Chapter 6. New Inscriptions from Choma in northern Lykia, i statue base for an Unknown Honorand
p. 87-94
Texte intégral
1Since 1993 a combined excavation and survey project has been exploring the site and territory of the northern Lykian city of Choma (today Hacımusalar). I have had the privilege of serving as the epigrapher for this project, which has so far brought to light a score or so fragments of inscriptions along with two substantial texts. These, along with some additional material discovered in various ways and at various times in the general vicinity of Hacımuslar and the nearby regional center of Elmalı, will be published in another place. As an example of the material that the work of the project is producing, I publish here an inscription with three preserved lines that was found upside down in the church during the winter of 1998-1999 (not during the regular excavation season). The stone is a statue base with cuttings on the top, possibly for a statue; but the stone was cut back once, possibly twice, along the front top edge for reuse. The block is complete on the left and right sides and bottom.
H: 23.5 cm
W: 74 cm (top), 89 cm (bottom)
T: 62.5 cm (top), 71.5 cm (bottom)
Letters: 2.3-3.0 cm; interlinear spacing 1.0-1.7 cm.
Text
[Τ]ειμᾶσθαι α[ὐτòν κατ'] ἀξίαν καὶ
Tῇ τοῦ ἀνδρίαντο[ςἀν]αστάσει
καὶ ταῖς κατ' ἕτος τιμαῖς. (Leaf)
Translation
(that) he be honored according to his worth both
with the erection of the statue
and with annual honors. (Leaf)
2Line 1. It is possible that the line above ended with ὡς; see Robert 1946, 21-22 on the expression, and below. For the restoration [κατ’] ἀξίαν, “according to his worth”, see SEG, 11, 949, 9-10: a polis [εὐλο]γεῖ καὶ τιμᾶ ταῖς κατ’ [ἀξίαν τιμαῖς]; TAM, V, 2, 1343, 12, ταῖ[ς κ]ατ’ ἀξίαν τι[μαῖς]. The usage is common1. The expression τῇ τοῦ ἀνδρίαντο[ς ἀν]αστάσει recurs frequently: Malay 1999, 38-39, no. 2; Schindler 1972, 41-42, no. 14 = Kokkinia 2008, 54-55, no. 24; Pugliese Carratelli 1952-1954, 293-295, no. 67, 27; Segre, I. Cos, EV 238.
Lettering
3The lettering of the inscription is large, well made, and easily read. Many letters have apices (serifs) at the ends of the strokes, but nothing elaborate. Alphas have a straight bar that typically slopes down slightly from left to right. Theta has a crossbar. Sigmas have horizontal top and bottom strokes; the middle strokes meet at a point halfway between the top and bottom, and about halfway back from the end of the horizontals. Omicra are the same size as the other letters. There is no pi. Two letters show some unusual features. The crossbar of the tau in [ἀσ]αστάσει slopes down on either side of the vertical, making a kind of arrow; the ends of the stroke have prominent apices. The xsi of ἀξίαν resembles a numeral “2” whose upper curved stroke has been compressed and shifted downward; a similar example can be seen in another inscription from Choma and a text from Herakleia by Salbake in eastern Karia dated to no earlier that the second half of the second century CE2. Altogether the lettering presents a serious, sober appearance suitable for a monument honoring a rich and famous Lykian benefactor.
Date
4The character of the lettering and the general circumstances of the inscription lead immediately to the supposition that it ought to date to the second or early third century CE. Much of the epigraphy from Lykian cities comes from this period, as indeed has been the case with Choma as well3.
