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Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Block: Altar Dedication to the tribe Eumeneis and to Zeus, by Menophilos, son of Menophilos
- Date
- Probably under the reign of Eumenes II, after 188 BC (ed. pr., who compares the letter shape with that of Sardis VII 1, no. 88)., Hellenistic
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN58.011
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Altar, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Religious Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
[Μη]νόφιλος Μηνοφ[ίλου] [φυ]λῆς Εὐμενηΐδος ἱε[ρ- ] [ ] Σαυαζίου ἐν τῶι ̣[ ] 4 [ φυ]λῆι Εὐμενηΐδι τὸν βω[μὸν] vac. Διί vac. [ κ]αὶ ΘΕΑΣ[ ]
- Inscription Translation
- “Menophilos, son of Menophilos, from the tribe Eumeneis, priest(?) of Sabazios in the [- - -] (has dedicated) the altar to the phyle Eumeneis [and?] to Zeus - (probably a later addition:) and to the goddess S[- - -](?).”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sart Mustafa
- Findspot
- Found in a house in Sart Mustafa.
- Description
Block of white marble; the original height is preserved; broken on the right and left sides. On the upper side there is a hole; the rear is roughly chiseled.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.48, W. 0.34, Th. 0.17, H. of letters ll. 1–4 0.02; l. 5 0.028; l. 6 0.044.
- Comments
The following observations are mostly from Herrmann:
2 and 4 For the phyle Εὐμενηΐς see also no. 575.
2–3 ἱε[ρεὺς / Διὸς] Σ: Johnson (Lane; de Hoz); L. Robert noted on the rear of the photograph that had been given to him: ἱε[ρατεύ/σας]. For the cult of Sabazios in Sardis, see no. 434, 9–10. Herrmann refers to Welles, RC, no. 67, a letter written by Attalos III that deals with the introduction of the Sabazios cult in Pergamon by queen Stratonike; the god became σύνναος θεός of Athena Nikephoros (the goddess was also worshiped in Sardis; see Herrmann, Chiron 19 [1989], p. 145). Herrmann considers that this event became an incentive for the renewal of the cult of Sabazios, perhaps under the name Zeus Sabazios (see ll. 3 and 5 [?]), in Sardis. Hanfmann refers to TAM V 1, 538 (Maionia) where a certain Arious from Sardis, son of Theophilos, dedicates to Zeus Sabazios an οἶκος and the surrounding place.
3 It is unclear whether ἐν τῶι is a specification of the god (like in no. 321, 5–6, Men Askenos ὁ ὢν ἐν Σάρδεσιν) or indicates the place of the dedication (“…hat den Altar in dem [Tempel, Bezirk?] der Phyle Eumeneis (geweiht und?) dem Zeus…,” Herrmann).
The last visible trace is the lower part of a vertical stroke: τ̣[εμένει] hesitatingly Herrmann; ν̣[αῶι] Johnson (Lane, de Hoz); according to a note in the excavation papers, A. D. Nock thought of περιβόλωι or ναῶι. Robert refrained from a restoration.
4 [φυ]λῆι: Lane (de Hoz), Robert; [βασι]ληι Johnson.
6 Probably a later addition (Robert: “adjonction”) written in larger letters θεᾷ Σ[ ] (no iota adscript!) or θεᾶς [ ].
It remains unclear where in Sardis the Sabazios cult was located. It had a priest and an altar; the present block may have belonged to a larger architectural unit. It is also uncertain whether Διί refers to “Zeus” Sabazios and what the relation was to the goddess who is mentioned in the last line, which may be a later addition.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- S. E. Johnson in Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of E. R. Goodenough, ed. J. Neusner (1968 = Numen Suppl. 14), pp. 542–50, with pl. I (Lane, CCIS II no. 30, pl. XIII; De Hoz, Kulte, p. 265, no. 51.15); mentioned in SPRT, pp. 114, 260 n. 33; pp. 118, 263 n. 54; Herrmann, ms.
- Author
- GP