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Inscribed Stele (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Stele: Decree Honoring a Seleucid Official
- Date
- Between 209 and 193 BC., Hellenistic
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN60.002
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Stele, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Decree or Other Decision
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
0 [ πέμπεσθαι δὲ αὐτῶι ἀ]- πὸ τῶν δημοτ̣[ε]λ̣ῶν θυσ[ιῶν γέρας· κα]- λεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ εἰς τὰς θυσίας τ[ὰς δημοτε]- [λε]ῖς καὶ εἰς τὸ πρυτανεῖον [ὁμ]οίως· κ̣[αλεῖσθαι δὲ] 4 [αὐ]τ̣ὸν καὶ εἰς προεδρίαν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι π̣[ᾶσιν], [οἷς ἡ] πόλις συντελεῖ· στῆσαι δὲ αὐτο[ῦ καὶ εἰ]- [κόνα] χαλκῆν· στεφανῶσαι δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ χρ[υ]- [σῶι σ]τεφάνωι ἀπὸ χρυσῶν δέκα ἐν τῆι̣ ἐκκλ[η]- 8 [σίαι, ἐ]ν̣ ἧι ἂν ἡ περὶ τούτων ἀπόκρισις γραφεῖσ[α] [ὑπὸ Ζ]εύξιδος ἀναγνωσθῇ, ἵνα πάντε[ς] [εἰδῶσ]ιν τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τοῦ Σαρδιανῶ[ν] [δήμου] καὶ τὴν κρίσιν, ὅτι το[ὺ]ς ἀξίους ἐπίσ- 12 [ταται π]ροσηκόντως τιμᾶν· ἀναγράψαι δὲ [τόδε τὸ ψ]ήφισμα εἰς στή[λη]ν λευκοῦ λίθου καὶ [παρασ]τῆσαι τῶι ἀνδριάντι· τὴν δὲ ἔγδοσ[ιν] [τοῦ] στεφάνου καὶ τῆς εἰκόνος κ[αὶ] τ̣ῶν ἄλ- 16 [λων] ποήσασθαι Ἀθήναιον τὸν ταμίαν κ[αὶ] [δοῦν]αι τὰ ἀναλώματα ἀφ᾿ ὧν [χ]ειρί[ζει προσό]- [δων πλ]ὴν τῶν ἀποτεταγμένων [εἰς τὰς] [τιμὰς τ]ῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῆς βασιλίσ[σης].
- Inscription Translation
- “[(It seems good to the Council and the People)…to send to him a share] from the public sacrifices, and to invite him to public sacrifices, and to the prytaneion as well; to invite (4) him to front seating in all the contests which the city celebrates; to erect a bronze statue of him; to crown him with a gold crown worth ten golden (staters) in the meeting of the assembly (8) in which the answer written by Zeuxis on these matters will be read, so that all may know of the gratitude of the People of the Sardians and the decision, namely that the People knows how to honour worthily those who deserve it; (12) to write up this decree on a stele of white stone and to set it up next to the statue; to let Athenaios the treasurer contract out the supplying of the crown and the statue and the (16) other things, and to let him cover the expenditure from the income which he handles, except for those allocated to the honours of the kings and the queen” (Ma’s translation).
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Description
Block of white marble; the upper part of the text is broken off, a portion of the left part damaged; below the inscription there is a blank space.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.80, W. 0.43, Th. 0.19, H. of letters 0.013.
- Comments
For details see Robert's commentary.
“The honorand is not a Sardian, and could be a Seleukid official honoured by the city of Sardeis” (Ma, p. 360).
9 On Zeuxis, who was Antiochos III’s “overall governor of Asia Minor” (Gauthier, p. 123), see Robert and Ma, Antiochos III, esp. pp. 123–30; and M. Wörrle, Chiron 41 (2011), pp. 380–81.
11 τὴν κρίσιν: “Ce doit être la décision prise par ce décret” (Robert, p. 14 n. 1).
18–19 [εἰς τὰς / τιμάς] (my reading from the photograph; εἰς [τὰς τι/μάς ?] Robert, noting, “Le mot est un peu court pour la lacune du début de la ligne 19”; he does not rule out the restoration [τοὺς ἀγῶνας]): cf. SEG 41, 1003 II, 62–63 (Teos) (= Ma, Antiochos III, pp. 311–17, no. 18): τὸ δὲ ἀργύριον τὸ εἰς ταῦτα διδόναι τοὺς ταμίας ἐκ τῶν τιμῶν τῶμ βασιλέων, etc. (“Le pluriel τῶν βασιλέων n’y désigne pas Antiochos III et son fils associé à la royauté: c’est une expression collective,” J. and L. Robert, BE 1969, 534).
19 οἱ βασιλεῖς καὶ ἡ βασίλισσα: Antiochos III and his elder son Antiochos, who was appointed co-regent in 209 BC and died in 193; the queen was Laodike.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- L. Robert, Nouv. inscr. Sard. I, pp. 9–21, no. 1, pl. I (photograph of a squeeze), pl. II, 1 (photograph of the stone) (Ma, Antiochos III, pp. 359–60, no. 40).
- Author
- GP