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Inscribed Base (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College) -
Inscribed Base, in situ (reused in late antique spolia wall) (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Base (reused in late antique Spolia Wall): Honorific Inscription for Publius Cornelius Aquila Laenas Marcellus, by the Village of Gangaleitai
- Date
- 1st–2nd century AD? (letter shape)., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- S15.022
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Statue Base, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Honorific Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
ΓΑ[ ] vacat [ . . . . . . . ]ΛΗΣΤ[ ] [ . . . . . . . ]ΩΝΚΑ[ ] 4 [ . . . . . . ]ων Σαρδι[ανῶν ] [ . . . ἡ βο]υλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆ̣[μος [ vac. ἐτ]ε̣ίμησεν vac. Π̣(όπλιον) Κορ(νήλιον) Ἀκ[ύλαν Λαίν]α Μά[ρ]- 8 κελλον τὸν [ἀσιάρχ]η̣ν, συ[γ]- κλητικῶν καὶ ὑ̣[πατ]ικῶν συγ- γενῆ, ἔκγονον ἀρχιερέων, υἱὸν Κορ(νηλίου) Ἀκύλου καταλι- 12 πόντος τῇ πατρίδι ἄλλα τε πλείονα καὶ εἰς ἔργο[υ κ]α- τασκευὴν (δηνάρια) μύ(ρια) πεντήκοντα, καὶ εἰς ᾠδείου κατασκευὴν 16 (δηνάρια) μύ(ρια) δέκα, καὶ χρήματα εἰς στεφανηφορίαν διηνεκῆ, ἐν πᾶσιν πρὸς τὴν πατρίδα φιλότειμον, τοῖς δὲ περὶ 20 τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρχιερεωσύνην κυνηγεσίων τε καὶ μονομα- χιῶν ἀναλώμασιν̣ παρευδο- κιμήσαντα πάντας τοὺς ἐ- 24 πὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀρχιερασαμέ- vacat νους. vacat Τὴν τειμὴν ἀναθέντων παρ᾿ αὐτῶν κατοικίας Γαν- 28 γ̣αλειτῶν ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ π̣λατείᾳ καθὰ ἡ πατρὶς ἐψηφίσατο.
- Inscription Translation
- “[ - - - ] the Council and the People of the (4) Sardians honored Publius Cornelius Aquila Laenas Marcellus, (8) the high-priest, relative of persons of senatorial and of consular rank, a descendant of high-priests, son of Cornelius Aquila who left (12) to his native city, apart from more other benefactions, for (the) construction of (the) building 500,000 denarii and for the construction of the Odeion (16) 100,000 denarii, and money for the continuous (office of stephanephoria, (the honoree being) in every respect zealous toward his native city; as to the expenses for (20) the beast-hunts and the gladiatorial shows in connection with his own high-priesthood he surpassed in fame all those who (24) had officiated as high-priests of Asia.—(The inhabitants of the) village of Gangaleitai erected the statue from their own means (28) in his own plateia according to the native city’s decree.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- F55
- Trench
- F55 15.3
- Locus
- F55 13.1 Locus 3
- B-Grid Coordinates
- E778.9 / S187 *128.15
- Findspot
- Field 55, east side of Wadi B Temple terrace, built into late antique Spolia Wall.
- Description
Rectangular base of white marble. The upper part of the inscribed face is partly damaged, while the sides are smoothed and the back face is roughly worked.
- Dimensions
- Min. H. 1.07, W. 0.555, Th. 0.55, H. of letters 0.02–0.025.
- Comments
Dots between many words.
1 Γα[νγαλειτῶν]? (see ll. 27–28): B. Yıldırım, per comm.
5–6 Ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐτείμησεν: plural subject with singular verb, a frequent inconsistency; see also nos. 339, 1–2 and 380, 2.
7–8 Π̣(όπλιον) Κορ(νήλιον) Ἀκ[ύλαν Λαίν]α Μά[ρ]κελλον τὸν [ἀσιάρχ]η̣ν: the same honoree in nos. 343 and 345. From the present inscription it becomes clear that he was a member of a high-ranking Sardian family.
9 ΣΥΓ: the small Γ is superscript.
13 The building (ἔργον) to whose construction Cornelius Aquila contributed is not specified.
15 cf. Sardis VII 1, no. 17, 8: κρήνη πρὸς τῷ ᾠδείῳ.
26–28 The translation given above reckons with a constructio ad sensum, like in no. 339, 5–6 (ἀναστησάντων τὸν ἀνδριάντα τῆς μεγάλης πλατείας), as though the present text ran τὴν τειμὴν ἀναθείσης παρ᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς κατοικίας Γανγαλειτῶν. Α word-by-word translation of the Greek would be “(The) village’s Gangaleitai erected the statue from their own means…”
27–28 While in no. 343 the honor was bestowed on P. Cornelius Aquila Laenas Marcellus by “the settlement of the Hekate-worshipers” (ἡ Ἑκατειτῶν κατοικία), in no. 345 by the Χαρακηνοί, it is here the κατοικία Γανγαλειτῶν, that took care of the erection of the same honoree’s statue. The name seems to be derived from the Greek root γαγγαλ-; Hesych s.v. γαγγαλᾶν, γαγγαλίζεσθαι· ἥδεσθαι (“to enjoy oneself”); γαγγαλίδες· γελασῖνοι (“laughers,” see LSJ s.v. [I]); γάγγαλος· ὁ εὐμετάθετος καὶ εὐρίπιστος τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ εὐμετάβολος (“the fickle, unstable in his opinion, and changeable”).
28–29 πλατεῖα: see no. 339, 5–6 comm.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Unpublished.
- Author
- GP