Description of Monument

Right side of a white marble block damaged also at the upper and lower right corners (1.02 x 0.64 x 0.31).

Description of Text

Inscribed on the exposed face within a moulded panel with narrow rebates along the right and lower edges. The upper edge is plain, and the opening of the text was presumably cut on the block which adjoined it above.

Letters

ll. 1-14, c.0.033; ll. 15-17, c.0.03; l.11, ligatureHN.

Date

Later second to early third century A.D. (lettering)

Edition ὑπὸ Νεικομάχου ἀρχιερέως καὶ ἐν τῇ Μηνόδοτος Νεικομάχου ου ἀρχιερεὺς ταμίας νε οποιὸς καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ Νεικομάχου ἀρχιέρεια τοῦ Μηνοδότου καὶ Ἀπφία ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀριστέρᾳ σορῷ Φλαβία ΣεκούνδιλλαΜηνοδότου καὶ Νεικομαχὶς καὶ Νεικόμαχος τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν ἐν αἷς σοροῖς ἀφηρωισμέναις ἑτέρῳ δὲ οὐδενὶ ἐξέσται ἐνθάψαι τινὰ οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς ὲν τῷ βωμῷ εἰσωσταῖς χωρὶς τῶν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ Νεικομαχου δηλουμένων ἐπεὶ ἐάν τι παρὰ ταῦτα τολμήσῃ τις εἰσοίσει εἰς τὸν κυριακὸν φίσκον δηνάρια μύρια τὰ δηλούμενα καὶ διὰ τῆς Νεικομάχου διαθήκης ἐξουσίας οὔσης παντὶ ἐκγδικεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ τρίτῳ μέρει ταύτης τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς ἀπετέθη ἀντίτυπον εἰς τὸ χρεοφυλάκιον ἐπὶ Ἱεροκλέους τοῦ Ἀπολλωνίου μηνὸς κήδησονται δὲ τοῦ ἡρώου ὁ δῆμος καὶ ἡ βουλή

Apparatus

We have recorded variant readings (we can read slighly more than MAMA), but not variant conjectures.

l.2. c. 3 ]ΕΝ[ c. 3] MAMA

l.3. Ν[εικο]μάχου MAMA

l.6. ...]ΟΥ MAMA

l.7. ἀρισ]τέρᾳ MAMA

l.8. Μηνοδ]ότου MAMA

l.11. χωρὶ]ς MAMA

l.12. ἐά]ν MAMA

l.13. φίσκον] δηνάρια μύρια MAMA. At end τῆς [ .. ] MAMA

l.17. ταύτης] ἐπιγραφῆς MAMA

Translation

[The tomb (described in some detail) was built] by Nikomachos [ son of .. ? .. and grandson of .. ? .. ] highpriest, [and] in [?the right hand sarcophagus ? there has been buried] Menodotos son of Nikomachos [and there will be buried Nikomachos himself, son of ?, ] high priest, city treasurer, templebuilder [ and .. ? .. the wife of Nikomachos, high priestess [and .. ? .. ] of the son of Menodotos, and Apphia [ .. ? .. , and] in the left hand sarcophagus Flavia Secundilla [? daughter of .. ? .. and ? wife] of Menodotos, and Nikomachis and Nikomachos [?their children]. When these sarcophagi have been declared a Heroon [no-one else shall have the right to bury anyone in them nor in the burial places in the altar [.. ? .. except] those [whose names are set out] in the will of Nikomachos [since] if anyone dares anything contrary he shall pay a fine of 10.000 denarii [to the imperial fiscus] as set out in the [will of Nikomachos] which gives a right to everyone to bring him to justice to be recompensed with a third of the fine. A copy of [this] inscription was lodged [in the property archive] in the stephanephorate of Hierokles, son of Apollonios, [month ?]. The People and the Council will have the care of the Heroon.

Commentary

This family is also represented at Aphrodisias by 5.7, in which Attalis, d. of Menodotos the son of Nikomachos the high priest, being herself priestess of Arete, makes a dedication (?of a caryatid) to the Demos. The family is clearly wealthy and eminent, since the builder was noted as a high priest and his wife as a high priestess, and he lists, in the Roman manner, the high offices that he had held in the city. The Menodotos who had probably predeceased him might well have been his father, but his son cannot be excluded, since the name Menodotos subsequently occurs only in the genitive case. It is unclear what was the relationship of Apphia (l.6) and Flavia Secundilla (l.7) to the family, although Secundilla seems likely to have been the wife of a Menodotos, and mother of the Nikomachis and Nikomachos whose names follow (ll.8-9). It is reasonable to guess that the name of the Attalis of Jacopi's inscription stood in one of the lost areas - perhaps in l.9. At present, however, only a limited family tree is possible - and in that the precise position of Attalis is uncertain.

Nicomachus = Ignota

archiereus | archiereiaMenodotus = ? Flavia Secundilla|________________________________| | |Attalis Nicomachis Nicomachus hiereia Aretes

Clearly the tomb was of some complexity - with two sarcophagi and further burial places in the bomos (for which, surprisingly, no users are named). The heroised status of burial places once filled features in a number of other Aphrodisian funeraries, although we have no evidence to show what rituals and genuine beliefs were involved. Unusual features are the size of the fine for infringement of the provisions of the builder's will (10,000 denarii, as against a norm of around 5,000), the use of the word ἀντίτυπον for the normal ἀντίγραφον, the arrangements for care of the tomb, which was apparently undertaken by the city (l.17), for which we have no other example (but note that, at about the date of this text, we hear of the assumption of the care of some tombs by craft associations), and the inversion of the normal order of Council and people in the description thereof. The size of the fine and the involvement of the city should be linked to the family's eminence.

Locations

Walls, East (south part):on the inside face, very near 12.328 (=MAMA 428). Unknown: Aphrodisias necropolis Findspot (1989)

Text Constituted From

Preliminary transcription (Reynolds); publication.

History of Recording

Recorded by the MAMA expedition; by the NYU expedition in 1989, and again in 1995, when more was exposed.

Bibliography

Published by Cormack from the MAMA records, MAMA 8, no. 546, whence McCabe 513

Photographs

Face (1989)

Face (1989)