Description of Monument

White marble block (0.93 x 0.70 x depth not measurable) from the right side of a composite monument.

Description of Text

Inscribed on a prepared area.

Letters

ll.1, 2, 0.03; ll.3, 4, 6, 0.022; ll.5, 7, 8, 0.025. Apostrophe for abbreviation; Ligatures: l.2, ΗΜ; l.3, ΗΝ; l.5, ΝΗ; l.6, ΤΗ; l.8, ΜΗΝ

Date

Second to third centuries A.D. (lettering)

Edition τὸ μνημεῖον ἐστιν Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Ἀγαθόποδος τοῦ Ἀγαθόποδος τοῦ τοῦΔιονυσίου παρακεχωρημένου αὐτῷδιὰτοῦχρεοφυλακίου ὑπὸ Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Διονυσίου τοῦ Ζήνωνος ἕτεροςδὲοὐδεὶς ἕξει ἐξουσίαν ἐνθάψαι τινα ἢ ἐκθάψαι χωρὶς αὐτοῦ Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Ἀγαθόποδος ἢ τῶν κληρονόμων ἢ διαδόχων ἐπεὶ ὁ ποιήσας ἀποτείσει τῷ ταμείῳ α τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς ἀντίγραφον ἀπετέθη εἰς τὸ χρεοφυλάκιον ἐιπὶ στεφανηφόρου τὸ Ἀτταλίδος τῆς Μενεκράτους μηνὸς Ἀπελλαίου

Apparatus

At the beginnings of the lines appropriate formulae have been supplied from standard funeraries, giving the sense of what is lost, although not necessarily the exact wording (in particular the word used for the tomb in line 1 is undertain.

In line 2, since M. Aur. Agathopous is not identifiable, we cannot complete his genealogy.

l. 7, ΣΠΙ

In line 8, a number may have been given for Attalis' stephanephorate, although there hardly seems space for it.

Translation

[The tomb is the property of Marcus Aur]elius Agathopous the son of Agathopous the son of [ name lost] the son of Dionysios, to whom it was ceded [in a transaction recorded in the Property-archive by] Marcus Aurelius Dionysios son of Zenon; and no-one else shall have the right to bury anyone (in it) or remove a body [except him, Marcus Aurelius Ag]athopous or his heirs [or successors since he who acts so] will pay to the treasurey (at Rome) 1000 denarii. [A copy of the inscription was deposited] in the Property-archive in the stephanephorate [ ? for the xx time, of Attalis daughter of Me]nekrates, month of Apellaios.

Commentary

Agathopous and Dionysios are otherwise unknown to us, but being Marci Aurelii are reasonably taken to have received Roman citizenship as a result of the Edict of Caracalla (212), being the first citizens in their families. Nothing suggests that Agathopous belonged to the civic aristrocracy, since citation of genealogies seems to have been a widespread practice at Aphrodisias. The formal cession of a tomb by one owner to another is recorded in several other funerary inscriptions, and it may be that some men built tombs to cede in this way as afinancial speculation. The tomb here is unliekly to have been large since the fine specified for its violation is amoing the smaller fines recorded.

Attalis daughter of Menekrates is known to us as a member of a wealthy family, responsible for extensive public works in the first century A.D. (see e.g. 1.7, 9.112). When she died (in the reign of Vespasian, see 12.614) she bequeathed money to the city to finance stephanephorates after her death, and the reference here is clearly to one which was more than a century later. This stephanephorate may well have been numbered (cf. e.g. 13.203, 13.154, 13.147) although the space for the number is limited.

Locations

Walls, South-west: half buried on top of the southern stretch. Unknown Findspot (1975)

Text Constituted From

Transcription (Reynolds)

History of Recording

Recorded by the NYU expedition in 1975 (Walls 119)

Bibliography

Unpublished.

Photographs

View (1975)

Face (1975)