Balboura Survey Onesimos and Meleager Part II

Balboura Survey: Onesimos and Meleager Part IIAuthor(s): J. J. Coulton, N. P. Milner and A. T. ReyesReviewed work(s):Source: Anatolian Studies, Vol. 39 (1989), pp. 41-62Published by: British Institute at AnkaraStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3642811 .Accessed: 13/06/2012 02:45

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BALBOURA SURVEY: ONESIMOS AND MELEAGER

PART II

By J. J. COULTON, N. P. MILNER, A. T. REYES

The study of three small buildings at Balboura, set up by the city slave Onesimos and the wealthy Meleager near the southwest corner of the agora, is here concluded. Part I (AS XXXVIII (1988), 121-45) treated the exedra of Onesimos and his temple of Nemesis; here the exedra of Meleager and the associated inscriptions are presented. The numbering of the footnotes and figures, and the lettering of the sections continue on from Part I, and the same bibliographical abbreviations (ibid., 144-5) are used. It will also be necessary to refer to the city plan, state plans, restored plans, and restored elevations published there (Figs. 1-4).

D. THE EXEDRA OF MELEAGER (J. J. Coulton)

(a) Description. The west, north and east sides of the exedra were formed by a low wall and a bench, while the south fagade consisted of two columns between square pillars (Fig. 2). The western half is quite well preserved, but the eastern half has collapsed completely, with the blocks being generally thrown eastward and northeastward (Plate V (a)).

The west side of the exedra consists of a row of broad blocks 0-43-0-44 m. high of which the inner part forms a bench 0-43 m. wide, while the outer part has a shallow cutting 0-32 m. wide for the wall behind. Fragments of this wall show that it consisted of thin slabs 0-26 m. wide at the base and 0-84 m. high, with a bevel moulding at the bottom and with a cyma reversa, cavetto and taenia forming the crown (Fig. 9, J, K). The south end of the west bench is set back c. 0-21 m. from the edge of the stylobate and the three blocks forming the bench have a total length of 4-45 m. along the front edge.

Because the ground behind the exedra was substantially lower than the street in front, the north wall extended below the exedra floor as a retaining wall. Four courses of this ashlar retaining wall are visible today with a total visible height of 1-65 m. below floor level. The wall turned eastwards at the northwest corner of the exedra, but because of the dislocation and disturbance of the blocks, the original position of the corner and the alignment of the wall cannot be exactly determined. However, it is clear that the northwest corner did not form a right angle; measurements of the orientation of the least disturbed blocks suggest an angle of c. 950, whereas the angle from the west side to the stylobate was 90'.

The upper part of the north side consisted, like the west side, of a bench with a wall behind, and the west bench and wall profiles are repeated. The north wall, however, is much thicker; a block still almost in position preserves the full thickness of 2-10 m. at the base (the base and crown mouldings project 004 m.), and on either side two rows of blocks made up the thickness of the wall. The rear face of this course was not smoothly finished, and it appears to have been set back slightly from the course below. Two blocks of the north bench are more or less in position, but the eastern part of this side has collapsed completely. Luckily a third bench block in the loose fall preserves the corner of the bench profile, and shows that the north bench measured

4.75 m. along its inner edge.

The whole east side of the exedra has collapsed (Plate V (a)), but a loose block from the east bench shows that its form was the same as that of the west side. If the east side ran parallel to the west, at right angles to the stylobate rather than at right

42 ANATOLIAN STUDIES

angles to the north wall, the internal width of the exedra measured at the base of the walls would be cos 50 x 4-75 (north bench length) + 0-45 + 0-43 (the width of the east and west benches)= 5-53 m. As we shall see (pp. 44-45), this width relates reasonably well with the preserved remains of the south entablature.

The south fagade was the most striking part of the exedra. The three preserved blocks of the stylobate, c. 0-35 m. high, extend for about 3-75 m., with lengths varying from 1-02-1-50 m. The rear edge is irregularly cut to fit the floor paving behind, which consists of roughly rectangular slabs, but is not set in a regular grid. Below the stylobate a step or euthynteria course projecting c. 0-12 m. survives for a further 3 m. The south end of the west bench has a roughly executed lion's foot, and on top of the end block is a recessed bed about 1-00 x 0-80 m., which must have carried the terminal pillar of the west wall. The form of this pillar is shown by blocks at the east end of the exedra. An apparently rectangular block with a height (0-86 m.) and mouldings which match those of the west and north walls (Fig. 9, H), presumably formed the pedestal of the east pillar. It measures 0-84 m. wide at the bottom so that a corresponding west pedestal could fit the cutting on the west bench.

On the front of this pedestal a badly weathered relief seems to portray a nude male figure with substantial hair mass pouring a libation at an altar (Fig. 9, A). His right hand holds a patera, but the object in his left hand is hard to identify. Two square blocks with Attic base profiles, one lying behind the northwest corner of the exedra and the other by its east side, presumably stood on the two pedestals and carried two pillars; the size of the pillars above the base mouldings was 0-54 x 0-56 m. A block of the pillar shaft, now broken into two pieces lies near the east side. It measures 0-515 m. wide at the base and 0-48 m. square at a point 0-30 m. from the top, and its original height was 2-41 m. Two adjacent sides are plain; the other two are decorated in very shallow relief. The central panel has leaves, flowers and tendrils sprouting from an undulating stalk, which rises from two opposed spirals at the base of the shaft block (Fig. 9, A; Plate VI (b)); this panel is separated by a flat band from a band of egg and dart which is stopped at the bottom.92 The top end is damaged, but there is no sign that the decoration was stopped. No pillar capital was noted.

Four fragments of column shaft lie close to the exedra, and they presumably belong to two columns standing between the two pillars. Their diameters range from 0-492 m. (at the top of an uppermost drum) to 0-512 m. All shaft fragments have sixteen flutes of Doric type, with sharp arrises,93 and the shaft ended in a short unfluted section with a pendant semicircle stopping each flute (Fig. 9, G). No column pedestals, bases or capitals were noted.

The upper part of the south fagade was entirely free-standing, and the profiles continued across the ends of the entablature as well as along the back and front. The architrave, of which all three blocks survive (Fig. 9, A, 11; Plate VIII), was

0.435 m. high and had three fascias at both front and rear

(0.09, 0.09 and 0 11 m.

from bottom to top), crowned by a very flat ovolo and cavetto. The ovolo on the front face is carved in very shallow relief with egg and dart, and the top and middle

92Pillars and pilasters with such plant decoration are common, but the form is usually more complicated; see, for example, the Ara Pacis Augustae at Rome (E. Nash), Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1961) I, figs. 63-6), the Library of Celsus at Ephesos (C. Praschniker, Forschungen in Ephesos V.i, Die Bibliothek (1943) XVII, 27-8, figs. 27-31, 66-7), and the niches of the Corinthian temple at Termessos (Lanckoronski II, pl. 7).

93Sixteen-fluted columns were common on early Doric columns (J. J. Coulton, Greek Architects at Work (1977) 39), but are rare after the sixth century.

BALBOURA SURVEY: ONESIMOS AND MELEAGER 43

B C

D

F

G

?20 0 1-00 m.

?O 0 -50 m.

Fig. 9. Exedra of Meleager; A: pedestal, pillar and entablature; B, C: outer and inner cornice profiles; D: Doric frieze section; E, F: outer and inner architrave crown mouldings; G: upper part of column; H: pedestal crown

moulding; J: section through bench and west wall; K: wall crown moulding. All moulding profiles drawn at double scale. (JJC).


fascias of the outer face carried the donor's inscription (Inscr. 1). The architrave soffit, 0-52 m. wide, carried a simple countersunk quarter-round.

