Description of Monument

Four fragments perhaps from a white marble panel. Text i fragment b (b 0.40 × 0.42 × 0.11); text ii fragments a, b and c; text ii fragment d, broken on all sides, (0.21 × 0.42 × 0.12).

Description of Text

Inscribed on the face in at least two, probably three, columns.

Letters

l.1, 0.035; ll.2-3, 0.04

Date

Flavian (titulature, lettering)

Edition

Apparatus

The highlighted letters are all that has been seen by us.

Translation

i. Dionysios son of Papylos son of Papylos Dionysios, priest of Zeus Nineudios, in accordance with his promise

ii. statue of Augustus Germanicus the unconquered god. Dionysios son of Papylos the son of Papylos Dionysios, priest of Zeus Nineudios, jointly dedicated the god to the god in accordance with his promise in accordance with his promise

iii. the god Augustus Caesar dedicated Dionysios Papylos

Commentary

It is not easy to accommodate iii in either i or ii; we therefore probably have a block with three columns of inscription, perhaps accompanying three statues. For this layout compare 12.1002 (=Reinach 35).

Given the likely date, the emperor whose statue was dedicated in ii might be Gaius, Claudius, Nero or Domitian, the first three having inherited the title Germanicus and the fourth acquiring it for a victory early in A.D. 84. Trajan also acquired this title in A.D. 97, but this seems rather late for the lettering (although not to be rejected out of hand). For ἀνείκητος see 6.2 and discussion there. The appellation 'unconquered God' is well-attested for Domitian but not inconceivable for the others.

For Domitian: αὐτοκράτορα Δομιτιανὸν Καίσαρα Σεβαστὸν Γερμανικὸν θεὸν ἀνίκητον (IPriene 229)

For Trajan: Αὐτοκράτορα Καίσαρα Νερούαν Τραιανὸν Σεβαστὸν Γερμανικὸν Δακικὸν θεὸν θεοῦ υἱὸν ἀνείκητον (IG II.3, 3284, so in Laconia IG V.1.380)

The imperial figures honoured in column i - and perhaps in column iii - are likely to have been significant members of the family - a wife, or for Gaius, a sister. The stress on the divinity of the emperor might make Gaius or Domitian particularly likely.

The dedicator in i was thought by Paris and Holleaux to have been probably the son of the dedicator of column ii - so that they restored Διονύσιος Διονυσίου Παπύλου τοῦ Παπύλου. This may be right; but in both columns the dedicator is priest of Zeus Nineudios, and one might wonder how many such priests would co-exist. We have suggested that the dedicator is in fact the same man in both cases; and he might also be the dedicator in iii. But the second dedication of which traces survive at the end of column ii appears to require a different name.

Locations

City, North-east: three (a.-c.) seen built into a garden wall on the way to the cemetery, by P&H. They describe this as west of the city, but this must be a slip; seen, with d, by K&R near 12.304 (on E.wall); fragment b. was found in 1975 on the east wall, near 12.320 (=MAMA 556b) (catalogue no 75.13). Shrine of Zeus Nineudios b. in the Museum (1977)

Text Constituted From

Preliminary transcription (Reynolds); K&R notebooks; publications.

History of Recording

a-c copied by Paris and Holleaux; a-c seen and d copied by K&R (K iii.30a, Abklatsch 67); one fragment (b) found by the NYU expedition (excavation inventory number 75.13).

Bibliography

a-c published by Paris and Holleaux, no. 10, whence McCabe 177, 178, cited by P. Veyne, 21 (1962), 94; d published, from K&R, by Cormack, no 13a, whence McCabe 189.

Photographs

Fragment b (1975)

Fragment b (1977)

Representations

Fragment d: Kubitschek notebook III, 30