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Inscribed Fragment (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Fragment (reused as a capital?): Claudian Honorific Inscription for Brother of Deified Individual
- Date
- 41–54 AD?, Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN60.030
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Architecture, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Honorific Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
- - - - - - [ κ]αὶ θε̣- [οῦ ? ἀδελ]φόν.
- Inscription Translation
- “[- - -] and the brother of the divinized [- - -].”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- B
- Trench
- BE 60
- Locus
- B Marble Court
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E27 - E29 / N53 *97.00
- Findspot
- Bath-Gymnasium Complex, Marble Court.
- Description
- Fragment of white marble; in order to be reused (as a capital?), the left and lower sides have been cut off, the rear chiseled. The top is broken off, and on the right side there is a portion of the original edge.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.22, W. 0.21, Th. 0.06, H. of letters 0.043–0.045.
- Comments
Herrmann’s text and restorations. Summary of his commentary:
The letters are reminiscent of other fragments belonging to the group of statues representing members of Claudius’s family (see no. 333 comm.); the remains point to a brother of a divinized person, with the following three possibilities:
1) Claudius’s father, (Nero Claudius) Drusus, the brother of Tiberius: [(Drusus, father of Claudius [cf. SEG 38, 803]) κ]αὶ Θε/[οῦ Τιβερίου (Σεβαστοῦ?, cf. no. 333, 1–3) ἀδελ]φόν. The honorary inscription Sardis VII 1, no. 35 refers to Germanicus’s son Drusus (Iulius) Caesar, see P. Herrmann, “Sardeis zur Zeit der iulisch-claudischen Kaiser” (in Forschungen in Lydien, ed. E. Schwertheim [1995 = AMS 17], pp. 21–36 = Herrmann, Ausgew. Schriften, pp. 147–68), p. 34 = Herrmann, Ausgew. Schriften, p. 162.
2) Germanicus as brother of Claudius, the latter being divinized during his lifetime (cf. SEG 37, 1221; SEG 50, 1350 comm.): [(Germanicus as son of Tiberius) κ]αὶ Θε/[οῦ (Τιβερίου) Κλαυδίου (Καίσαρος) Σεβαστοῦ ἀδελ]φόν.
3) A (posthumous) honor for the brother Nero (Iulius) Caesar (who died in 31 AD) of the divinized Caligula (see no. 332); for Sardis VII 1, no. 35 honoring the other brother, Drusus (Iulius) Caesar, see above.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- C. Foss in R3, p. 169, no. 1, fig. 32 (SEG 36, 1092). P. Herrmann, “Sardeis zur Zeit der iulisch-claudischen Kaiser” (in Forschungen in Lydien, ed. E. Schwertheim [1995 = AMS 17], pp. 21–36 = Herrmann, Ausgew. Schriften, pp. 147–68), pp. 32–33, pl. 4, 1–2 = Herrmann, Ausgew. Schriften, pp. 160–61, 168, fig. 7.
- Author
- GP