The frieze member above was surprisingly given the form of a combined Doric architrave and frieze (Fig. 9, A; Plate VI (a)). The architrave element is 0-15 m. high, the frieze element 0-265 m. high, making a total of 0-415 m. The position of this element above the main Ionic architrave is attested by the location of the blocks, with other fallen pieces of the entablature, by their width (0-58 m.), suiting the width of the Ionic architrave top, and by the fact that the triglyphs continued round the end of the frieze, just as the mouldings continue round the end of the Ionic architrave. The details of the Doric architrave and frieze are badly weathered, but the regulae (c. 0-11 m. wide) are consistently narrower than the triglyphs, (0-13 m.) On two blocks near the west end of the exedra the metopes are c. 0-32- 0-34 m. wide, but another block further east has at least one metope with a width of c. 0-37 m. The triglyphs stand in the plane of the taenia, not in the plane of the main face of the architrave94 (Fig. 9, D); and their full grooves are higher than the half grooves. The triglyphs are crowned by a bevel and taenia, together corresponding to a larger bevel and smaller taenia above the metopes. The rear face of this architrave-frieze has no triglyphs and metopes; it is not well finished, but appears intended to have just two broad fascias, 0-19 m. and 0-15 m. high, with a bevel crown.

The cornice crowning the facade also has different profiles to front and rear. The rear profile (Fig. 9, C) consists simply of a bold cyma recta, while the front (Fig. 9, B) has a proper cornice with horizontal cyma recta soffit, a low corona with ovolo crown, and then a cyma recta sima with protuberances blocked out for lion's heads. Since this more complex profile is 0-205 m. high while the rear profile is 0-24 m. high, the top of the block slopes slightly towards the exterior.

(b) Material and Technique. A grey patina hides the surface of most blocks, but the entire exedra seems to have been built of a hard white local limestone, which has undergone partial metamorphosis into marble. Pi-shaped clamps with a half bar length of 0-085-0-125 m. connected some blocks of the bench and wall, and also the architrave, frieze, and cornice blocks. Circular dowels linked the pillar bases to the pillars, the column and pillar shafts to the capitals, and the pillar capitals to the end architrave blocks. The dowel holes, 0-05-0-06 m. in diameter and depth, were served by pour channels. A characteristic technical feature of the exedra is the very low relief of the ornamental carving on the architrave and pillars. This may be a sign of incompleteness, for the shaft section of the pillar bases seems also unfinished; but if so, it is strange that so much ornament has been set out, without any of it being fully carved, and the same type of relief is seen on a pillar fragment by the late wall which runs southeast from the Upper Theatre (Plate VIII (c)).

(c) Reconstruction. The chief problems in reconstructing the exedra relate to the order, height, and spacing of the columns. The lengths of the three surviving architrave blocks show that there were two columns between the end pillars, but since the two fragments of the central architrave block do not join, the central intercolumniation needs to be calculated. Provided that the east and west walls were parallel, the width of the building between the walls is known (see p. 42

94This uncanonical arrangement occurs sporadically from the Hellenistic period; see, for instance, the Stoa of Antigonos at Delos (R. Vallois, Exploration archeologique de Delos V, le Portique d'Antigone (1912) 22 n. 2).


above), but since the back of the east pedestal block is invisible, the precise relation of the pedestal to the wall end is uncertain, and so the axial distance from pillar to pillar is not known directly. The cutting on top of the west bench suggests that the pedestal base mouldings were set back c. 0-10 m. from the bench edge. If so, the axial distance from pillar to pillar would be 4-73 m. (width from bench to bench) + 020 (2 x set back)+ 0-84 (2 x pedestal width/2)= 5-77 m. The total length of the architrave soffit would be greater by 0-52 m. (architrave depth), i.e. 6-29 m., and since the lengths of the two end blocks are known (1-99 m. and 2-06 m.), the central architrave block would be 2-24 m. long. The two surviving fragments have lengths of 0-64 m. and 1-29 m. along the rear face, which means that c. 0-31 m. is missing from the rear; about 0-45 m. is missing from the inscribed front face.

Since the two end intercolumniations ought to be equal, the different lengths of the two end architrave blocks indicate that one column axis (or both) was not exactly below the joint in the architrave. The central intercolumniation must therefore be taken for the moment as 2-24 + 0-07 m. This places the column axes between 1-99 m. and 2-06 m. from the architrave end; and since the Doric frieze end could have been set in the plane of the lowest fascia of the Ionic architrave, or in the plane of the upper fascia (or in between these two), we can only say that a triglyph axis would be expected somewhere between 1-99 m. and 2.12 m. (= 2.06 + 0.06 m.) from the frieze end. Luckily the western frieze block brings some clarification. It has a triglyph axis 1-485 m. from its west end; a triglyph with one of the wider metopes would place a triglyph axis 1-985 m. from the end, whereas two triglyphs and metopes of the narrower width (2 x (0.13+0.33)= 0-92) would place the following triglyph axis 2-405 m. from the end. The first alternative is clearly preferable; it comes very close to the lower end of the range suggested above (1-99 m.), and the central intercolumniation would correspondingly be at the upper end of its calculated range, 2-31 m. This is equivalent to five triglyphs and metopes of the commonest length (5 x (0.13+0.33)= 2.30 m.). Given the imprecision and variation in workmanship, these figures may not correspond exactly with those executed, but they do suggest that the scheme envisaged was with five metopes above the central intercolumniation and four above the two side ones.

The order of the columns is unknown, for the shallow fluting and the Doric architrave-frieze element suggest Doric, while the pillar bases, and the rest of the entablature suggest Ionic, Corinthian or Composite. Nor is it known whether the columns stood on pedestals, and if so, whether they were of the same height as those below the pillars, or equal to the bench height and pillar pedestal height together. Certainly it is normal for columns and pillars which carry the same entablature to start from the same level, but that is not always so,95 and if the statue bases A and B stood in the west and east intercolumniations (as suggested below), then columns without pedestals are more plausible, since pedestals would block the inscribed side faces of those bases. However, whether on pedestals or not, and whatever their order, the columns would probably have had an upper diameter about 5/6 of the lower diameter, which means a lower diameter of c. 0-60 m.

The similarity of the upper width of the surviving pillar block (0.48 m.) to the

upper column diameter (0.495

m.) suggests that there was no major shaft block above it, although part of the shaft was perhaps included in the missing capital block. If the surviving shaft block was the only one, then the distance from the stylobate to the architrave soffit would be 0-44 (bench

ht.)+0.68 (pedestal

95In the Heroon at Saracik in East Lycia the columns were on pedestals, but the pilasters not (Petersen-von Luschan, 143, 152, fig. 67-72); and in Tomb S3 at Termessos the pilasters start a course higher than the columns (Lanckoronski, II, 108-11, figs. 74-7).


ht.)+ 0-53 (E. base ht.)+ 2-41 (shaft ht.) +0-40 + 0.10 (capital ht.) = 4-54 to 4-74 m., equivalent to 7-6 to 8-0 lower diameters. This would certainly be sufficient for Doric columns standing directly on the stylobate, and probably sufficient for Ionic columns; but columns standing on pedestals, especially pedestals equal to the bench height and pillar pedestal height combined, could probably be excluded. This reconstruction, with short pillars and columns standing directly on the stylobate, produces the minimum building height: 5-60 to 5-80 m., when the entablature height is added.

It is certain that there was no similarly decorated shaft block below the surviving one, since the start of the pattern is preserved; but there may have been a plain block below it, and that would help to explain the difference between the shaft width at the top of the pillar base block (0-54-0-56 m.) and the width of the bottom of the shaft block (0-51 m.). Taken at its face value, this difference suggests a missing block as high as the surviving one, since the top and bottom widths of the latter also differ by 0-03 m. However, this would produce an implausibly slender and unstable faqade (total height 8-00 to 8-20 m.), and it would also be surprising to find the undecorated shaft section equal to the decorated section. Some at least of the difference between the shaft width at the top of the base blocks and at the bottom of the shaft block is probably due to the unfinished state of the former. An undecorated shaft block about half as high as the decorated one (c. 1-20 m.) would be more plausible, and would raise the distance from stylobate to architrave soffit to 5-74 to 5-94 m. If this was occupied by columns on pedestals, with the columns starting at the same level as the pillars, the column height would equal 4-44 to 4-64 m., or 7-5 to 7-8 lower diameters, suggesting Doric or Ionic columns. As we have seen, however, the columns probably stood directly on the stylobate, and so would be 9-7 to 10 lower diameters high, a suitable height for Corinthian or Composite. This is the scheme shown in the restored elevation, Fig. 4.

