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Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Block from Anta of the Metroon (reused in Synagogue): Sardian Decree, Letter from Laodike, and Beginning of Letter from Antiochos III
- Date
- June/July 213 BC., Hellenistic
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN63.121
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Letter or Dossier Containing Letters, Decisions, Petitions, Subscriptiones, Honors
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
(a) Ἡρακλείδης Σωκράτου εἶπεν· ἐπ̣ε̣[ιδὴ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . τ]ὴν ἐπι- στολ[ὴν τ]ὴν γραφεῖσαν παρὰ τῆς βασιλίσσ̣η̣[ς πρός τε τὴ]ν̣ βουλὴ̣ν̣ καὶ τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ τῶν τιμῶν τῶν ἐψηφισμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τῶι τ[ε] 4 βασιλεῖ καὶ τῆι βασιλίσσηι καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῶν ἀναγράψαι εἰς τὴν παραστάδ̣α̣ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῶι Μητρώιωι· δεδόχθαι τῆι βουλῆι καὶ [ῶι] δήμωι ἀναγρ̣ά̣ψαι τὸν ταμίαν· τὸ δὲ ἐσόμενον ἀνήλωμα εἰς ταῦτα δοῦ[ι] αὐτὸν ἀφ᾿ ὧν χειρίζει προσόδων. Ὀλωΐου. (b) 8 Βασίλισσα Λαοδίκη Σαρδιανῶν τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χαίρειν· Μητρόδωρος καὶ Μητροφάνης καὶ Σοκράτης καὶ Ἡρακλείδης οἱ παρ᾿ ὑμῶν πρεσβευταὶ ἀπέδωκαν τὸ ψήφισμα καθ᾿ ὃ τέμενός τε Λαοδίκειον ἀνεῖναι ψηφίσαισθε καὶ βωμὸν ἱδρύσασθαι, ἄγειν δὲ καὶ πανήγυριν Λαοδίκεια 12 καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἔτος ἐν τῶι Ὑπερβερεταίωι μηνὶ τῆι πεντεκαιδεκάτηι καὶ πονπὴν καὶ θυσίαν συντελεῖν Διὶ Γενεθλίωι ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν βασιλέως Ἀντιόχου καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας καὶ τῶν παιδίων σωτηρίας καὶ οἱ πρεσβευταὶ δὲ παρεκάλουν ἀκολούθως τοῖς ἐν 16 τῶι ψηφίσματι κατακεχωρισμένοις τάς τε δὴ τιμὰς ἀποδε- [δ]έγμεθα ἡδέως καὶ τὴν τοῦ δήμου προθυμίαν ἐπαινοῦμεν [καὶ πειρασό]μεθα ἀεί τι ἀγαθὸν συνκατασκευάζειν τῆι πό- [λει· ἀπαγγελ]ο̣ῦσι δὲ περὶ τούτων καὶ οἱ πρεσβευταί. 20 θq´ ἔτους Πανήμου ι´. (c) [Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίο]χος Σαρδιανῶν τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χα̣[ί]- [ρειν· οἱ παρ᾿ ὑμῶν πρεσ]βευταὶ Μητροφάνης, Μητρόδωρος, Μο̣σ̣[χίων?] [ Ἀρ]τ̣εμιδ̣[ωρ- . . . . . . . . . ]ΝΤ[ ]
- Inscription Translation
- (a) “Herakleides, son of Sokrates, proposed: since [it is fitting] to put up, on the parastas of the temple in the Metroon, the letter written by the queen to the Council and the People concerning the honors voted by the people for the (4) king and the queen and their children—let it seem good to the people to have the treasurer do the putting up, and to have him cover the subsequent expenditure from the revenues he handles. – (Year 99,) Oloios.”
