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Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Block from Anta of the Metroon (reused in Synagogue): Letter from Antiochos III
- Date
- Reign of Antiochos III (letter shape)., Hellenistic
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN63.081
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Architecture, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Letter or Dossier Containing Letters, Decisions, Petitions, Subscriptiones, Honors
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
Βασιλεὺς [Ἀντίοχος Σαρδιανῶν τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι] δήμωι χαίρ[ειν· (names of three or four ambassadors) οἱ παρ᾿ ὑ]- μῶν πρε̣[σβευταὶ ἀπέδωκαν ἡμῖν τὸ ψήφισμα, ἐν ὧι ] 4 ἐ̣γεγ[ράφειτε ] ΓΗ[ ] τοῖς [ ] καὶ Ε[ ] 8 ὅσοι Μ[ ] ἀδια[ τα]- χιστ[ ] ΜΗΔ[ ]
- Inscription Translation
- “King [Antiochos to the Council and the] People [of the Sardians], greetings. [Names of three or four men, the] ambassadors sent [by] you [handed over to us the decree in which you had written - - -] land(?) [- - -] the [- - -] and [- - -] all those who [- - -] as soon as possible(?) [- - -]” (mostly after Ma).
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Syn
- Trench
- Syn 63
- Locus
- Syn MH Spolia
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E49 / N14.10 *97.00
- Findspot
- Synagogue, Main Hall, reused in one of the piers at the western end, see Gauthier, pl. XIV; originally belonging to an anta of the late Classical or Hellenistic Metroon (see no.
308 , 4–5 comm.).
- Description
- Three joining fragments of white marble with reddish patina. The uppermost fragment is the upper left corner of a block similar to those containing the inscriptions nos. 307–310; part of the left edge is preserved, elsewhere broken.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.30, max. W. 0.17, max. Th. 0.26, max. H. of letters 0.015.
- Comments
At the beginning of his letter, the king gives a résumé of a decree of the Sardians, and in the following part, he gives his decisions. The restorations are those of Gauthier who also proposes:
5 Perhaps γῆ[ς] or γῆ[ν]. This (public, private, holy?) “land” was referred to in the Sardian decree.
8 ὅσοι μ[ή]?
9 The beginning of a word like ἀδιαίρετος, ἀδιάλειπτος, ἀδιάπτωτος, etc.
9–10 [ὡς τά]/χιστ[α] or [τὴν τα]/χίστ[ην], “le plus rapidement possible,” concerning perhaps “questions relatives à la réorganisation de la cité, en 213 ou peu après.”
11 μηδ[έ], μηδ[έν], vel sim.
Material aspects rule out the possibility that these lines belong to the letters of Antiochos III, nos. 309 and 310.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Gauthier, Nouv. inscr. Sard. II, pp. 125–26, no. 5, pl. VI (photograph of the stone), with detailed commentary (SEG 39, 1287; Ma, Antiochos III, pp. 360–62, no. 41B, with translation and note).
- Author
- GP