Commentary
5The stone bearing the inscription was originally used as a statue base. The bottom, which bears a molding all the way around, makes this clear, although the cuttings visible on the top now were not for the original statue, since the stone has been cut back at least once, possibly twice, for other uses. Modification for later use also explains the considerable loss of text. There are many examples of this type of inscription from Lykia – an abbreviated version of the career and honors of the person depicted by the statue, in the form of an abbreviated decree. The original inscription probably began with Χωματειτῶν ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐτείμησεν, an expression now known from at least two inscriptions from Choma (including another unpublished statue base, which offers the best parallel for this text) and, mutatis mutandis, from many other Lykian texts of the same general date. Analogous inscriptions from Choma and many other Lykian cities suggest that a considerable amount of text may once have stood above the surviving three lines4. It is not certain whether the infinitive which is the first preserved word would have depended on a lost ἐτείμησεν or, as in many cases, an immediately preceding & ὡς5. There would no doubt have been a listing (possibly abbreviated) of the honorand’s offices and services, to Choma itself and, if applicable, to the Lykian federation as a whole. As a consequence of these services, the honorand received the statue which stood on this base and “annual honors”, αἱ κατ’ ἔτος τειμαί.
6Annual honors are well known from Lykia in the Roman imperial period6. Awarded both by the Lykian federation to persons who had served the koinon and by individual cities to their own benefactors, they were created by a vote that obligated the honoring body (whether a civic or federal one) to renew the honors every year thereafter – hence the name. With respect to such honors passed by the federation as a whole, they were among the highest, if not indeed the highest, that the Lykian federation bestowed, and before 124 were reserved for persons who had occupied the highest federal office, the priesthood of the Sebastoi or (to use the older term) the lysiarcheia. This practice emerges clearly from a phrase in the famous inscription from Lykian Rhodiapolis retailing the honors and career of Opramoas, the great Lykian benefactor whose activities are known in considerable detail from the massive inscription carried on his mausoleum. The annual honors are described as “the honors customary for those who have served as lykiarchoi”, τὰς σ [ήθεις] τοῖς λυκιαρχήσασιν τειμάς (TAM, II, 905, VII, 50-51; IGRR, III, 739, VII, 50; Kokkinia 2000, 35, VII, D, 5-6 with her discussion at 225-226)7. These honors were then renewed each year by the assembly of the Lykian federation; indeed, they became so “automatic” that an abbreviated procedure seems to have been created for dealing with them expeditiously.
7Annual honors could also be voted by an individual Lykian city for an honorand (although, obviously, in such cases the vote bound only the city, not the federation). An inscription from the Letoon in Xanthos tells us that Sexstos Oueranios also known as Eudemos “had been honored frequently before his lysiarcheia by the ethnos of Lykians and by his fatherland with annual honors”, πρò τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης πλεονάκις τετειμημένον ὑπò τοῦ Λυκίων ἕθνου καὶ ὑπò τῆς πατρίδος ταῖς κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς (Balland 1981, 280-281, no. 91, 9-12). An inscription from Rhodiapolis, a dedication to Asklepios and Hygia, reports that “The boule and demos and gerousia of Rhodiapolis have honored with annual honors Herakleitos son of Herakleitos son of Oreios”, 'Ροδιαπολειτῶν ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος καὶ ἡ γερουσία ἐτείμησαν ταῖς διηνεκέσιν κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς Ἡράκλειτο[ν] Ἡρακλείτου Ὀρείου (ΤΑΜ, II, 910, 2-5 [IGRR, III, 733]). A new inscription from Arykanda states unambiguously that the honorand (a woman) received annual honors from her home town: ὑπò ὲν τῆς πατρίδος τειμᾶσθαι αὐτὴν (IK Arykanda, 51)8. Herakleitos’honors suggest what a person might receive local annual honors for. He was a doctor who also wrote medical and philosophical treatises in prose and verse (“the Homer of medical poems”, lines 15-16), but surely it was his gift to Rhodiapolis of 15,000 denarii to underwrite the cost of games for Asklepios and distributions in the city (lines 21-24) that provoked his honors. Thus the “annual honors” in our inscription from Choma could refer either to honors voted by the federal body or to honors voted locally by Choma.