(d) Statue bases. Three large and three small statue bases lie in or close to the exedra of Meleager, two of them carrying legible inscriptions. Statue base A (Fig. 10, A; P1. V (b), VIII (a)) is 1-88 m. high; it has a shaft tapering from 0-635 x 0-66 m. to 0-60 x 0-62 m. with projecting base and crown mouldings. On top are the cuttings for a bronze statue of a standing figure, and these show clearly which was the front face of the base. The lower end of the base rests on the exedra stylobate next to the west bench, suggesting that it originally stood between the west pillar and column. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the mouldings on the left hand face, which would then be obscured by the pillar, are less fully finished than on the other side which carries Inscr. 2. Traces of a now illegible inscription are also visible on the front face of the base.

The foot cuttings show that both feet turned to the statue's left; the left foot turned more than the right, and was brought slightly forward. The more central position of the right foot suggests that it carried the figure's weight. Two small holes on either side of the left instep may have been intended to counter the backward pull of, for example, a cloak hanging from the shoulders. As we shall see (below p. 55), the statue probably represented Antoninus Pius.

Statue base B (Fig. 10, B; P1. V (b), VIII (b)) lies in front of the exedra about 4 m. further east. It is 1.715 m. high and has a shaft tapering from 0-633 x ? m. to

0.625 x

0.64 m., with similar, though more weathered, mouldings, and it also carried a bronze standing statue. Again there is a badly weathered inscription (Inscr. 3) on the front face, but the second inscription (Inscr. 4) is on the left-hand side; presumably this statue base stood in the east intercolumniation, where its

20 0 l1OOm.

.10 50 m.

0 N

A 0

A B

II

Fig. 10. Exedra of Meleager, statue bases; A: top and front face of base A, with crown and base mouldings; B: top and front face of base B, with crown and base mouldings; C: top and front face of base C, with crown and base

mouldings; D: top and front face of base D. All moulding profiles drawn at double scale. (JJC).

t"

0

0

rd

z

0

z

Ct*

tTI

0

"T

O

tm

O C/

.b,

.,,..


right-hand side would be obscured by the east pillar. Unless their statues had their backs to the street, bases A and B have both rotated through 1800 as well as falling forwards. Since it is their present top (original front) faces which are badly weathered, this rotation cannot simply be the work of the nineteenth-century epigraphists.

The figure's right foot faced forward, the left foot slightly to the left, the larger, firmer shape of the right foot cutting suggests that the weight was on that foot. As we shall see (below, pp. 55, 56), the base probably carried a statue of Meleager at first, but this was soon replaced by one of M. Aurelius. The base retains no clear evidence of this replacement.

Statue base C (Fig. 10, C; P1 V (a)) has fallen into the interior of the exedra, but nearer the back than the front. It is 1-32 m. high, with a shaft tapering from 0-72 x 0-75 to 0-69 x 0-74 m. It has a recessed panel on the front, more elaborate mouldings than bases A and B, and above its crown mouldings is a circular torus and scotia. Unlike bases A and B, base C has a completely unworked rear face, and this, together with its location, suggests that it originally stood on the thick rear wall of the exedra, possibly at its centre, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, but this is uncertain.

On top of base C are the cuttings for a third bronze statue, again of a standing figure. The right foot, with two major dowel holes, turned slightly to the figure's right, and its more central location and two major dowel holes suggest that it was the weighted foot. As its single dowel hole shows, the left foot was drawn well back with the heel probably raised. Although more elaborate than bases A and B, base C unfortunately carries no inscription, so that its occupant is unknown.

Two other major bases, G and H, lie in the rubble behind the exedra; since base G carried a portrait of Meleager's great-grandson, and base H is closely similar to base C (see below, p. 61), it is likely that these also stood on the rear wall of the exedra. Bases C and H may also have carried portraits of members of the family.

The three small bases D-F are rectangular blocks about 0-65-0-78 m. wide at the base and 0-42-0-445 m. high, with simple bevel-and-taenia base and crown mouldings, and with flat, roughly worked backs. Base D (Fig. 10, D), lying near the foot of base B, carries an illegible inscription and clear statue cuttings. The right foot again turned slightly to the figure's right, and has two dowel holes, so presumably carried the weight; the left foot was slightly drawn back with the left heel probably raised. Two small holes between the two main dowels for the right foot remain unexplained. The mouldings of base D continue only 0-15 m. along the right face, and there is a hook clamp cutting at the rear edge of the top. Since its height corresponds roughly to that of the bench, base D may have stood immediately in front of the east pillar, clamped to the bench behind; but there is no foundation or clamp cutting for a corresponding statue at the west end.

Base E, also lying near base B, measures c. 0-78 x 0"58,

with base and crown mouldings continuing for just a short distance along both sides, while on base F, in the southwest corner of the exedra, the mouldings run the full length of the left- hand side, but only 0.135

m. along the right-hand side. The top surface of base E is not visible, but enough can be seen of the top of base F to show that it certainly carried a statue, and it was also inscribed, although the text is now illegible. Bases E and F may have stood in front of the two columns of the exedra.

To give some indication of the original effect of the exedra, Fig. 4 shows hypothetical statues on bases B and C. But since there is no real certainty about the position or (except for base G) the occupants of bases D-H, they, and their statues, have been omitted.


(e) Inscriptions (N. P. Milner) Three unpublished inscriptions (Inscr. 1, 3, 6=inv, nos. 30, 14, 27) and three published ones (Inscr. 2, 4, 5=inv. nos. 1, 2, 36) are certainly or probably associated with the exedra.

Inscription 1 = inv. no. 30, Fig. 11, P1. VII. The building inscription of the exedra (inv. no. 30) consists of five limestone blocks (1A1, 1A2, JIB, 1B2, IC) lying scattered among the other fallen blocks of the exedra (Fig. 2). Block height 0-435 m., block lengths along soffit (]A) 1-99 m., (1B) 1-02+[0-57?]+0-65 m., (JC) 2-06m. As noted above (p. 42), they originally formed the three blocks of a two-faced Ionic architrave above the fagade of the exedra (Fig. 4); the inscription, on the top and middle fasciae of the outer face, is approximately, but poorly, centred (Fig. 11).

Block 1A has been broken in half, but the text survives complete apart from the loss of the upper part of the last four letters. Block 1B has also been broken in half, with the loss of an uncertain length of lettering in the middle; for architectural

1A1 M EAEArrPozrKArorTTT YAEYKOYZrTO YFAIO~ 1A2

IB1I PEYIAr NO OETHI IAIAIONOX1A T7ENAE FTPIKHZrMPH zA 1B2 TOYI A LPJATAfAtf1T4Er41EkTERNI

Ic NKIATEYAEENTOE

'50 0 1.50

m.

1B Proposed restoration

APE YrAi N 0 iETHI A IA A INOGE TTANrYrEO.ETrAAHNTTEfAETPIKHT-TPGQTH- ATAN'N

N KA ITo Y I A NPIAITAI

N;QI iZ E N ENEKT.l •

I Q N

Fig. 11. Exedra of Meleager, inscribed architrave blocks (Inscr. 1). (NPM and JJC).


reasons a gap of about 0-40-0-45 m. seems probable (see above pp. 44-5). The final two letters of 1B2 lack their upper part, while the first three letters of the middle fascia of IB1 are wholly lost, along with the lower parts of the next two: the probable last two letters of the middle fascia of IB1 are wholly lost, along with the upper parts of the next two. Block IC survives to its original length, but with the loss of the upper parts of the first seven letters. All blocks are well weathered, apart from the face of IBI.

