• m14-427-10
    Inscribed Architectural Fragments, Detail (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
  • m14-427-20
    Inscribed Architectural Fragments (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Inscribed Architectural Fragments: Building Inscription for Portico (from Hypaipa portico to tetrapylon; built without city funds)

Date
4th–6th century AD., Roman
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
IN68.019
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Architecture, Inscription
Inscription Type
Building Inscription
Inscription language
Greek
Inscription Text
(a)		† Ἐκτίσθη ὁ ἔν̣βολος ἀπὸ τοῦ  scroll
		Ὑπεπηνοῦ ἐνβόλου ἄχρι τοῦ 
		τετραπύλου, ἐκκοπίσης τῆς
	4	πίλης καὶ παντὸς τοῦ τόπου †
(b)		ἐκχωσθέντος χωρὶς 
		πόρων πολιτικῶν. †
Inscription Translation
“The portico was built from the Hypaipa portico as far as the tetrapylon; the gate was demolished and the whole place cleared - without (using) funds of the city.”
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
HoB
Trench
Bldg R
B-Grid Coordinates
E57.5 / S104.5 *101.00
Findspot
House of Bronzes sector, Building R.
Description

(a) Architectural piece of white marble with a molding on the far right side; the rear is broken away. (b) Architectural piece of white marble; on the left front are the remains of a curved cornice, while the inscribed surface is smoothed; the sides, as cut for reuse, are mostly preserved. There are clamp holes in both fragments. Ll. 1–4 stand on bands that are marked by lines above and below the letters (ll. 5–6 lack such bands).

Dimensions
(a) H. 0.21, W. 0.88, Th. ca. 0.52, H. of letters 0.022; (b) H. 0.35, W. 1.04, Th. ca. 0.80, H. of letters 0.026.
Comments

1–2 ὁ ἔνβολος: see no. 426, 1.

J. and L. Robert: “importante inscription pour la topographie et des travaux futurs éventuels: construction d’une avenue à colonnades allant de l’avenue de Hypaipa (donc au Sud) jusqu’au tétrapyle…, avec travaux de démolition d’une porte et remblaiement de tout le lieu…, sans les fonds de la ville.” Cf. M. Rautman, “Sardis in Late Antiquity,” in Archaeology and the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity, ed. O. Dally and Ch. Ratté (2011), p. 13: “…an embolos that ran from an unidentified tetrapylon to the embolos of Hypaepa, presumably meaning the colonnaded street that led in the direction of the Southwest Gate.”

For examples for private munificence of the sixth–seventh centuries by which buildings were erected without using the city’s money, see J.-B. Yon and P.-L. Gatier, eds., Choix d’inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (2009), nos. 18–19.

See Also
Bibliography
C. Foss, M4, p. 115, nos. 18 (a) and 19 (b) (J. and L. Robert, BE 1977, 453 [as one text]; SEG 26, 1318–1319).
Author
GP