8Two lines of argument support the view that the annual honors in our inscription were voted by the Chomateiteis rather than as federal honors. First, nothing in the language preserved suggests that the reference is to federally voted honors. In other inscriptions recording documents passed by local bodies which refer to annual honors voted by the federal body, there is some indication that the annual honors were federal. For example, an inscription from the Letoon speaks of the honorand as “honored five times by the Lykian federation and by his fatherland with annual honors honors”, τετειμημένον πεντάκις πò τοῦ Λυκίων τοῦ κοινοῦ καὶ ὑπò τῆς πατρίδος ταῖς κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς (Balland 1981, 230-235, no. 69, 12Ί3). Another inscription bears similar language: the honorand was honored “by the Lykian federation and his fatherland with annual honors”, ὑπò τοῦ Λυκίων ἕθνου καὶ ὑπò τῆς πατρίδος ταῖς κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς (Balland 1981, 280-281, no. 91, 9-12). The end of an inscription from Rhodiapolis - which admittedly is very likely in honor of Opramoas himself - notes the honorand “has been honored by his fatherlands and the Lykian federation frequently with both annual and by city honors”, τετειμημένον ὑπò τῶν πατρίδων καὶ τοῦ Λυκίων ἕθνους πλεονάκις καὶ κατ’ ἕτος καὶ κατά πόλιν τειμαῖς (ΤΑΜ, II, 917, 3-6; IGRR, III, 740; Kokkinia 2000, 225)9. Finally, an inscription from Arykanda draws an explicit contrast. The woman it honors was so accomplished “that it was voted on the one hand by her fatherland that she be honored also with annual honors, and on the other hand that she had been honored also by the federation with the fifth honors”, ὡς ἐψήφισθαι ὑπò ὲν τῆς πατρίδος τειμᾶσθαι αὐτὴν καὶ ταῖς κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς. ὑπò δὲ τοῦ ἕθνους τετειμῆσθαι αὐτὴν καὶ ταῖς πέμπταις τειμαῖς (IK Arykanda, 51, 1-5). Second, the likelihood that the language governing the infinitive was something like Χωματειτῶν ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐ τείμησεν (language now known from two, and probably three, Chomateitan inscriptions: Bean and Harrison 1967, 41, no. 1 and two unpublished inscriptions) will, if right, mean the annual honors must have been voted by the city of Choma.
9However, we know of at least one case in which locally voted annual honors had been in fact mandated by the Lykian federation. When Opramoas was granted his annual honors by the Lykian federation, he had not yet served as lykiarchos; that distinction would not come until the 130s. He had, instead, lavished enormous monetary benefits on both the federation as a whole (most recently 55,000 denarii to subvene payments to members of the federal assembly, the proximate cause of his being granted annual honors) and on the Lykian cities individually. The decision to award him an honor previously reserved for lykiarchoi led to a dispute which ultimately had to be settled (in Opramoas’ favor) by the emperor10. This posed a problem – how to honor Opramoas when, about ten years later, he did finally become lykiarchos. The answer to this question was to honor him with annual honors Mατά πóλιν, that is, annual honors passed also in each city of the Lykian federation. This decision was recalled in subsequent votes of annual honors by the koinon: ὡς ὑπò πάντων (sic) τῶν πόλεων εὐχαριστεῖσθαι καὶ τειμᾶσθαι κατ’ ἕτος11. These honors thus required each individual polis to vote annual honors for him as the federation itself continued to do. It is therefore possible that the annual honors here, voted by Choma, were not voted on the initiative of the city but in response to a requirement of the federation.
