The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis

Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Inscribed Block from Anta of the Metroon (reused in Synagogue): Letter from Antiochos III Regarding Exemption from Taxes and Royal Grant of Grain

Monograph 14: Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017 (2019) Cat. 312

Date

Probably “assez tôt après la fin de la guerre contre Achaios” (Gauthier, p. 129)., Hellenistic

Sardis or Museum Inv. No.

IN63.098

Material

Marble, Stone

Object Type

Architecture, Inscription

Inscription Type

Letter or Dossier Containing Letters, Decisions, Petitions, Subscriptiones, Honors

Inscription language

Greek

Inscription Text

	(a)	[Βασιλεὺς Ἀντίοχος Σ]αρδια̣[νῶν τῆι βουλῆι καὶ τῶι δήμωι χαίρειν]
		[		 Ἀπολ]λ̣ω̣ν̣[ι-					      	               ]
		
	(b)	[		] ἀ̣τ̣έλειαν ἐ[τῶν  numeral					    ]
		[          εἰς διατ]ροφὴν καὶ σπέ̣[ρμα					    ]

	(c)	κομι[
		ΑΕ̣[
		Γ̣[

Inscription Translation

(a) “[King Antiochos to the Council and the People] of the Sardians [greetings. - - - Apol]lon[i- - - -]”
(b) “[- - -] exemption from taxes for […years - - - (grain for)] subsistence and so[wing - - -]”
(c) “[- - -] convey(?) [- - -] forever(?) [- - -]”

Inscription Comment

Site

Sardis

Sector

Syn

Trench

Syn 63

Locus

Syn MH Spolia

B-Grid Coordinates

E55 / N12 *97.00 - 96.50

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 (see no. 308, 4–5 comm.).

Description

Three non-joining fragments of white marble. (a) is broken on all sides except for the upper edge, (b) is broken on all sides, and (c) is broken on all sides except for the left edge.

Dimensions

[a] H. 0.04, W. 0.08, Th. 0.17, max. H. of letters 0.017; [b] H. 0.03, W. 0.20, Th. 0.07, max. H. of letters 0.017; [c] H. 0.07, W. 0.07, Th. 0.10, max. H. of letters 0.017).

Comments

Gauthier’s restorations; the original length of the lines is uncertain.

(a) 2 [Ἀπολ]λ̣ώ̣ν̣[ιος] or [Ἀπολ]λ̣ω̣ν̣[ίδης].

(b) For the temporary exemption from taxes (Gauthier, p. 128 n. 3) and the king’s grant of grain for subsistence and sowing, Gauthier quotes the decree (uncertain provenance; early second century BC) honoring the strategos Korragos, IGSK 40 (Prusa ad Olympum II), no. 1001, 17–18: ἐξεπορίσατο σῖτον εἰς σπέρμ[α] καὶ διατροφήν, and 21–24: καὶ ἀτελείας ἐπικεχωρημένης πασῶν τῶν προσόδων ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐτῶν τριῶν ἔσπευσεν καὶ ἄλλα δύο ἔτη ἐπιδοθῆναι.

2 ἀε̣[ί]?

See Also

Bibliography

Gauthier, Nouv. inscr. Sard. II, pp. 127–29, no. 6, pl. VII, with detailed commentary (SEG 39, 1288A [no. 312(b)], 1288B [no. 312a]; and 1288C [no. 312c]; Ma, Antiochos III, pp. 360–62, no. 41C, 1–3, with translation and note).

Author

Related Artifacts