Letter height 3-5-4-8 cm. On JBI, there are 37 lower fascia letters to 100 cm., compared to 24 upper fascia letters. Margin to top of fascia, av. 1-2 cm. (both fasciae); margin to bottom of fascia, av. 4-3 cm. (upper), 3-0 cm. (lower). Margin to left, 0-48 m. (upper fascia), c. 2-0 m. (lower); margin to right, 1-06 m. (upper), est. c. 3-10 m. (lower). Lettering monumental but of poor quality, especially towards the end, with letters uneven in depth, alignment and size, overcrowded, and with ligatured letters from IB2 to the end of the text. Characteristic letters: ATT O 2 Es G MY

Date: A.D. 158-161 (see below p. 56)

Text.

(1) MEA~aypos K•roTopos TIoAAu8EKOUS ToO Faciou BcaApo I upEJs dycvoOErT S 51a akcovoS -rra[vrlyV'pEoS .EyarA]S

'rtEv-raE-rppK-- S

F- rrpc,7S ' 'AvoIv EV[i]Cv

MEAEaypiClV KCTEoKEOOUEV TOb ipy- vacat.

(2) [ov K]ca TOOS xvgplt(VTa

S ~arvEarTEv K Tiv i8i[cOv]. vacat.

(, represents ligatured letters)

Translation. "Meleager, son of Castor, son of Polydeuces, son of Gaios, citizen of Balboura, perpetual donor of the foremost great quadrennial festival of the Antoninia Meleagria,96 provided the building and set up the statues from his own resources."

As well as the fact that it was he who built the exedra, the new inscription gives us two extra generations of Meleager's ancestry, his title of "perpetual agonothete" (which could have been deduced), and most, at least, of the titles of the festival he founded, including the fact that it was quadrennial.

The names of Meleager, his father Castor, and his grandfather Polydeuces, are of the type L. Robert has termed "herophoric"97 (by analogy with "theophoric"). The theory is that they are names chosen, because of their resemblance to native names, from names of Greek or Hellenized heroes known from local legends, folk- tales, or even cult (such as that of the Dioscuri). The myth of Meleager and the Calydonian boar was known in Anatolia; it appears as the subject of reliefs on sarcophagi, and among the mythological reliefs from the Sebasteion at Aphrodis- ias.98 Meleager was the cousin of Castor and Pollux through his mother Althaea, sister of Leda, and the Dioscuri took part in the Calydonian boar-hunt.

The use of such names is in line with the practice of the Hellenized elites of Lycia, who were prepared to call their sons after Sarpedon, Troilos, Orestes, etc. Favourites from the Kibyratis include Mousaios, Troilos, Thoas and Tlepolemos among herophoric names, and Hermaios, Artemon, Menophilos and Castor,

96LSJ9 supp. (1968) s.v. divined this from Inscr. 2. 97REG LXXXVI (1973) 456. 98R. R. R. Smith, JRS LXXVII (1987) 97; G. Koch, Die Mythologischen Sarkophage

in F. Matz and B. Andreae, Die Antiken Sarkophagreliefs, XII. 6 (Meleager) (1975) 78.


among theophoric. Castor and Polydeuces bridge the gap between categories. Herophoric names are not always easily distinguished from "learned names", such as Herakles, Sokrates or Plato, originally given to slaves, but often borne by their freed descendants.

Of the herophoric names Meleager is rare outside Lycia. It is also found among Hellenistic Macedonians (5 examples, in RE XV (1932) 478-80), and may have come into the area under the Ptolemaic or Seleucid dominations. Examples occur in W. Lycia, and in the Kabalis and Kibyratis.99 Castor and Polydeuces appear to be localised to the latter areas; Polydeuces, absent from TAM 2.1-3, occurs at Boubon as well as at and around Kibyra itself,1•0 and Dioskourides, the name of one of the earliest known Balbourans, is also known in the district. These names clearly reflect the popularity of a local cult identified with the Dioscuri, which is marked by dedications extending from the Kabalis and Kibyratis to Termessos.'o1 Three votive reliefs to the Dioscuri are now known from Balboura and many more from what is probably its territory.102 The name of Meleager's great-grandfather, by contrast, is colourless. Gaios, one of the commonest Roman praenomina (Caius), was used as if a Greek name by natives all over Anatolia.'03 Gaios is unlikely to be here a supernomen of Polydeuces, because the usual formula inserts a "Kai" to make this clear. Like the herophoric names, it reveals an artless enthusiasm for Graeco-Roman culture on the part of those anxious to assimilate it. If Meleager was old in A.D. 160 (born c. A.D. 100?), then Gaios was perhaps born c. A.D. 25, indicating Romanization in the early first century A.D. The genealogy of Licinia Flavilla of Oinoanda also suggests Romanization starting with the generation which was mature under Nero.104

Meleager's ethnic "BaApoupE\s" may well not be his only ethnic, since it was not uncommon to share citizenship with other Lycian and Pamphylian cities: for example M. Aur. Thoantianos, Meleager's great-grandson, was a citizen of Balboura and Attaleia, and Flavillianos, an Oinoandan, was also a citizen of Balboura and Tlos.o10 This has implications for the identity of the Meleager who founded games at Oinoanda106 at about the same period, for if it was our Meleager, he must also have had Oinoandan citizenship; since he is quite possibly related to the Licinnii of Oinoanda,107 a prominent family in that city, that is not unlikely.

There also arises the question which games are referred to by Pius in his letter'"8 (lines 18 if) as confirmed by Hadrian and as being "•p' 6poias rwoCoXiEco<S" to the present proposal. Our Meleager is at least old enough to have founded games in the reign of Hadrian, since his grandson acts as agonothete for the first celebration of the games at Balboura'09 (and is presumably at least of ephebic age

99TAM II. i, 168 (Hippokome, 5 examples), 238? (Sidyma), 371 (Xanthos); TAM II. ii, 660 (Kadyanda); Schindler 2, 16 (Boubon), Heberdey-Kalinka, 64, 66, 67 (Oinoanda), Bean, JNL 19 ((;obanisa).

o'0Schindler, 12; ibid. 38; K. Parlasca, Syrische Grabreliefs hellenistischer und r6mis- cher Zeit (3 Trierer Winck.prog, 1981), pl. 2. 3.

'O'L. Robert, BCH CVII (1983) 553 ff. '02Note especially the groups of reliefs at Kirk Pinar, Kizil Bel, and Kozagaq

(Tyriaion). 103TAM V. i (N and E Lydia) 12 times, TAM III. i (Termessos) 9 times, TAM 4. 1

(Bithynia) 3 times. '04IGR III, 500; Heberdey-Kalinka, 60; S. Jameson, AS XVI (1966) 125. 'OsSee Inscr. 5; A. S. Hall, JHS XCIX (1979) 161, no. 4. '06Heberdey-Kalinka, 64, 66, 67; Hall, op. cit. (n. 105) 160-3. nos. 2-3. 107S. Jameson, Lycia and Pamphylia under the Roman Empire from Augustus to

Diocletian (Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 1965) 219; see commentary to Inscr. 5. '08See Inscr. 2. 109CIG 4380e.


and an enrolled citizen). A. S. Hall has demonstrated that the 13th Meleagria at Oinoanda took place just after A.D. 212,"0 which prima facie suggests they were founded c. A.D. 160. But there must have been some occasions when the Balbouran Meleagria failed to be celebrated, for although they are stated to be quadrennial, the ninth celebration was certainly after A.D. 212."' If celebrations of the Oinoandan Meleagria failed about as often, then they will have started about 80 years before A.D. 212, in the 130's. It is a coincidence that on one base from Oinoandal12 the 11lth panegyris of the 'Severia Antoninia (Meleagria)' is also recorded as the 7th themis, celebrated not long before A.D. 212. For the 7th themis at Balboura was also celebrated about this time (the 8th is unknown and the 9th is the first after A.D. 212).