10Were then the annual honors mentioned here purely local honors or local honors mandated kata polin by the federation? The evidence of inscriptions for Opramoas from various Lykian cities is ambiguous, for only in a few cases do we know (or strongly suspect) that a particular person received annual honors kata polin; we therefore cannot be absolutely certain that such honors were never referred to simply as annual honors (thus creating confusion for us, as opposed perhaps to the Lykians). However, the few cases – most notably that from Arykanda cited above – in which both federal and local annual honors are mentioned suggest that a distinction may have been drawn. Our best guide would be inscriptions honoring Opramoas from the various Lykian cities, since we know he received annual honors kata polin. Unfortunately, most of those inscriptions are too incomplete, too short, or too focused on other matters, to be informative about this particular question12. The best candidate for a parallel is TAM, II, 3, 917 (IGRR, III, 740) from Rhodiapolis. The name of the honorand is lost but as Kokkinia remarks, the suspicion that the text deals with Opramoas is unavoidable13. The last lines read (3-6):
τετειμημένον ὑπò
τῶν πατρίδων και τοῦ Λυκίων ἔ-
θνους πλεονάκις καὶ ταῖς κα-
τ' ἔτος καὶ κατὰ πόλιν τειμαῖς
11The phraseology of this text places the annual and kata polin honors in immediate juxtaposition, while our new text speaks only of annual honors. The absence, then, of the phrase kata polin from the new inscription strongly suggests that the new text represents honors voted only locally by Choma. There is one last line of argument that supports this view14. In granting Opramoas honors kata polin, the Lykian federation authorized the erection of statues of him in twenty cities of Opramoas’own choosing. (He also paid for the statues himself.)15 There ought to be some language connecting this particular statue with such a wider set of imposed honors. But nothing in the new inscription even hints at the intervention of the koinon in this way. Consequently, the honorand whose statue stood on this incomplete base should be regarded as a local benefactor, honored with very high honors by his fellow Chomateiteis.
Notes de bas de page
1 Other examples: IPriene 18, 22; Mitchell 1977, 96, no. 38, line 8; TAM, V, 2, 1265, 8 (κατὰ τὴν ἀ[ξίαν]). And see Chariton, Kallirhoe 5, 8, 2: τίς ἂν φράσῃ κατ’ ἀξίαν ἐκεῖνο σχήμα τοῦ δικαστηρίου. I am very grateful for Christina Kokkinia’s comments on an earlier version of this paper. I cannot express sufficiently my thanks to Ilknur Özgen for the invitation to work at Choma and for permission to publish this inscription here. I am also grateful to Mark Garrison, furmer field director at Hacimusalar, ans the staff there for assistance in my work over the years. Photo credits: stone, G. Reger; squeeze, Steve Lascher.
2 İplikçioğlu et al. 1992, 19-20, no. 7.5 with Facsimile 5 and Photo 14; Robert & Robert 1954, Pl. XXXIII, 15, of 184-185, no. 84, p. 182 for the date.
3 A few tiny unpublished fragmentary inscriptions from Choma appear to the Hellenistic, but the only substantial texts yet to come out of Choma itself and its vicinity all date to the Roman imperial period, and mostly to the second and third centuries.
4 There are many examples from the Lykian cities; I give here a selection (some of which may not have been on statue bases): TAM, II, 15 (Telmessos), 278, 284 (recording honors by the koinon), 288 (Xanthos), 495, Balland 1981, 225-256, no. 68-82 (in the Letoon); TAM, II, 420 (Patara), 577-583 (Tlos); 660 (honors by the koinon), 661-671 (Kadyanda); 765-774 (Arneai); 831, 835, which ends tantalizingly with ὡς [πολλάκι]ς [ἤδη τε] μήσθαι ύπ[ό τ] ς πατρίος καὶ μαῖς (Idebessos); 900-902 (Kormoi); 1200-1204 (Phaselis); Schindler 1972, 29-31, no. 6 with J. and L. Robert, BE, 1973, 453; Kokkinia 2008, 59-63, no. 27, improved text; IK Arykanda, 51.
5 For this construction, see Robert 1946, 21-22, with many examples from Lykia; add now also IK Arykanda, 51.
6 For the procedure and the meaning of the honors, see Kokkinia 2000, 224-225.
7 Throughout I use and quote the text of the new edition of Kokkinia 2000, but I have also included citations of the text as published in TAM, II, 3 in 1944 and IGRR, III, in 1906 (following the editions of Löwy in Petersen & Luschan 1889, 76-133 and of Heberdey 1897), on the assumption that these editions may be more readily available than Kokkinia’s. Note however that there may be differences in readings and restorations. It is perhaps these honors alluded to in TAM, II, 902 of Kormoi, where the honorand, who has served as priest of the Sebastoi and tilled all the other offices, τειμηθέντα [ὑπò τῆς συνπ] ọλειτείας κατὰ τὰς [συνειθισ] ένας τειμάς.
