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Inscribed Pillar Fragment (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Pillar Fragment: Honorific Inscription for Emperor Hadrian
- Date
- 117–38 AD., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx00.002
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Architecture, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Honorific Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
[Αὐτοκρ]άτορα Καί- [σαρα θε]οῦ Τραια- leaf [νοῦ Πα]ρ̣θικοῦ υἱόν, 4 [θεοῦ Ν]έρουα υἱωνόν, [Τραιαν]ὸν Ἁδριανὸν [Σεβαστ]όν, πατέρα [πατρίδο]ς, γῆς καὶ θα- 8 [λάσσης] δεσπότην 1 line vacat [ἡ Σαρδι]ανῶν βουλὴ κα[ὶ] [ὁ δῆμος] καθιέρωσεν· leaf [ἐπιμελ]ηθέντων Γαίου̣ 12 [Ἰουλίου(?) Μ(?)]άγνου ἱερέως Τ[ι]- [βερίου Καίσ]αρος καὶ στρα̣- [τηγοῦ] πρώτου καὶ Οὐλπ[ί]- [ου Οἰνο]μά̣ου καὶ Πύρρου̣ 16 [ . . . . . . κ]αὶ Ἀνδρέα ΣΕ- [ . . . . . . . ]α̣τια Θεοδότου̣ [συναρ]χόντων αὐτοῦ.
- Inscription Translation
- “The Council and [the People] of the Sardians have dedicated the (honorary statue of) Imperator Caesar, son of divus Traianus Parthicus, grandson of [divus] Nerva, Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, father of his country, master of land and sea. The superintendents were Gaius [Iulius? M?]agnus, priest of Tiberius Caesar and chief strategos and his colleagues in office: Ulp[ius Oino]maos and Pyrrhos [ - - - ] and Andreas Se[- and -]atias Theodotos.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Findspot
- Found in a field between Buildings C and D.
- Description
Fragment of a pillar of white marble with gray veins. The left face is broken off, and the other faces are smoothed. On the bottom, there is a simple molding, and there is anathyrosis on the upper face. The middle stroke of A is broken in ll. 1–7, straight from l. 9 onward; Y has a horizontal stroke from ll. 2–9 and is without such a stroke from l. 12 onwards.
- Dimensions
- H. 1.25, max. W. 0.37, Th. 0.53, average H. of letters 0.025, l. 1 0.035.
- Comments
7–8 This formula becomes familiar under Trajan; see Chr. Schuler, Chiron 37 (2007), p. 400, with n. 69. On its forerunners—according to inscriptions Pompeius was γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης ἐπόπτης—see Schuler, ibid., pp. 383–403.
10 καθιέρωσεν: instead of καθιέρωσαν; see no. 339, 1–2 comm.
12 Instead of [Μ]άγνου, possibly Ἅγνου.
12–14 cf. Sardis VII 1, no. 47, 5–6, and nos. 333, 2 comm. and 384, 9–10 comm.
15–17 Perhaps: Πύρρου / [(father’s name or second name in genitive) καὶ Ἀνδρέα Σε]/[- (= father’s name or second name in genitive) καὶ -]α̣τια Θεοδότου̣.
18 The line seems too short for the supplement [τῶν συναρ]χόντων αὐτοῦ; for the latter genitive, see e.g., IGSK 17, 1 (Caystrus valley), no. 3252, 25; and IGSK 13 (Ephesos), no. 958, 6.
Date: during a visit to Lydia by Hadrian, 124 or 128?, see P. Weiß, Chiron 25 [1995], pp. 213–24; here no. «374» comm.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Unpublished.
- Author
- GP