
for permission to publish drawings by W. Kubitschek and W. Reichel and to the
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies for permission to re-use material on
document 22.
Readers should note that in the line drawing of the Senatus Consultum of
39 B.c. (Fig. 5), made by Morag Woudhuysen and beautifully executed by Birming
ham Engravers Ltd., to whom I am profoundly grateful for their work on the
illustrations, it has not proved possible to align the shading so as to indicate exactly
what can be read of partially-preserved letters.
I owe a very considerable debt to the University of Cambridge which has paid
for most of my journeys to Aphrodisias ; and a different kind of debt to those
who have spent time on chores for me, especially to Robert Tannenbaum for
assistance with the epigraphic index and to a series of students and former students
of Newnham College: Stephana Babbage, Mary Beard, Hendrijke Van Bremen,
Janet Chapman, Georgia Clarke, Patricia Easterling, Susan Fenton, Susan Fish,
Prances Goodman, Linda Hatfield, Elizabeth Munday, Caroline Murray, Anne
Noble, Lucy Nuttall, Jennifer Potter, Carol Sailer, Helena Simon, Caroline Weiss,
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
and, above all, Charlotte Roueche, who, with her husband Mossman, checked
stones and them, assembled fragments and ordered them, and
provided encouragement and stimulus throughout.
Finally, I wish to record my strong belief that no author could have editors and
printers so understandingly benevolent and firmly efficient.
· Newnham College, Cambridge
EPIGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS
Supplements in the texts
To avoid the expense of printing both a bare text as read from the stone and
a supplemented version after discussion, which would be very considerable for the
longer inscriptions here, I have chosen to print all but the most hypothetical
supplements in the first presentation ; I have endeavoured to show very clearly by
question marks and under-dotting the uncertain character of many of these.
Unless otherwise stated in the introduction to a text, underlined letters are
ones which were erased in antiquity but remain legible.
Brackets
( ) enclose the resolution of an abbreviation or the addition of a letter omitted
on the stone.
enclose a restoration ; a question mark beside it shows that it is a tentative
one.
< )
enclose a correction of the letter on the stone or, if the stone is now lost, of
the letter read by the copyist.
[ ] enclose a superfluous letter cut on the stone or, if the stone is now lost,
appearing in the transcription of the copyist.
Measurements are all in metres; for monuments they are given in the order
_width x height x depth.
Inventory numbers are normally assigned only to inscriptions brought into the
museum ; where numbers have been assigned I have cited them in the introductory
account of each inscribed monument.
Bibliographical references
I have referred, where possible, to editions likely to be easily available to the
majority of readers, knowing that these do not always give the most up-to-date
versions of the texts concerned.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
Ancient authors are cited as in Liddell-Scott-Jones' Greek-English Lexicon
and the Oxford Latin Dictionary.
Periodical titles are abbreviated according to the system of L' Annee Philologique.
Other abbreviations used are :
AE L'Annee Epigraphique (in progress).
Analecta 0. Liermann, Analecta Epigraphica et Agonistica (Diss. Hal., 1889).
Aph. L. Robert, 'Inscriptions d'Aphrodisias', in L'Antiquite Classique 36 (1966),
377 f.
ARS A. C. Johnson, P. R. Coleman-Norton and F. C. Bourne, Ancient Roman
Statutes (1961).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS IX
BMC British Museum Catalogue of Coins, Caria (1897), Lydia (1901).
Bull. Ep. J. and L. Robert, Bulletin Epigraphique (in progress).
CAH Cambridge Ancient History.
CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
Coins David J.,MacDonald, Greek and Roman Coins of Aphrodisias (1976).
Corp. Leg. G. Haenel, Corpus legum ab imperatoribus Romanis ... latarum ...
(1857).
CPR Corpus papyrorum Raineri Archiducis Austriae I, ed. C. Wessely (1895).
Delphinion A. Rehm, Das Delphinion in Milet (1914).
Diz. Ep. E. De Ruggiero, Dizionario Epigrafico di Antichita Romane (in progress).
EJ V. Ehrenberg and A. H. M. Jones, Documents illustrating the reigns of Augustus
and Tiberius (2nd ed. 1954, repr. 1976).
ERW Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (1977).
ESAR Tenney Frank (ed.), Economic Survey of Ancient Rome (vols. I-V, 1933--40,
repr. 1959).
Et. Anal. L. Robert, Etudes Anatoliennes (1937).
Et. Ep. et Phi!. L. Robert, Etudes Epigraphiques et Philologiques (1938).
Etudes M. Holleaux, Etudes d' Epigraphie et d' Histoire Grecques (1938-68).
FD Fouilles de Delphes (in progress).
