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Mosaic Inscription in Rectangular Frame (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Mosaic Inscription in rectangular frame (from Synagogue, Forecourt): Votive Inscription by Aurelios Olympios, of the tribe of the Leontii
- Date
- After 378–83 AD (date of the latest coin from beneath the mosaic)., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN62.299
- Material
- Mosaic
- Object Type
- Mosaic, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Religious Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
Αὐρ. Ὀλύμ- πιος, φυλῆς Λεοντίων, 4 μετὰ τῆς συμβίου κὲ τῶν πεδίων εὐχὴν ἐτέ- 8 λεσα. leaf
- Inscription Translation
- “Aur(elios) Olympios of the tribe of Leontii, with my wife and my children,
I fulfilled a vow” (Kroll). - Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Syn
- Trench
- RT 62
- Locus
- Syn FC Pavement
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E95.34 - E96.09 / N6.02 - N6.83
- Findspot
- Synagogue, Forecourt, western side, center of panel W2.
- Description
Mosaic inscription in a rectangular frame.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.44, W. 0.50, H. of letters 0.06–0.09.
- Comments
1 AYP followed by a mark of abbreviation.
2–3 “Il me paraît certain que les ‘Leontii’ ne sont pas une tribu de la ville de Sardes, mais une ‘tribu’ dans la communauté juive…. Je crois que les Λεόντιοι de la communauté de Sardes sont une adaptation hellénisante de la tribu de Juda” (L. Robert, with reference to Genesis 49.9). There have been objections against this interpretation (see Kroll’s and Ameling’s commentaries). N. F. Jones, Public Organization in Ancient Greece (1987), pp. 356–57, wonders whether the φυλὴ Λεοντίων may not have had a function comparable to that of the other phylai of the city. Kroll supports Robert’s view: “Aurelios Olympios may have brought attention to his membership in the Tribe of the Leontii-Judah precisely to distinguish himself from these [here nos. 493 and 494] theosebeis…”; see in the same sense SEG 54, 1226 with reference to a publication of P. W. van der Horst. No “organisme public” (C. Brixhe and A. Panayotou, BE 1991, 511, referring to E. Will, RPhil 1989, pp. 263–71); U. Kunnert, Bürger unter sich; Phylen in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Ostens (2012), pp. 128–29 summarizes the discussion and supports Robert’s view; see also no. 509, 1 comm.
8 ἐτέ/λησα: erroneously Scheibelreiter.
Date: cf. no. 486 on Synagogue dating.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- L. Robert, Nouv. inscr. Sard. I, pp. 45–47, no. 6, pl. V; with fuller bibliography: Kroll, “Inscr. Synagogue,” pp. 20–21, no. 10; and 67, fig. 13 (Ameling, Inscr. Jud. Or. II, pp. 244–46, no. 69; AE 2001, 1877; Scheibelreiter, Stifterinschriften, p. 45, no. 12, fig. 20).
- Author
- GP