The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis

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

Inscribed Plaque Fragment: Funerary Inscription with penalty stipulations

Monograph 14: Sardis: Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part II: Finds from 1958 to 2017 (2019) Cat. 683

Date

2nd–3rd century AD? (see below)., Roman

Sardis or Museum Inv. No.

IN59.064

Material

Marble, Stone

Object Type

Inscription

Inscription Type

Funerary Inscription

Inscription language

Greek

Inscription Text

		-     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
		[	    ]Α̣Π̣Ο̣Σ[	      ]
		[       ]ΗΣ· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν [παρὰ ταῦτα?]
		[τολ]μ̣ήσει ἀλλό[τριον νε]-
	4	[κρ]ὸν καταθέσθαι, [δώσει ?]
		[προστ]είμου ἰς τὸν [Καίσαρος]
		[φί]σ̣κον (δηνάρια)  ̗αφ´·ΕΓΕ̣[      ]
		[      ] Σουλπικίῳ, vv [μηνὸς]
	8	[Γορ]πιαίου κ´. vacat
			     vacat

Inscription Translation

“[- - -] Whoever should dare, [against these (stipulations),] to bury a foreign [corpse, will pay] to the [Emperor’s] fiscus as a fine 1,500 denarii. [- - -] Sulpicius, on the twentieth [of the month] Gorpiaios.”

Inscription Comment

Site

Tatarislam

Findspot

From Tatarislam in the eastern part of the Sardis plain (Sardis R1, p. 172 n. 37: “Tartar Islamköy”; cf. no. 569, lemma).

Description

Fragment of a marble plaque, broken on all sides. Squared lunate sigma.

Dimensions

H. 0.31, W. 0.25, Th. 0.06, H. of letters 0.02.

Comments

The closing part of a funerary inscription bears a mention of punishment for unauthorised use of the tomb. Some of my supplements are only given as examples.

2–3 ὃς δ᾿ ἂν … [τολ]μ̣ήσει: see no. 673, 3–4 comm.

3–4 Cf., e.g., IGSK 23 (Smyrna), no. 253, 6–7: ἀλλότριον νεκρὸν θεῖναι.

6 ΕΓΕ̣[ ]: ἐγέ̣[νετο], vel sim.?

7 The year may have been dated by the officiating proconsul whose name was given in dativus temporis, cf., e.g., no. 322, 9 and no. 674, 1–2. Candidates could be Sex. Sulpicius Tertullus (who was proconsul of Asia some time around 173 AD: B. Thomasson, Laterculi praesidum I, p. 231, no. 154) or M. Sulpicius Crassus (who was proconsul of Asia under Commodus; Thomasson, op. cit. I, p. 232, no. 164). - A coin from 218–44 AD is dated ἐπὶ Σουλπ(ικίου) Ἑρμοφίλου ἄρχ(οντος) (πρώτου) τὸ (δεύτερον); see L. Robert, RN 1976, p. 52, with n. 15 (= Op. Min. VI, p. 164; Choix, p. 668); Campanile, Sacerdoti, p. 141, no. 166.

7–8 The day seems to correspond to August 12.

See Also

Bibliography

Unpublished.

Author

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