• m14-488-10
    Mosaic Inscription in Octagonal Frame (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Mosaic Inscription in octagonal frame (from Synagogue, Main Hall, Bay 3): Inscription marking the mosaicking of the Synagogue, by Aurelios Alexandros Anatolios

Date
270 AD or thereafter (date of coins from beneath the mosaic); cf. no. 486 on Synagogue dating., Roman
Museum
Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum
Museum Inventory No.
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
IN66.019
Material
Mosaic
Object Type
Mosaic, Inscription
Inscription Type
Religious Inscription
Inscription language
Greek
Inscription Text
		    Αὐρ. Ἀλέ-
		  ξ̣[αν]δ̣ρος ὁ
		κα[ὶ Ἀν]ατόλι-
	4	ο[ς, Σα]ρδ. βου-
		λ. τ̣[ὸ τρί]τον
		  διαχώρημα ἐ-
		    κέντησεν.
Inscription Translation
“Aur(elios) Alexandros, also called Anatolios, citizen of Sardis, councilor, mosaicked the third bay.”
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
Syn
Trench
Syn W 66
Locus
Syn MH Pavement
B-Grid Coordinates
E58.8 / N9.7
Findspot
Synagogue, Main Hall, Bay 3.
Description

Mosaic inscription in an octagonal frame.

Dimensions
H. 0.69, W. 0.69, H. of letters 0.055–0.075.
Comments

Marks of abbreviation after Αὐρ., Σαρδ., and βουλ.

4–5 Abbreviations: [Σα]ρδ(ιανός) βουλ(ευτής). In his commentary on no. 524, L. Robert notes that with this formula, which occurs repeatedly, the members of the Jewish community underline their Sardian citizenship; Scheibelreiter translates “curialis aus Sardeis.” Outside the Jewish context the formula occurs in no. 676, 2–4.

5–6 “The mosaic was divided into seven zones or bays, each called διαχώρημα; they were originally counted from the apse (west) to entrance (east)” (Hanfmann, p. 26). The alternatives [πρῶ]τον or [πέμπ]τον in l. 5 (the latter is considered as possible by Scheibelreiter; but Kroll believes it “cannot be accommodated in the space available”) seem to be overruled by the position of the mosaic.

See Also
Bibliography
G. M. A. Hanfmann, BASOR 187 (1967), pp. 29, 36, 38, figs. 46, 52 (J. and L. Robert, BE 1968, 478, p. 517); Kroll, “Inscr. Synagogue,” pp. 16–17, no. 3, with further references; and p. 61, fig. 6 (Ameling, Inscr. Jud. Or. II, pp. 234–35, no. 62, with further references; SEG 51, 1628; AE 2001, 1873; Scheibelreiter, Stifterinschriften, pp. 40–42, no. 8).
Author
GP