Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents

Hannah Cotton – ‘An Introduction to the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae II: Caesarea and the Middle Coast’

On Monday 16th January Prof. Hannah Cotton The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) spoke about the growing awareness in historical and epigraphic studies to look at social and cultural pluralities, as she demonstrated with her presentation of the current work being done of the inscriptions from the territory of present day Israel and the Palaestinian Authority. The Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (CIIP) is the first multilingual corpus of all inscriptions from the fourth century BCE to the seventh century CE from the region. The corpus includes inscriptions in Latin, Greek Semitic languages, Aramaic dialects, and proto-Arabic languages. The corpus aims to demonstrate the necessity of having bi- and tri-lingual inscriptions analysed together, and to avoid what Prof. Cotton describes as the ‘concept of separation’.

Each entry comprises the text of the inscription, the reconstruction, and a translation in English. Volume II (Caesarea and Middle Coast) comprises 1040 inscriptions, of which 244 are Latin, 716 Greek (several are bilingual) and 12 Hebrew/Aramaic texts. The study of epigraphic texts from Caesarea (a colony from 71 CE) highlights the prominence of Latin in both public and private documentation, but also that by the end of the third century Latin gave way quite suddenly Greek as the dominant language of epigraphic texts.

Prof. Cotton also spoke of work being done to make electronic versions of the texts available.

Peter Thonemann - A New Royal letter of Eumenes II

On Monday 14th November, Peter Thonemann presented a new revised text of a large marble stele, inscribed on both sides, found at Taskuyucak, in central Lydia (first published in Herrmann and Malay, New Inscriptions from Lydia (2007)). Face A on the stele records a response and concession of Eumenes II to the petitions of a Lydian community, whilst Face B records the series of requests the community made.

Thonemann demonstrated that the inscription dates to 165/4 B.C., the 33rd year of the reign of Eumenes II (although the king is not named, face B mentions the 32nd year in which desertion from the army occurred, and face A appears to refer to the destruction the territory ‘last year’ by the enemy, which would coincide with 166/5 B.C. when the Galatians invaded Lydia). He also showed that the community referred to was Apollioucharax (the fortress of Apollios), which he believes is at the site of modern Taskuyucak.

Thonemann argued against Herrmann’s and Malay’s interpretation of face B, which argues that the text records a series of decisions granted by Eumenes II to the community, showing that the clauses must in fact represents a series of requests from Apollioucharax. What is perhaps most striking about the text is that it records the community mortgaging a portion of their territory (‘the village of Sibloë’) to an individual named Meleagros because they needed to raise revenues.

On Monday 24th October the epigraphy workshop played host to Peter Parsons’ insightful analysis of a papyrus from a family archive from Tebtunis. The document is a renunciation of inheritance by Herakleides – Valerius, son of Herakleides. Herakleides’ reasoning for this is to ensure that he is not hassled over the payment of fines (epitima) which his late father had incurred. Herakleides the father had been a records officer (bibliophylax) in charge of public documents (bibliothene demosion logon) Arsinoite archives. In AD 89/90 the documents were discovered by Mettius Rufus to have been a damaged by age, heat, use and worms. Parsons emended the reading of the papyrus to show that Herakleides the father had a fine entered against his name in the 12th year of the deified Trajan (i.e. 108/109), rather than the 10th year, which the text had originally been read as. Parsons’ further emendations to the document in lines 10-11 to read Epitima autothen euthus indicate that Herakleides-Valerius was really very desperate to be rid of the burden of his father’s fine!

He examined the document under Roman, Greek and Egypt laws on debt, and suggests that Herakleides does not appear to be withdrawing from his inheritance for another person, but rather to pay off the fine his father incurred in 108/109 AD.

Takashi Fujii – A Cypriot Oath of Allegiance to Tiberius

On Monday 20th June, Dr. Takashi Fujii (Wolfson) presented a plaque found near Paphos Vetus, on Cyprus, of an oath of allegiance to Tiberius, which he argued gives us insight into the status of the emperor on the island, and the place of Augustus and his descendents in relation with Cyprus.