8 There are other examples: TAM, II, 288 (IGRR, III, 628); Balland 1981, 280-281, no 91, 10-12; 280, no 90, 18-19 surely restore ταῖς [κατ' ἕτος τε] μαῖς. Schindler 1972, 29-31, no. 6, 21-23; Kokkinia 2008, 59-63, n). 27; from Boubon probably also speaks of local annual honors, since the honorand died young and probably never held appropriate federal offices.
9 And see TAM, II, 198, 6, τειμηθέντα ὑπò τῆς πόλεω (Sidyma); 835, 7 (Idebessos)
10 Opramoas’ “special treatment” may have set a precedent for the award of annual honors to benefactors who had not yet served as lykiarchos. An inscription from the Letoon in Xanthos tells us that Sexstos Oueranios also known as Eudemos “had been honored frequently before his lysiarcheia by the ethnos of Lykians and by his fatherland with annual honors”, πρò τῆς άρχιερωσύνης πλεονάκις τετειμημένον ὑπò τοῦ Λυκίων ἕθνος καὶ ὑπò τῆς πατρίδος ταῖς κατ’ ἕτος τειμαῖς (Balland 1981, 280-281, no. 91, 9-12). Compare the language of the decree regarding Opramoas dispatched to the emperor Antoninus Pius: Opramoas provided his gift of 55,000 denarii [ὡς] δ[ιὰ τοῦ]το καὶ πρò τῆς ἀ ρχιερωσύ[νης] έψ[ηφίσ]θαι αὐτῷ τὰς κατ' ἕτος τει[μ]άς (ΤΑΜ, II, 3, 905, VII, 42-44; IGRR, III, 739, VII, 42-44; Kokkinia 2000, 35, VII, C, 11-13). Balland dates Eudemos’s lysiarcheia to c. 170 on the basis of his uncle’s lysarcheia in 149 (Balland 1981, 282). This date may be too late, but in any case it is unlikely that the nephew served before the uncle, whose own office was later than Opramoas’. It is possible, then, that the precedent set by the award of annual honors to Opramoas, sanctioned by a decision of the emperor, led to an expanded use of these honors for deserving benefactors, and dissociated them from service as lykiarchos.
11 TAM, II, 705, XVIII, 26-28; IGRR, III, 739, XVIII, 26-28; Kokkinia 2000, 69, XVIII, B, 12-14; p. 74, XX, C, 4-5. The effusive decree recording these honors – it covers 168 lines: TAM, II, 3, 905, VIII, 16-IX 62; IGRR, III, 739, VIII, 16-IX 61; Kokkinia 2000, 37, VIII, B, 1-42, IX, D, 14 – prominently mentions his many generosities to the federation and to individual Lykian cities after he held the lychiarcheia. He contributed to construction of public buildings with gifts of money (TAM, II, 705, VIII, 96-99; IGRR, III, 739, VIII, 96-99; Kokkinia 2000, 39, VIII, G, 2-5).
12 These texts include: TAM, II, 2, 578-579; Balland 1981, 173-174, no. 66 and 185-186, no. 67, Kokkinia 2000, 234 rejects the attempt by Coulton 1987 to disassociate the second inscription from Opramoas, with reason; TAM, II, 3, 1203; TAM, II, 3, 907-908, 915a-b (IGRR, III, 736); at TAM, II, 915, b, 5, perhaps restore [ἄρξ]αντα, as in the unpublished inscription from Choma for Diogenikastros, where he is described as ἄρξαντα καὶ τῷ λαμπροτάτω Λυκίων [ἕ]θνει.
13 Kokkinia 2000, 225.
14 I thank Christina Kokkinia for pointing this argument out to me.
15 Kokkinia 2000, 40-41, IX, A, 2-8, and IX, D, 4-9 (TAM, 905, IX, A, 5-8, IX, D, 4-9; IGRR, III, 739, IX, 5-8, IX, 52-57).
Auteur
History Department, Trinity College, Hartford, USA
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