Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents

Abigail Graham – Re-Appraising the Value of Same-Text Relationships; a Study of ‘Duplicate’ Inscriptions in the Monumental Landscape at Aphrodisias

On Monday 4th February, Dr. Abigail Graham (Warwick) presented a series of inscriptions from Aphrodisias in order to explore the ways in which we view inscriptions and in particular ‘same-text inscriptions’. The purpose of Dr. Graham’s discussion was to emphasise what a study of ‘same-text inscriptions’ can reveal about the relationship between text and monumental space, and what we might learn from that about the values and processes of creating a monumental inscription, both in terms of the ancient audiences’ perceptions and the very act of carving the inscription.

Dr. Graham examined the exterior and interior dedications of the Sebasteion propylon, the inscriptions recording the reconstruction of the propylon and North portico, and the dedication on the East Court at the Hadrianic Baths. She demonstrated how the presentation of the texts was dependent on the architectural space, and that functional markers and spaces were used to make sense of the message of each text. Texts were carefully arranged in the space in order to express certain values: spatial distinctions were made between recipients and benefactors, whilst civic identity and family were also emphasised.

Dr. Graham concluded by emphasising that the existence of the same text, as in the instances from Aphrodisias, does not necessarily mean the same inscription: each inscription must be treated as an individual text, and understood in terms of the process of its creations and how it would have been viewed within its monumental space.

Jas Elsner, 'Visual Culture and Ancient History: Ruminations Inspired by a Stele in Athens (Acropolis Museum 1333, IG cubed 127 and IG squared 1)'

On Monday 22nd October, Jas Elsner neatly demonstrated ways in which visual culture and ancient history need to be examined together when examining inscriptions, using as an illustration the particular case of the Samos Stele, from the Athenian Acropolis.

The stele records three different decrees, the first from 405 B.C. and the second two from 403/2 B.C., concerning the relationship of Athens to Samos (IG3 127 and IG2 1), and carrying a relief of two female deities (one of which is clearly identified as Athena) shaking hands. Elsner emphasised that only one edition of the inscription has given an image of the whole stele (Rhodes & Obsorne Greek Historical Inscriptions 404-323 B.C.), whilst the first decree has been separated from the second two in epigraphic publications, based on the fact that they document different periods of political history. Thus the discipline of Ancient History has influenced and dictated how to package and use the text. Elsner pointed out that this is very much a text-based treatment of the inscription, rather than a consideration of the text as a physical object. Indeed, despite historians' desire to use the documents separately to illustrate different political periods, Elsner showed that the stele is in fact a single inscribed text; that Kephisophon, the grammateos of the 3rd decree, was reframing the 1st decree in one single display.

Elsner also argued that descriptions and interpretations of the relief are themselves far from impartial analyses. The relief appears to be a ‘type’ of image, not unique to the Samos stele, and may be understood as offering an alternative discursive framing to the text. Elsner concluded that we cannot have a definitive reading of the image and that is the point.

Cédric Brélaz - The Corpus of the Roman colony of Philippi: some new inscriptions.

On Monday 13th February Cédric Brélaz (University of Strasbourg) spoke about his current research for the new Corpus des inscriptions grecques et latines de Philippi, and outlined the social and demographic contexts within which the institutions of the colony were set.

The Corpus des inscription grecques et latines de Philippi will consist of three volumes: 1) deals with the Macedonian city, covering its foundation under Philip II, through the Hellenistic period; 2) deals with the Roman Imperial period; and 3) deals with the inscriptions from the Christian Byzantine town at Philippi. Brélaz’s research focuses on the inscriptions concerned with the public life and Roman state of the Roman colony of Philippi (Vol. 2. 1), which number 220 in total, with 90 inscriptions which are still to be published.

Brélaz spoke about the linguistic and cultural interactions that existed between the colony of Philippi and the surrounding area. He illustrated the development of the influence and interaction of the Greek communities on the Latin speaking Roman community from the 1st to 3rd centuries A.D.

John Ma: Documents about the Maccabees (and documents about documents about the Maccabees)

In what was perhaps a first for the Epigraphy Workshop, John Ma’s presentation on Monday 30th January drew such a large audience that the workshop had to relocate to the lecture theatre in the Ioannou Centre!