However, on the assumption that the two Meleagria were founded by the same man, it is surprising that the earlier one was at Oinoanda. For the fact that Meleager's grandson continued to supervise the Meleagria at Balboura, while no relation was in charge of those at Oinoanda, would suggest that Meleager's primary citizenship was at Balboura. It is perhaps more likely that Pius is referring to the regulations for a musical festival approved by Hadrian in an inscription from Kemerarasi near Oinoanda, recently published by M. W6rrle."3

The proximity of Oinoanda at least renders the reference to "Termessians" in the letter of Antoninus more likely to denote inhabitants of Oinoanda rather than of Pisidian Termessos, for in inscriptions at Oinoanda the Boule and Demos are normally said to be those of the "Termessians by Oinoanda"."14

What the precise similarity in the proposal was is unclear, because of the loss of the decree of the boule and demos of Balboura, which probably formed the text of the illegible inscription on the front of Base A (see above p. 46 and below pp. 53, 55). But the similarity is likely to relate either to the nature of the festival itself (that at Balboura was intended to be "musical"; see p. 53), or to the financial arrangements of the proposed endowment. For the imperial government guaran- teed endowments, so that they would be legally enforceable against (in particular) magistrates who sought to evade the expenses of office by diverting the income away from the purpose of the founder. M. W6rrle provides a detailed treatment of this matter, arguing that the transaction was patronal in nature, the power of imperial patronage being invoked to confirm the terms of the endowment."5

As ",ycovoOE-rrs S i aai&vos" Meleager signalises himself as the founder of a festival in perpetuity, i.e. by setting up an ear-marked endowment from which the cost of purse prizes, victors' statues and bases are defrayed, along with all the other expenses of holding the festival. Thus his name appears prominently on every victor's statue base."' The Oinoandan Meleagria were funded out of an estate,1"7 "a-rir oiias MEAEdyptboS", like the pentaeteric panegyris left by Opramoas of Rhodiapolis"" in his will to Tlos; so too, probably, at Balboura."9

"IHall, op. cit. (n. 105). "'Petersen-von Luschan 239, unpublished correction to number of festival. 112Heberdey-Kalinka 66. "•M. W6rrle, Stadt und Fest in kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien (Vestigia XXXIX, 1988). "4J. J. Coulton, AS XXXII (1982) 115-131. "5Worrle, op. cit. (n. 113) 164-82; see also J. H. Oliver, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc.,

XLIII (1953) 963 ff and K. M. T. Atkinson, Revue Internationale des Droits de l'Antiquite, 3rd series IX (1962) 261-89, esp. 286-7.

1"6L. Robert, Revue de Philologie XLI (1967) 42 ff. "7Heberdey-Kalinka, 66. "8STAM II. ii, 578. "90n foundations funded from estates, see B. Laum, Stiftungen I (1919) 134;

L. Robert, BCH LVII (1933) 502-3.


As we have seen (p. 45), the lacuna on block 1B, although uncertain, was probably about 0-45 m., and the titles of the festival have been supplemented to fill a gap of that length. na[v'r6s is unlikely on grounds of word-order, and elaborate titles such as Isopythia, etc. are ruled out since this is not a "sacred" festival. eEPts, which appears on the victors' bases, may have appeared here too in some form, indicating that the prizes were cash-prizes.120 MEyd'Ar]s is based on parallels at Attaleia (BCH 7 (1883) 263, IGR 3, 780), Prusias ad Hypium (IGR 3, 1422), and Ankyra (OGIS 547), being like Trpcb'Trls used to signify games of the highest importance,'21 at least in the eyes of the founder and host city. As noted above, iEpC]S is not possible, although the games celebrate the imperial house, like the Oinoandan Meleagria, which were also 8OiEu8S.122 The victors at Balboura were not crowned,'23 except the boys, who were presumably deemed too young to receive purse prizes. MoualK?i]S is also possible, given that this is part of the description of the festival in Pius's letter.124 It is, however, something of a misnomer, since in the city only the athletes' bases of a yUVPVK6oS &ycbv survive, and it is probable that this word occurred in a lacuna in Inscr. 2 (see p. 54) as well.

Inscription 2 = inv. no. 1 = Heberdey-Kalinka 49 = IGR 3, 467 = Bean, JNL, no. 14 = K. J. Rigsby, AJPh 100 (1978) 401-7. Pl. VIII (a), IX (a) (lines 9-23).

The text is on the right hand side of the limestone statue base A, lying on its back pointing south into the street, with its foot on the stylobate of the exedra (Fig. 2). Height 1-90 m., width 0-63 m., depth 0-61 m. at the base of the tapering shaft. Fig. 10, A shows the mouldings and statue foot-cuttings. The front face was originally inscribed with a long text, now illegible. The text of Inscr. 2, though very weathered, is 23 lines and complete. It is evenly distributed over the upper and mid- parts of the right face; lines 10 and 23 are centrally spaced. Base A probably stood between the left column and anta of the exedra. The bronze statue stood facing forwards into the street, with the illegible inscription facing the street and the surviving inscription flanking the entrance to the exedra (see above pp. 46-7). Letter height 3-5-4-05 cm., not diminishing towards bottom; interlinear space 1-0 cm. Margin at top 2-5 cm., at bottom 24-5 cm. Lettering squared and bold; whether elegant or not is no longer clear. P1. VIII (a) shows lines 9-23. Character- istic letters: M t * O A Z Y n

Date A.D. 158, inscribed A.D. 158-161.

Text. This corrects previous versions in lines 12-17.

AT-ro[Kp']Trco[p] KcTaap 0EO'0 'A8plavo0 vib6, 8Eo00 Tpacavo' "TT'ap1K[O' Vui]cov6S, EO' Nipouca

'vyovos, T[i]Tos AAitos 'A8ptcxa- 5 v6s ['A]vTrovevos lEPc-TO6[s],

apXIEpEUR[S I]iyurTos, 86rll(capXtKi~i) E(oucicaS) TO KC[' C(,OroKp'TC~p 1T" [3, "TrTC(rOS Tr6 8', rr(arTilp) "rr(rpi60os), BcaApoupicov Tols &PXOUaO KCd Tf 13ouA Kri TK

10 vac. 80i•co v. Xaipetv. vacat.

120LSJ, s.v. 121B. Head, Historia Numorum2 (1911) lxxviii-ix, quoting debunking remarks of Dio

Chrysostom, Or. 38.144. 122A. S. Hall, loc. cit. (n. 105) nos. 2-3 123A diagnostic feature, see L. Robert, Etudes Anatoliennes (1970) 143-4. 124See Inscr. 2, p. 54.


Tilv plAoorElpiav, iTv EitS&5E1t-

KTCI Trp6 oS jpas MEAxypos

KaarT.po9, [`Trlv]E.rg. [B].Patc- v. (T6V>

[&]ycrv[ae yPiVgK]atovo•ctlKrv 15 •iV TI [1PETr].•pg Tr6AE"• aTC•E•

Kas[i] TE a ETrlrTE[i]•taO Kspio: oT Te i TH,1S

E-TrrtVyEia[S] ai-rTO Oplao6Ev- TO, ETEi KaCi IjT6 TOO eEOU TTc(TpQS

iaou TEpa1oo-E0o- 1 aVVuXcopI- 20 0r -ro1Jro EP'' 61aoic'a uTrooax-

o'EC)Sg, 1v KOai IOpElS T, T'qyio-

•CITl EVEypac•a7TE. vacat. vac. ETI-rvXETT-rE. vacat.


