The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis

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

Inscribed Stele (reused in late antique Spolia Wall): Honorific Inscription for Aurelia Iulia, priestess of Artemis

Monograph 14: Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017 (2019) Cat. 393

Date

Probably after 212 AD (occurrence of Aurelii), before Elagabalus’s bestowal of the third neokoria (see l. 4)., Roman

Sardis or Museum Inv. No.

IN05.015

Material

Marble, Stone

Object Type

Stele, Inscription

Inscription Type

Honorific Inscription

Inscription language

Greek

Inscription Text

		-     -     -     -     -     - 
		κ̣αὶ μητροπόλεω[ς]
		τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ Λυ-
		δ̣ίας̣ ἁπάσης κα[ὶ]
	4	[δ]ὶς νεωκόρου τῶ[ν]
		Σ̣εβαστῶν κατὰ τὰ̣
		δ̣όγματα τῆς ἱερᾶ[ς]
		συγκλήτου, φίλη[ς]
	8	καὶ συμμάχου Ῥω-
		μαίων καὶ οἰκείας
		τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοκρ[ά]-
		τορος Σαρδιανῶν̣
	12	πόλεως ἡ βουλὴ
		καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐτε[ί]-
		vac.  μησεν   vac.
		Αὐρηλίαν Ἰουλίαν, θ[υ]-
	16	γατέρα Αὐρηλίου Ἀ̣-
		δράστου καὶ Αἰλ[ί]-
		ας Μητροδώρας, κ[αυ]-
		ειν ἱερασαμένη[ν]
	20	τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἐ[ν]
		ἑκατόμβῃ τοῦ Δι[ὸς]
		εὐσεβῶς καὶ φιλ[ο]-
		vac.   τείμως·  vac.
	24	προνοησαμένο[υ]
		τῆς ἀναστάσεω[ς]
		Αὐρ. Μοντάνου τ[οῦ]
		 v  π̣άτρως αὐτῆς. v

Inscription Translation

“The Council and the People of the city of the Sardians, [protochthonous] and metropolis of Asia and of all Lydia, and keeper of two Koinon temples of the Augusti by virtue of the decrees of the sacred Senate, friend and ally of the Romans and relative of the lord Emperor honored Aurelia Iulia, daughter of Aurelius Adrastos and Aelia Metrodora, kaueis who served piously and zealously as priestess of Artemis during the sacrifice for Zeus. The erection was provided for by her father’s brother Aurelius Montanus.”

Inscription Comment

Site

Sardis

Sector

F55

Trench

F55 05.3

Locus

F55 13.1 Locus 3

B-Grid Coordinates

E774.50 / S183.20 *128.39

Findspot

Field 55, east side of Wadi B Temple terrace, built into late antique Spolia Wall.

Description

Stele of marble, slightly trimmed on its right side; the upper part is broken off. Letters with long apices.

Dimensions

H. 1.30, W. 0.42, Th. 0.37, average H. of letters 0.022.

Comments

Signa distinguentia (dots, strokes): l. 3 after ἁπάσης; l. 11 after τορος; l. 12 after πόλεως; l. 14 before and after ΜΗΣΕΝ; l. 15 before and after Ἰουλίαν; l. 16 after θυγατέρα and Αὐρηλίου; l. 17 ·ΚΑΙ·; l. 23 after τείμως; l. 26 after ΑΥΡ.

15 Sardis VII 1, no. 17, 20: Αὐρηλία Ἰουλία Μηνο[- ]; and no. 350, 5–6 comm.

18–19 See Sardis VII 1, no. 51, with references: “…the title ‘kaueis’ [cf. no. 337, b3 and no. 348, 6] probably a feminine form of the Lydian kaveś, officially borne by each of the priestesses” of Artemis.

19 ἱερασ.: Iota exceeds the average letter height.

20 ἐ[ν]: or ἐ[φ᾿].

26 Μοντάνου: Mu exceeds the average letter height.

See Also

Bibliography

Unpublished.

Author

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