The text as we have it begins with a list of the theoi horkioi (l. 1-10), and then Roman deities (l. 8-10), and finally the oath to Tiberius (l.10-21).Fujii argued that the present list of the theoi horkioi is not a complete one, as the more widely renowned deities of Cyprus are not found in the text. On this basis he has suggested that we have lost the preamble of the oath. He further noted that the use of ἡμετερος to describe each of the deities has a regional rather than simply a civic implication, and may indicate the koinon of Cyprus. Indeed, because of the list of local and communal deities of Cyprus, Fujii argued that the text represents a ‘provincial (regional)-civic’ oath.

The deified Augustus is the first of the Roman deities to be listed, and is specifically linked to Aphrodite (τὸν ἔκγονον τῆς Ἀφροδίτης Σεβαστὸν θεὸνΚαίσαρα), which Fujii emphasised played on the associations of Augustus with Venus Genetrix, and that the koinon is stressing their relationship to Rome and the Emperor through this connection.He argued that the text likely came from the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos. Fujii also pointed out the interesting details surrounding the presentation of Tiberius within the text. Firstly, a visual emphasis is placed on his name, since l.14 juts out from the other lines.Secondly, Tiberius is given the name Σεβαστὸς in the text, which he never officially took. Fujii suggested that this may represent an early oath to Tiberius in c. AD 14, on his accession.

Amazingly the sun shone, the rain held and skylarks sang for the CSAD trip to the Uffington White Horse on 11th June. The expedition was organised by Maggy Sasanow and Richard Catling, as a result of a coffee-time suggestion from one of the CSAD's visiting scholars, Marijn Visscher. The trip included a walk along the Ridgeway path to Wayland's Smithy Long Barrow, where Maggy rediscovered her own inscription from some years before!

It was then a brisk walk back up to the Iron Age Hill Fort, and the White Horse, where legend has it your wish will come true if you stand on the eye (though no one attempted this, as the legality of the act was brought into question).

The weather held just long enough for a fantastic picnic spread, including some fabulous treats made by our visiting Turkish scholars Ebru and Nuray.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Haensch, deputy Director of the Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigrapik des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, delivered the sixteenth David Lewis Memorial Lecture on Wednesday 1st June, in the Auditorium of St. John’s College, Oxford. Prof. Dr. Haensch spoke on ‘The Christian Appropriation of Temples and Synagogues in Late Antiquity: Its Frequency and Signifiance’. A report of his lecture will appear in the next CSAD newsletter (Summer 2011).

Greg Rowe - ‘A Commemoration of commemorations: the Res Gestae in the context of Augustan epigraphy’

This Monday, 6th June, Greg Rowe (University of Victoria) presented a new approach to one of the most famous of Latin inscriptions: the Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Beginning with the Clupeus Virtutis (RGDA 34.2), which refers to the inscription of the shield as a testimony to the honour Augustus received from the senate, Rowe analysed the RGDA as a reproduction of senatorial honours to Augustus.He examined the representation of these honours in epigraphic forms prior to the publication of the RDGA, both in immediate commemorations of honours on inscriptions and the later commemorations on coins and fasti, which were vivid witnesses of senatorial decrees honouring Augustus.

Rowe argued that most of the RDGA reproduces senatorial honorific decrees, and that it was part of an older tradition to inscribed honours to Augustus. Thus rather than necessarily viewing the inscription as an auto-biographical first person narrative, he suggested that we should consider it as a compilation of others’ honours to Augustus.The RDGA, analysed in this light, must be read in the context of other and earlier inscriptions that commemorate the honours granted to Augustus.

Alexander Herda – The Archaic Sacred Calendar from Miletus in its Architectural Setting

On Monday 30th May, Alexander Herda (Tubingen/Berlin) presented his recent findings on the Archaeic Sacred Calendar from Miletus, and offered a reconstruction of its original architectural context.Herda has been working on the Sanctuary of Apollo Delphinios at Miletus, for which epigraphic evidence dates back to the late 6th Century BCE, and was considered the most prominent place in the city to erect inscriptions.