Translation. "The Emperor Caesar, son of the divine Hadrian, grandson of the divine Trajan victor of Parthia, great-grandson of the divine Nerva, Titus Aelius Hadrian Antoninus Augustus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power for the 21st time, imperator for the 2nd time, consul for the 4th time, pater patriae, to the archons, boule and demos of Balboura, greeting. The munificence which Meleager son of Castor has shown towards you I approved. I confirm the gymnastic and musical festival in your city: let moreover the penalties be binding which are defined in his promise, forasmuch as this was confirmed to the Termessians (sc. at Oinoanda) also by my divine father in the case of a like promise, which you have also noted in your decree. Farewell."

Line 12: vcpaIs is the true reading contra Bean and Rigsby.125 Lines 13-14 are very worn. Line 13: pacx appears on the squeeze, squashed together but fairly clear. The final vacat may represent the mason's misjudged omission of 76v. Line 14: The initial &ycovca seems highly probable from the surviving traces. Thus the lacuna contained an epithet closely parallel to touoRK6v. There is space for 5-6 letters before -ov. I suggest that the line originally read

,y&Sva yU•PvlK6V lOUaTK6V, as Rigsby suggested.126 In that case the festival was officially gymnastic as well as musical, squaring with the abundant evidence of athletics.

The text gives the letter of Antoninus Pius, dated A.D. 158, in support of a decree of the archons, boule and demos of Balboura accepting Meleager's proposed endowment. The new readings show clearly the concern of all parties with the protection of the benefaction (as in the Oinoanda festival inscription, line 4),127 and the role of the imperial government as guarantor of the terms of the endowment (see p. 52 above). The letter also reveals the procedure for setting up such an endowment: the endower makes a formal "promise" (0rr6XeXts or

n-rayyE~hia)128 which details his proposals and is legally enforceable on certain

terms by the city.129 Such promises are often made in wills, and heirs are found carrying them out.

125Bean, JNL no. 14; K. J. Rigsby, AJPh C (1978) 401-7. 126Rigsby, loc. cit. (n. 125). 127W6rrle, op. cit. (n.1 13). 128L. Robert, Opera Minora Selecta II (1969) 1088. 129Digest 50.12.


The identity of the festival granted by Hadrian to the "Termessians" is discussed above (pp. 51-2). The illegible inscription on the front of base A seems likely to have been the text of the decree of the boule and demos of Balboura accepting Meleager's proposal, and presenting it to the Emperor for his support. Since the games honoured the imperial house, it is likely that the statue on this base was of Antoninus Pius. However, Meleager's munificence to his patria and piety to the cult of the emperor were unrewarded; like his wealthier contemporary Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, he died a peregrinus.

Inscription 3 = inv. no. 14., P1. VIII (b). The text is on the front of base B, which lies on its back before the east end of the exedra with its top pointing south. It was similar to base A, which carried the letter of Pius (Inscr. 1), except that it was 20 cm. lower. Height 1-71 m., width 0-63 m., depth 0-645 m. Fig. 10, B shows the mouldings and foot-holes for the statue. On the left side is Inscr. 4 (see below). The text on the front, now largely illegible, was originally about 35 lines, with letters reducing in size from top (c. 4-5 cm.) to bottom (c. 2-5cm.).

Text.

AUKiCAv "Tr KOlV6V [~T]EjlrlJaEy [M]Q4X]Eypo[v] [KacY]Toosp[H]o[Au]?Ev'- [K]oV[S "r]o[( F]Cdiov B[a•A3]o[up]- [ -------------------------- ]

(about 30 lines follow)


Translation. "The Lycian League honoured Meleager, son of Castor, son of Polydeuces, son of Gaios, citizen of Balboura..."

Enough of the first four lines can be read to make it reasonably certain that the honorand was Meleager, because the word Kc'xropos can be fixed. It is known from Inscr. 5 (see below) that Meleager was the father and the son of a hypophylax, and himself a former hypophylax and archiphylax of the League, and that he had been "honoured for his archiphylakia" (i.e. with a statue) by the League.130 Probably therefore base B carried the League honours for his archiphylakia, and it was his bronze statue that stood on top; as we have seen, base A, inscribed with Pius's reply to the decree of the city, and probably the decree itself, is likely to have carried the statue of the Emperor. Base B will have stood between the right column and anta of the exedra, so that the festival of the Antoninia Meleagria was, as it were, personified in the exedra erected in its commemoration.

Meleager's wealth is perhaps indicated by the holding of the office of archiphylax for the league; it included responsibility for the collection of imperial taxes, and therefore financial liability13 for the aggregate sum due, according to the usual arrangements for Roman taxation. It is clear from IGR 3, 739.II.5.55 ft. and IGR 3, 488 that the archiphylax was also expected to make additional payments to the fisc out of his own resources, as a bonus to the Imperial Government. The cost may have been too much for Meleager's descendants, none of whom held this

'30For its structure and functions, see S. Jameson, ANRW II. vii. 2, 832 ff. 13'ibid., 850.


office again-although admittedly all League offices and priesthoods required munificence or

ptho-ropia. The hypophylakia at any rate was a rather less costly role, involving policing duties at the disposition of the archiphylax, in particular, possibly, operations to suppress brigandagel32 in co-operation with the paraphylakes and orophylakes appointed by individual cities and estates. Naturally, the archiphylax was assisted by the hypophylax and his runners in the collection of taxes also, as a number of archiphylakes are commended for having collected it peacefully.133

Inscription 4 = inv. no. 2 = C. Naour, AncSoc 9 (1978) 176, no. 3. Pl. VIII (b). The text is on the left side of base B (see Inscr. 3 above). The cuttings for the

statue on top show that it faced right in relation to this inscription.The text is three lines only, complete, and very weathered on the right.

To the details published by Naour may be added: letter height 2-5-3-0 cm., interlinear space 1-5-2-0 cm.; vacat of 13-5 cm. at the end of line 3; margin at bottom 1-10 m., at top 2-0 cm. Lettering neat and squared. Characteristic letters: ZA .01H.

Text.

AT-rOKp&Trop Kaiaap MapKo[S]

A0ppijAioS 'AvrcovTvoS ZE- pacT-ros 'AppIEVIK6S. vacat.

(, represents ligatured letters) Translation. "The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus victor of Armenia"

Naour comments that the emperor is certainly Marcus Aurelius, so the date is later than the middle of A.D. 164, when he assumed the title Armeniacus already borne by Lucius Verus, but appears no later than A.D. 166, because of the absence of the titles Parthicus Maximus and Medicus. The circumstantial evidence, therefore, suggests the following scenario. Meleager's statue did not last long in its position of honour on base B. Pius died in A.D. 161, and early in the new reign it was decided to depose Meleager and replace him with a statue of Marcus Aurelius, whose name and titles were cut on the left of the block, dated to A.D. 164-6. It seems only kind to assume Meleager did not live to see this rough treatment. In this case the death of Pius provides a terminus ante quem for the whole structure and his letter of A.D. 158 a terminus post quem. The festival he founded continued for at least 62 years, under the truly "lifetime agonotheteship" of his grandson Thoan- tianos, later M. Aur. Thoantianos.134

Inside and in front of the ruined exedra were found a large uninscribed base C, two small simple bases (D and F) with illegible inscriptions, and a third similar base E (see above pp. 47-8). Two other bases, G and H, were found in the southwest corner of the agora in rubble from the exedra, and may have belonged to it.

Inscription 5 = inv. no. 36 = IGR 3, 474 = LBW 1224 = Petersen-von Luschan 236, P1. X (a), (b).

The text is on a limestone statue base (G), presently standing in the southwest corner of the agora (Fig. 1), in rubble from the exedra of Meleager, facing

'32Schindler, 13. '33e.g. Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, IGR III, 739. II. 5. 55 if; see also IGR III, 488. '34It is intended to publish the whole series of victors' bases in due course.


