The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis

Children of Kore Inscription, overview (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Children of Kore Inscription (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Children of Kore Inscription (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Children of Kore Inscription, right side (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Inscribed Base: Dedication of Statues of Koros (Satiety) and Euposia (Abundance) to Emperors Caracalla and Geta and the imperial family

Monograph 14: Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017 (2019) Cat. 447

Date

211–12 AD., Roman

Sardis or Museum Inv. No.

IN72.001

Material

Marble, Stone

Object Type

Statue Base, Inscription

Inscription Type

Religious Inscription

Inscription language

Greek

Inscription Text

		[Α]ὐτοκρ̣[άτορσι Καίσαρσι Μ.] Αὐρ. Ἀντωνείνῳ [Εὐσεβεῖ Σεβαστῷ ⟦καὶ Πο.⟧]
		καὶ ⟦/ Σεπτιμίῳ Γέτᾳ Σεβαστῷ καὶ⟧ τῷ σύνπαντι ο[ἴκῳ τῶν Σεβαστῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς]
		ΑΣΕΡ̣[ . . ]Ξ̣Ω[  . . ]Ν̣ΗΣ βασιλείας καὶ τῆς διην[ε]κοῦς καὶ ἀνεικήτ[ου διαμο]-
	4	νῆς καὶ κράτους ἀδιαλείπτου · Κόρης παῖδας leaf Κόρον, leaf Εὐπο[σίαν, καὶ]
		ὑπὲρ εὐετηρίας καὶ εὐθαλείας πόλεως καὶ περιχώρου Σάρδε[ων γῆς(?)]
	            ἀνέθηκεν v Γλύκων Γλύκωνος v ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων τῇ γλυκυτάτῃ καὶ κυ̣ρί[ᾳ πατρίδι]
					      πρωτόχθονι καὶ β´ νεωκόρῳ. leaf

Inscription Translation

“To the Imperatores [Caesares M(arcus)] Aur(elius) Antoninus [Pius Augustus ⟦and Pu(blius) Septimius Geta Augustus⟧] and to the entire house [of the Augusti for the - - - ] rule and the continuous and invincible persistence and everlasting power, Glykon, son of Glykon, dedicated from his own means the children of Kore: Satiety (and) Abundance, [and], for the prosperity and bloom of the city and the hinterland of Sardis, to his well-beloved [native city], his mistress, protochthonous and twice temple-warden.”

Inscription Comment

Site

Sardis

Sector

Trench

Syn W 72

Locus

B BE-C

Findspot

Bath-Gymnasium Complex, BE-C north wall.

Description

Base of white marble consisting of two big joining blocks. The blocks rest upon a larger base with molding. The script runs over the joint.

Dimensions

W. of the left block 1.62, W. of the right [broken on the right] 1.00, max. H. 1.18, Th. 0.54; base with molding: H. 0.29, W. 3.53, Th. 0.88; script: average H. of letters 0.04; Ll. 1–5 begin 0.11 m from the left edge (in l. 6, ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕΝ, with an oversized A, is slightly protruding), the centered l. 7: 1.06.

Comments

Summary of the commentary in ZPE 200:

1–3 my reading; [Α]ὐτοκρ̣[άτορι Καίσαρι Μ(άρκῳ)] Αὐρ(ηλίῳ) Ἀντωνεί[νῳ… /(2) Καί⟦σαρι Πο(πλίῳ) Σεπτιμίῳ Γέτᾳ Σεβασ⟧τῷ σὺν παντὶ ο̣[ἴκῳ τῶν Σεβαστῶν]…/(3) ΑΣΕΡ…ΝΗΣ βασιλείας, etc. Foss (SEG 36, where the misprint σὺνίπαντὶ of the ed. princ. is corrected); Α[ὐτοκρ̣άτορι Καίσαρι (legendum: [Α]ὐτοκρ̣[άτορι Καίσαρι) Μ.] Αὐρ. Ἀντωνεί[νῳ Σεβαστῷ καὶ Αὐτοκράτορι] /(2) Καί⟦[σαρι Πο. Σεπτιμίῳ Γέτᾳ Σεβασ]⟧τῷ σὺν παντὶ ο̣[ἴκῳ θεὰν Κόρην ὑπὲρ] /(3) ἀ̣σ̣ε̣ί̣[σ]τ̣ο̣[υ] τῆς βασιλείας, etc. Nollé and SEG 60; the restorations of ll. 1 and 2 are too long. When Geta’s name was deleted, the beginning of l. 1 (if my restoration is correct) had to be transformed to Αὐτοκρ̣άτορι Καίσαρι.

2 The first word, καί, was probably re-written after the deletion of Geta’s name. - ο[ἴκῳ τῶν Σεβαστῶν]: perhaps ο[ἴκῳ αὐτῶν].

3–4 ἀνεικήτ[ου διαμο]νῆς: Nollé and SEG 60; ἀνεικήτ[ου]…/ ΝΗΣ: Foss and SEG 36.

4–5 Κόρης παῖδας Κόρον, Εὐπο[σίαν, καὶ] / ὑπὲρ, etc.: my restoration; Κόρης παῖδας Κόρον, Εὐπο[σίαν] / ὑπὲρ, etc., Foss and SEG 36; Κόρης παῖδας Κόρον, Εὐπο[σίαν Πλοῦτον] / ὑπὲρ, etc. Nollé (SEG 60), exceeding, as it seems, the space available. For further details concerning Kore (see no. 723, 3 comm.) and her children Koros and Euposia, see the commentary in ZPE 200; for the Hierapolitan statue of Thea Euposia, mentioned there, see now T. Ritti, Storia e istituzioni di Hierapolis (2017), pp. 362–63.

5 περιχώρου Σάρδε[ων - -]: If περίχωρος is used as an adjective (as such the word is entered in the indices of SEG 36 and 60, and for this use the present inscription is quoted in LSJ Suppl. s.v. ἡ περίχωρος (sc. γῆ)), one might restore περιχώρου Σάρδε[ων γῆς]? There is also the noun τὸ περίχωρον (see ἰν τοῖ περιχόροι, IG V 2, 3, 10, Tegea, fourth century BC). Nollé’s restoration Σάρδε[ων μητροπόλεως] (SEG 60) is too long and does not fit after the preceding πόλεως. περιχώρου Σάρδε[ων] / ἀνέθηκεν, Foss and SEG 36.

7 The mason had first written ΚΑΙΝΕΩΚΟΡΩ, transformed the iota of KAI into the vertical stroke of the cipher “B” (= δίς), and squeezed in a new iota for KAI.

See Also

Related Artifacts