Herda discussed the known fragments of the Sacrificial calendar (IMilet 31a-c), dated to c. 520/500 BCE which were found in reused contexts in the Early Classical Delphinion South stoa (frag. 31a-b) and a nearby Turkish bath (frag. 31c).He observed that other Archaic inscription fragments were reused in the Early Classical Delphinion South stoa, including an oracle inscription dating to c. 530/520 B.C.All these fragments appear to be ashlar masonry blocks, indicating that the inscriptions were part of a monumental wall.The reuse of Archaic inscription fragments is not attested in the Early Classical North stoa, and appears perculiar to the South stoa.Herda has concluded that the deliberate reuse of these inscriptions in the rebuilt South stoa (after the liberation of Miletus from Persian control in 478 BCE) was a memorialisation of the previous context of the texts.

Herda assigned fragments 31a-c, along three other fragments (IMilet 1215a-c) he has now confirmed as part of the Calendar, to the Archaic South stoa, inscribed on the outer wall.Based on the inscribed surface area of frag. 31a, which covers just over half a month, Herda has calculated that an area on 36m2, over three or four columns on the stoa wall.He demonstrated that frag. 31c belonged to the end of the east wall of the stoa. In 2006 he discovered, reused in the late Hellenistic pavement, a fragment of the Calendar which he has assigned to the lower left first column of the Calendar, placing it on the south wall of the stoa.He reconstruction shows that the Sacred Calendar started on the outer south wall of the stoa, which faced the Agora, and continued along the length of the east wall

Frag. 31a refers to festivals assigned to the month of Artemision, the last month of the year.However, given a 35cm gap to the right of the text, Herda has argued that the fragment cannot come from the last column on the east wall.He instead assigned it to the first column on the south wall, arguing that the last month of the year was put at the start of the calendar to demonstrate the continunity of the yearly cycle (magistrates for the new year were elected in Artemision).

Angelos Matthaiou (Athens) – The Theozotides Decree on the Sons of those murdered in the Oligarchy

On Monday 9th May Angelos Matthaiou presented a stele from the Athenian Agora. The stele was inscribed on the front with a decree of the Boule and the demos, and on the left side with a list of names. The decree has previously been associated with the sons of those killed during the oligarchy of the Thirty, and has been dated to 403/402 B.C.

Matthaiou argued for a new date for the decree, associating it rather with the earlier murder of men under the Four Hundred, in 411 B.C. His arguments are based on a new reading of the decree, most notably that biaiōi thanatōi does not mean killed in battle but murdered. He has also shown that the restored participle boēthontes, whilst previously understood to mean ‘coming to the aid [of democracy] in war’, can also mean ‘maintaining [democracy]’. This would rule out the 180 who died in battle against the Spartans in 403 B.C. Furthermore, space on the left side of the stele would only give room for c. 45-46 sons of the murdered citizens, which suggests that it is unlikely that the decree refers to the sons of the 1,500 victims of the Thirty. Matthiou has argued for a new date of c. 410/409 B.C.

For those wanting to learn more about the processes behind Roman inscriptions, copies of Grasby’s Studies Processes in the Making of Roman Inscriptions, have been published by the CSAD. The Studies present inscriptions at various stages of their making from draft text to carefully constructed letters set out on the stone itself, brush painted and carved. The following Studies are available for sale:

Introduction to the Studies ........... £6.00

Study 1, CIL VI 960 ...................... £5.00

Study 2, RIB 330 .......................... £5.00

Study 8, RIB 2110 ........................ £5.00

Study 9, CIL VI 40310 .................. £5.00

Study 10, CIL VI 36908 ................ £5.00

Study 11, CIL VI 37077 ................ £5.00

Those wishing to purchase any of the Studies should contact Maggy Sasanow, at the CSAD.

On Friday March 11th Professor John Wilkes generously donated to the CSAD a scrapbook meticulously compiled by the great Marcus Niebuhr Tod between the 1920s and 40s, and given to Professor Wilkes by Marcus Tod in 1973, the year before he died. The entries contain some fascinating pieces of epigraphical, and other, history. The scrapbook can currently be seen in the display cabinet in the CSAD, and in time the intention is to digitise some of the more interesting contents for publishing on the CSAD website. An overview of the life and work of Marcus Tod can be found in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (http://217.169.56.135/view/article/60178).