-50 m.

no

JA . ,PM

Fig. 12. Cross on top of base G (carrying Inscr. 5). (NPM and JJC).

northwest. Height greater than 1-14 m., width 0-77 m., depth 0-59 m. The block has been re-used: a cross (Fig. 12) has been carved in relief on the top, removing the foot-holes for the original statue. The moulding above the inscribed front has also been removed; that at the bottom is buried. The inscription (36 lines, complete) covers the front face entirely, except perhaps for the bottom, which is buried; there is no panel. It has suffered weathering only at the top, down to about line 15. The last four lines were buried and could not be read. The right side had no inscription on it: the left was inaccessible, as was the back.

Letter height 2-3 cm.; interlinear space 0-5 cm. There is no margin at the top or sides; that at the bottom is buried. Lettering neat, squared, and apicated. Characteristic letters: YH 1"I A r L IAR O.

Date: soon after A.D. 212.

Text. The new text corrects lines 1-14 of the previous version; the rest appears to have been correctly transcribed.

Eio-rny'lnvou MapKou Ai'phAiou TpcoiAov M&- [y]avwros TOO Tpcoihou BouvpcovSo Kai KaSuav- S•o -rTETroAElTEvUOpEVOU SB KCai EV TaTiS KaTa( Au- KiCV Tr6AEawV Tri cis, ETrr1Y(picaPvou AVprhiou

5 Mayav-ros 6iS, ToO TpcoiAou Boup3ovEos yEyov6- TOS &aPXipOAaKoS, E'O?EV T- KOlVf TOO AUKiCOV

'~0vouS px{1E}(<ai>)pEctaKl KKArliacx -rEi M pKOS vacat.

A0p•AtoS OocavTctav6S vi6S A'0phiou 8ocavT-r avo0 8is MaEAEypou KoTropoS BaAcpoupEiS Kai

10 'ATTaAEoS, avrip Ev'YEVis Kai K6CTrPQOS KCxl lOEl KaCi Tp6TrCO [6]pa'TOS iSta-rpi-Tcovv v Tf 1TrraPXEia, yEVOVS OaVKATjTlKOtJ Kcxi

0KraTQKOK KciK AuKLapXi-

[K]OO KCal la[p]@QuAiapXcT'v Kal TrpEl1poTrACapi- COV KCli iTr1TKC)OV, ETITrTrmTrrou K&0"TOpos jTno(1pu- 15 Aacxavros AUKiCOV, nTporrT-rr-rrou MEAEaypou VTrOpUA&dXaVTOS Kact &Xt1pu7aKTjCaCVTOS A[u]- KiCOV K i TElpT0IEVTOS E•-ri T'r &pXPXpuAaKia, Tr- -rTrou oavTtavo0 jTroquAaVaVTOS KaCi al- To0 AUKiCov, rracTp S

EoavTtavou iEpacraavou 20 AUKifcOV OEc(S PCpPlS Kci TEippjlEVTOs, iEp"rXTEV-

oEV KCXi aTbOg TOO KOIVOO AUKiCOV EGeVOuS TiPE-

piou Kaioapos E 0caEpc'S KOi plAOTipCoS, TaVTa- Xo '

Tl) aUToU TrpoOupiaV Kai Yyvcyp'rlv ETrT5E[i]-

KVUTCOI EV TOTS apiCTTOls, Oci I,6VOV

EIS T6 0v[IOS] 25 ilpcv &AAax Kai iv TIrf ETEpa-a-rpi8bi1 0-ro0


T-rl aIJTrpOTTl 'ATTaA-r-rcov TroFAE, Cj S PIE- pcapT-rvproaca aJ"T cA) KCai rrO6 TOJ

KpaTCioTOU -

TrTlKo'0 MpKou O0A-riou TEp-rvAAitvo0 'AKi- Aa

Ao)yi-rTEo"•aVTaoS Kai TCv)V 'ATTraA-rh A -

30 q'(als iE`ETE~AEOEV Kai TapCTP TOS 'ATTCaAE0-

UIV pIAOTEi.COS

KOi EUO"EP6)5j 6pXCaitS" b TC(I-

TO-r E866XOa AUKiCOv TCA KO1VCAW TETElPI10T- ac(t T6v oav-ravOTt ElKOVI

XaAK•1 KaC( EiK'-

vt ypaTrTrq, EiTrypaycfvalt SE TCO avSpidav- 35 Ti Kli TT) EiK6VI Tas T• P poyEypa[WPVCas TElIaS

vac. KOai papTupias. vacat.

Translation. "At the proposal of Marcus Aurelius Troilos, son of Magas, son of Troilos, citizen of Boubon and Kadyanda, besides possessing civic rights in all the cities throughout Lycia, on the question of Aurelius Magas, son of Magas, son of Troilos, citizen of Boubon, sometime archiphylax, it was decreed by the common Electoral Assembly of the Lycian League: WHEREAS Marcus Aurelius Thoan- tianos, son of Aurelius Thoantianos, son of Thoantianos, son of Meleager, son of Castor, citizen of Balboura and Attaleia, a man well-born and decorous, of the best manners and character, outstanding in the province, of a family which is senatorial, consular and Lyciarchic, of Pamphyliarchs, primipilares, and equestrians, whose great-great-grandfather, Castor, was hypophylax of the Lycian League, whose great-grandfather, Meleager, was hypophylax and archiphylax of the League and honoured for his archiphylakia, whose grandfather, Thoantianos, was hypophylax, he too, of the League, whose father, Thoantianos, was Priest of the goddess Roma for the League and honoured (for it); (whereas) he too has been Priest for the Lycian League of Tiberius Caesar piously and munificently, (and) everywhere shows his zeal and soundness amongst the aristocracy, not only to our League, but also in his other home, the illustrious city of Attaleia, so that he was given testimonials both by the most excellent consular Marcus Ulpius Tertullianus Aquila, logistes, and by the Attaleians, for the magistracies which he exercised also among the Attaleians munificently and piously: THEREFORE it has been decreed by the Lycian League that Thoantianos should be honoured with a bronze statue and a painted portrait, and that the statue and portrait should be inscribed with the aforesaid honours and testimonials."

It is likely that the occasion for the honour of a statue and a portrait painted, often, on a gilded shield, was the expiry of M. Aur. Thoantianos' priesthood of Tiberius Caesar, although the commendation of the v.c. Aquila and of the city of Attaleia will have been an added inducement. Since Thoantianos held citizenship of Attaleia, in Pamphylia, and numbers Pamphyliarchs among his connexions, there may be a marriage tie between himself or a male forebear and an elite Pamphylian family. The proposer, Troilos, and president,134a Magas, are brothers from an elite family of Boubon,'35 a city which is the neighbour of Balboura and Oinoanda; Magas had already been archiphylax, while Troilos went on to become Lyciarch, as well as agonothete at Boubon. This, coupled with the description of Magas's grandson (who had been hypophylax and archiphylax by the time of his premature death at 18) as

o•uyyEvis cOUyKArlTIKCOV Kai OTOrTaIK-wV, &-rr6yovov rrdcVTCOV

134aThe limited evidence suggests that chairmen were not office holders at the same time (J. A. O. Larsen, Classical Philology 40 (1945) 82, n. 91).

135IGR III, 461-3.