Ma (Corpus Christi, Oxford) looked at the ancient documents that survive on paper, rather than on stone and papyri, for the purposes of examining the status and interactions between Jerusalem and Antiocheia during the years 167-164 B.C. He focused on the issue of control of local shrines and rights in the Hellenistic world, and the grants of the Seleucid kings which allowed local self-government (which does not mean autonomy). Ma also examined the effect of the foundation of the polis of Antiocheia on the Temple state of Jerusalem.

Whilst the documents present a picture of enforced hellenization and an interdiction on the Jewish faith, Ma demonstrated that there is no such parallel to be found in the epigraphy. What is clear is that the Jews lost control of the Temple to Antiocheia, and the right to self-government. Ma examined the letters of restoration in II Macc. 11.16-38 which illustrate that Jerusalem did not have rights or laws in 167 B.C.: the Jews are addressed first as plethos (letter 1) which implies no state or council for self-government. Likewise in letter two they are termed an ethnos. If is only after the restoration of their rights by the king in letter 2, that Antiochus refers to the the gerousia of the Jews (letter 3). Ma argued that the documents suggest that the recovery and rededication of the temple was the responsibility of hellenized Jews, gained through negotiation.

Christof Schuler: Deme Decrees from Hellenistic Lycia.

On Monday January 23rd, Christof Schuler (Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik des Deutschen Archäologischen Insituts) presented a number of decrees which offer an insight into the rural sub-centres of poleis in central Lycia. Schuler emphasised that the epigraphic evidence from Demes such as Trysa and Tyberissos illustrates the institutional vocabulary used to express, on a regional level, the different communities within the world of the Greek poleis.

Inscriptions from Tyrsa (in the territory of Kyaneai) demonstrate a distinction between the different institutional levels of communities that interacted with each other. An honorary decree published by Schuler and Walser (2006, 173ff Nr. 4) marks a distinction between ἡμέτερος δῆμος and ἥ πολις. The community was further marked out as having a Demarch and no Boulē (Schuler-Walser, 2006 183f Nr. 5). Schuler also illustrated how the community of Tyberissos presented itself within the larger framework of the polis of Myra: a dedication to Augustus refers to the δῆμος ὁ σθμπολιτευὁμενος μετὰ Μυρέων (Schuler, Chiron 37, 2007, 383ff), possibly indicating that Tyberissos had at one point been a polis in the early Hellenistic period, and that here they were stressing their special status in relation to Myra.

Schuler also pointed out an interesting onomastic detail that illustrates the importance to these Lycian communities of Hellenistic institutional structures. Women appear to have kept traditional Lycian names (e.g. Eriodabe and Ermapias) whilst the men had Greek names (e.g. Hippolochos and Timotheos) suggesting the importance of acting within the public, political sphere.

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 of social and cultural pluralities, as demonstrated in her presentation of current work being carried out on 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) contains 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 to Greek as the dominant language of epigraphic texts.

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

Peter Thonemann - A New Royal letter of Eumenes II

On Monday 14th November, Peter Thonemann presented a newly 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 of the stele records a response and concession of Eumenes II to the petitions of a Lydian community, whilst Face B records a series of requests made by the community.

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 mentioned was Apollioucharax (the fortress of Apollios), which he believes was at the site of modern Taskuyucak.

Thonemann argued against Herrmann’s and Malay’s interpretation of face B, which asserts that the text records a series of decisions granted by Eumenes II to the community, showing that, in fact, the clauses must represent a series of requests from Apollioucharax. What is perhaps most striking about the text is that it records the mortgaging by the community to an individual named Meleagros of a portion of their territory (‘the village of Sibloë’) 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 was to ensure that he was 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) in the Arsinoite archives. In AD 89/90 the documents were discovered by Mettius Rufus to have been 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 as read originally. Parsons’ further emendations to the document in lines 10-11 to read Epitima autothen euthus indicate that Herakleides-Valerius was noticeably desperate to be rid of the burden of his father’s fine!

He examined the document under Roman, Greek and Egyptian laws on debt, and suggests that Herakleides did not appear to be withdrawing from his inheritance in order to benefit another person, but simply to finally 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 to 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 was 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.