FIRA S. Riccobono, Fontes Juris Romani Antejustiniani I, Leges (seconded., 1941).
Fontes Bruns-Mommsen-Gradenwitz, Fontes Juris Romani Antiqui (seventh ed.,
1909).
Hell. L. Robert, Hellenica, vols. I-XIII (1940--60).
!Eph. H. Wankel and others, Die Inschrif{en von Ephesos (in progress).
IG Bulg. G. Mihailov, Inscriptiones Graecae in Bulgaria Repertae (1956-70).
IGR R. Cagnat, Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes (1906-27).
ILLRP A. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Latinae Liberae Reipublicae (1957-63).
ILS H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (1892-1914).
I. Magnesia 0. Kern, Die Inschriften von Magnesia am Maeander (1900).
Ins. !tal. A. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae, vol. xm.l (1947); xm.2 (1963).
IOSPE B. Latyshev, Inscriptiones Orae Septentrionalis Ponti Euxini, vol. I (second
ed., 1916).
Laodicee L. Robert in J. des Gagniers and others, Laodicee du Lycos, La Nymphee,
Campagnes 1961-3 (1969).
Laumonier A. Laumonier, Les Cultes Indigenes en Carie (1958).
LBW P. Lebas, W. H. Waddington, Inscriptions grecques et latines recueillis en
Grece et en Asie Mineure (1870).
LSAM F. Soko1owski, Lois Sacrees de l'Asie Mineure (1955).
LSJ Liddell-Scott-Jones, Greek-English Lexicon.
MAMA Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua; unless a volume number is given this
is a reference to vol. VIII (1962), ed. W. M. Calder and J. M. R. Corrnack
(Monuments from Lycaonia, the Pisido-Phrygian borderland, Aphrodisias).
Mansi G. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum ... Collectio (1759-98).
Mason H. J. Mason, Greek Terms for Roman Institutions, a Lexicon and Analysis
(1974).
X BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
Mayser E. Mayser, Grammatik der griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolemiierzeit ...
(1906).
MRR T. R. S. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1951-2).
OGIS W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (1895).
OLD Oxford Latin Dictionary (in progress).
OMS L. Robert, Opera Minora Selecta (1969-74).
Paton & Hicks W. R. Paton and E. L. Hicks, The Inscriptions of Cos (1891).
P. Flor. G. Vitelli, Papiri Fiorentini (1906). ·
P. Gen. J. Nicole, Les Papyrus de Geneve (1896).
P. Giess. 0. Eger, E. Kornemann, P. M. Meyer, Griechische Papyri ... zu Giessen,
(1910--12).
PIR Prosopographia Imperii Romani (first ed. 1897-8, seconded. in progress).
P. Ox. Oxyrhynchus Papyri (in progress).
RC C. Bradford Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period (1934).
RDGE R. K. Sherk, Roman Documents from the Greek East, Senatus Consulta and
Epistulae to the Age of Augustus (1969).
Reinach Th. Reinach, 'Inscriptions d'Aphrodisias ', REG 819 (1906), pp. 79-150,
201-18.
Reynolds, Vestigia Joyce M. Reynolds, ' Aphrodisias, A Free and Federate City ',
in Akten des VI. Internationalen Kongresses fur griechische und lateinische
Epigraphik, Milnchen 1972 (Vestigia 17 (1973), 115 f.).
RIC The Roman Imperial Coinage, cited for vol. IV.3 (1949) by H. Mattingly,
E. A. Sydenham, and C. H. V. Sutherland.
Roscher W. H. Roscher Ausfilhrliches Lexikon der griechischen und romischen
Mythologie (1884-1937).
RP R. Syme, Roman Papers (ed. E. Badian, 1979).
RRAM David Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the end of the third century
after Christ (1950).
RRC M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (1974).
SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (in progress).
Senat P. Willems, Le Senat de la Republique romaine (1978).
SNG Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, cited for vols. VII (1962), XVII (1968).
St. R.3 Th. Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht (third edition, 1887).
Staatsvertriige H. Bengtson, Die Staatsvertriige des Altertums (in progress).
Sylf.3 W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (third edition, 1915-24).
TLL Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.
TRSL Transactions of the Royal Society for Literature.
Vagts R. Vagts, Aphrodisias in Karien (diss. Leipzig, 1920).
Vestigia see Reynolds, Vestigia.
Viereck P. Viereck, Sermo Graecus quo senatus populusque Romanus magistratusque
populi Romani ... usi sunt examinatur (1888).
Villes L. Robert, Villes d'Asie Mineure (second edition, 1962).
Worterbuch F. Preisigke, cont. E. Kiessling, Worterbuch der griechischen Papy
rusurkunden ... (in progress).