(b) (8) “Queen Laodike to the Council and the People of the Sardians, greetings. Metrodoros, Metrophanes, Sokrates and Herakleides, your ambassadors, have handed over the decree, according to which you have decreed to consecrate a sacred enclosure called (the) Laodikeion and to establish an altar, and to organize a panegyris called (the) Laodikeia, (12) each year, on the fifteenth of the month Hyperberetaios, and to carry out a procession and a sacrifice to Zeus Genethlios for the safety of our brother, King Antiochos, of us, and of our children; your ambassadors also exhorted us in accordance with the content of (16) the decree; we accepted the honors with pleasure, and we praise the eagerness of the people and we will always try to produce some favor for the city; your ambassadors too will report on these matters. (20) Year 99, Panemos 10.”
(c) “[King Antio]chos to the Council and the People of the Sardians, greetings. [The] ambassadors, [sent by you], Metrophanes, Metrodoros, Mos[chion ? - - - Ar]temid[oros - - - (handed over your decree) - - - ].” (mostly after Ma) - Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Syn
- Trench
- Syn 63
- Locus
- Syn MH Spolia
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E46.5 / N3.60 *97.50 - 97.00
- Findspot
- Synagogue, Main Hall, reused in one of the piers at the western end, see Gauthier, pl. XIV; originally belonging to an anta of the late Classical or Hellenistic Metroon.
- Description
- Block of grayish-white marble with reddish spots. For further details see Gauthier.
- Dimensions
- Max. H. 0.57, max. W. 0.70, max. Th. 0.80, max. H. of letters 0.015.
- Comments
For details, see the commentaries in Gauthier and further literature.
1 Ἡρακλείδης Σωκράτου: both father and son are probably mentioned as ambassadors in l. 9. - ἐπ̣ε̣[ιδὴ καθήκει / προσήκει τῶι δήμωι etc.] vel sim. Gauthier, pp. 51–52.
4–5 ἡ παραστὰς τοῦ ναοῦ: While Gauthier (p. 54) inclined to understand παραστάς as “Wandpilaster” (D. Knoepfler, Mus. Helv. 50 [1993], pp. 26–43, esp. pp. 31–34, as the entrance of the temple, framed on both sides by Wandpilaster), C. H. Greenewalt, jr. underlined the similarity of the blocks to the antae on, for instance, Andron B at Labraunda, see Greenewalt, Ch. Ratté, and M. Rautman, “The Sardis Campaigns of 1990 and 1991,” AASOR 52 (1994), p. 22. - On the Metroon, the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods (to be distinguished from Artemis), which was probably located near the later synagogue, see Gauthier, pp. 54–58.
7 The decree was passed in the month Oloios (on the name’s form, see Gauthier, pp. 49–50), 213 BC, which followed the month of Laodike’s letter, Panemos (Gauthier, p. 51).
9 On the ambassadors, see Gauthier, pp. 139–42; and above on l. 1. - Σοκράτης (beside Σωκράτης l. 1): see Gauthier, pp. 59–60 on the “divergence orthographique.”
12 The fifteenth of the month Hyperberetaios corresponds to September 7, which was Laodike’s birthday.
13 On Zeus Genethlios, see Gauthier, pp. 67–73.
14 Τὰ παιδία has a certain affective value, more so than τέκνα (l. 4): Gauthier.
15 παρεκάλουν, sc. ἀποδέξασθαι τὰς τιμάς: Gauthier.
(c) may be the beginning of letter no. 309 (Gauthier, pp. 79, 83 n. 1).
20 Perhaps [ἔρρωσθε]: Gauthier, pp. 60–61.
22–23 On the ambassadors, see Gauthier, pp. 139–42; see above on l. 1.
23 Perhaps [ἀπέδωκα]ν τ[ὸ ψήφισμα]: Gauthier, p. 78 n. 102.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Gauthier, Nouv. inscr. Sard. II, pp. 47–79, no. 2, pls. II–III (photographs of the stone and squeezes), and pl. XIII (drawing of the stone), with translation and detailed commentary (SEG 39, 1284; K. Bringmann and H. von Steuben, eds., Schenkungen hellenistischer Herrscher an griechische Städte und Heiligtümer I [1995], pp. 298–99, no. 260, II [ll. 1–20], III [ll. 21–23, with translation and notes]; Ma, Antiochos III, pp. 285–87, no. 2, with translation and notes).
- Author
- GP