AUKlaPXC'V,'36 suggests possible links with the family of Thoantianos (which is described in similar terms), and with the Licinnii of Oinoanda (who were connected with the senatorial Claudii Agrippini of Patara).'37 The first senator of this family, Claudius Agrippinus, probably adlected to the senate by Hadrian, became consul after A.D. 151, for he is still OUVYKAT)TIK6S then.138 His father, Claudius Dryantianos of Patara, Lyciarch, is described as TraTilp TraT-rIKOV Kai TrEv0Epob Kai T-rTrTrOS

OUryKA•TT1KC0V KaOI TrOTIKCOV

yEVEaS.139 Several Licinnii were Lyciarchs; less influential families manage only the

archiereia, e.g. the Julii of Lydae.140 The family of Meleager and Thoantianos represents a lower degree of cachet, having stopped at the lesser priesthoods and archiphylakia in the League. Thoantianos is keen to assert that he is an &pla-ros, moving amongst apto-rol, no doubt, and the drafters of the League decree, his friends and/or kinsmen, are happy to oblige (lines 11 and 24). In fact the connexions of the Licinnii can supply all the senators, consuls, Lyciarchs, primipilaresl40a and equestrians with whom he claims kinship, but the Pamphylian relations must have provided the Pamphyliarchs, and perhaps some of the other notables as well. Other senatorial connexions are also possible.

The consular M. Ulpius Tertullianus Aquila,141 who is named as logistes or curator civitatis of Attaleia, and who joined Attaleia in giving Thoantianos testimonials, reflects in his action the entirely independent supervisory role which curatores exercised over city finances on behalf of the Imperial government. He is nonetheless a local man, being a native of Kremna,142 a Roman colony in Pisidia, some 65 km. up-country from Attaleia. As such he is quite likely to be Attaleia's choice and a citizen there, his appointment merely being ratified by the Emperor in Rome, as was normal by the mid-third century. If he is to be identified with Tertullianus Aquila, the proconsul of Macedonia in A.D. 212,143 as seems natural, then since the date of this decree is later then the Constitutio Antoniniana,144 it is reasonable to conclude that his curatorship was a kind of retirement job. The statement in L'Annee Epigraphique (1979) no. 558, repeated by J. and L. Robert, "Bulletin epigraphique", REG 92 (1979) no. 259, that Tertullianus Aquila went on to be proconsul of Asia, appears so far as I can discover, to be totally groundless.

M. Ulpius Tertullianus Aquila may be connected with the Cornuti Tertulli of Perge;145 some Cornuti have the cognomen Aquila.146 The Cornuti Tertulli appear to be of native Italian stock, like some other families in Perge. Tertulli also occur as leading citizens at Sagalassos and Selge,147 to the north and southeast of Kremna.

136IGR III, 463. 137Jameson, op. cit. (n. 107) 219. 138TAM II, 905 = IGR III, 739. c. 63. 1391GR III, 500. II. 66 ff. 140Jameson, op. cit. (n. 107) 230. 140aCf. J. M. Carri6, ZPE 35 (1979) 216. 141G. Barbieri, L'Albo senatorio de Settimio Severo a Carino (1952) I, 319, no. 1768;

A. Degrassi, I Fasti consolari dell'impero romano (1952) 138; PIR V, 572 s.v. 'Vlpius'. 142G. H. R. Horsley, AS XXXVII (1987) no. 12 = G. E. Bean, TAD XIX (1970) no. 10. 143Th. Ch. Sarikakis, Romaioi archontes tes eparchias Makedonias II (Thessalonike,

1977) 103 if; A. Aichinger, Die Reichsbeamten der r6mischen Provinz Macedonia der Prinzipatsepoche (Arheoloski Vestnik XXX, 1979) 642, no. 39.

'"See below, p. 60. 145S. Jameson, JRS LV (1965) 54 if; S. Mitchell, JRS LXIV (1974) 27 ff. 146Cornutus Aquila, governor of Galatia, 6 B.C.; CIL III, 6974; Cornutus(?) Arruntius

Aquila: W. M. Ramsay, JRS VI (1916) 98. 1471IGR III, 362 (undated). An unpublished inscription shows Tiberius Claudius

Vibianus Tertullus (PIR2, C1049) to have been a citizen of Selge.


S. Mitchelll48 has illuminated the complex patterns of intermarriage between the Plancii and their connexions the Tertulli, and the native aristocracies of central Anatolia.

To judge from the magistracies held by Thoantianos in that city, Attaleia appears to have been his main place of abode. Given the scant amenities and slim social importance of the place, it seems unlikely that his descendants lived much at Balboura, although they may well have kept land there, and used it as a yayla, for Balboura is 50 miles up-country from Attaleia and 1500 m. higher. On a much loftier social plane, Tertullianus Aquila will have retained estates in the territory of Kremna, his patria, while living perhaps for most of the year in comfort on the coast.

Names: Both the proposer and president, Troilos and Magas, and the honorand and his father, both Thoantianos, received Roman citizenship by the Constitutio Antoniniana of A.D. 212. Troilos' and Magas' father was already dead by A.D. 212, but they may well be of the same generation as the honorand, since his father was agonothete for at least 60 years (see above p.56), and so very long-lived. It is interesting to note the carelessness with which the praenomen, Marcus, is added or omitted. At Balboura the full form of Aurelius marks only the early years of the new citizenship.148a Troilos is a typical herophoric name, very common in the Kabalis (9 other examples from Balboura), after the son of Priam murdered by Achilles.149 Thoantianos is a derivative of Thoas;'S0 there are seven examples of the simpler name from Balboura, and it also occurs in the earlier generations of the Licinnii of Oinoanda,15' whereas the middle generations use Thoantianos, perhaps signifiying the adoption of a Thoas in imitation of Latin nomenclature. Of several mythological heroes named Thoas, it would be neat to select the nephew of Meleager,'52 slayer of the Calydonian boar. But, like the myth of Meleager, the name is independently linked to the cult of Artemis, to which deity Thoas, king of the Tauric Chersonese, tried to sacrifice Orestes and Pylades.153 Magas, by contrast, is a Macedonian name,154 found in the Kibyratis,'55 at Oinoanda,'56 Balboura (unpublished), and in Pisidia,157 and was perhaps, like Meleager, adopted under the Ptolemaic or Seleucid dominations.

Although base G has been re-used (see above p. 57), it is reasonable to suppose that it was originally set up on the rear wall of the exedra of Meleager, both because it relates to his family, and because it lies in rubble partly from the exedra, closer to it than a base H, whose design is closely similar to base C.

Inscription 6 = inv. no. 27, Pl. IX (b), X (c). The text is on base H, a block of local limestone, with a recessed front panel and

148S. Mitchell, op. cit. (n. 145). 148aCf. Petersen-von Luschan, no. 239, which can now be shown to date soon after

A.D. 212. 149A common motif of Greek art; see K. Schefold, Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art

(1966) 44, 61, 87. '50Schindler, 47; J. and L. Robert note that the name also occurs in Pisidia (loc. cit.

(n. 97) 461). "51S. Jameson, AS XVI (1966), stemma facing p. 137. 152Cf. Homer, Iliad 2. 641. '53Cf. Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris. '54Th. Pizakes, G. Touratsoglou, Epigraphes ano Makedonias I (1985) 175-6; cf. L.

Zgusta, Kleinasiatische Personennamen (1964) 840-3, who hesitates to accept E. Kalinka's identification of it with the Lycian "Maka" (TAM I, 78).

155TAM II. i, 171, 212?. '56Heberdey-Kalinka, 72; Petersen-von Luschan, 260. 157SEG VI, 405.


circular top like base C (see p. 48 above and Fig. 10, C). It lies on its right side, pointing south and facing east, at the northern limit of rubble behind the exedra, and about 10 m. east of base G (Inscr. 5). Height 1-40 m., width 0-70 m., depth 0-77 m., recessed panel 0-60 x 0-50 m. A large statue base lies immediately in front of it, covering all but the last three lines of the text. This appears to be of about 24 lines, with the first two and last two lines on the mouldings at top and bottom. The left side of the panel appears very weathered; its face is deeply cracked in the lower part. Letter height c. 2-0 cm., interlinear space c. 0-5 cm. Lettering plain, neat and squared. Characteristic letters: C "AM . Date: late 2nd/early 3rd century A.D.

Text.

(about 19 lines precede)

AEQ•KA1bO---EHIEEN----- EANTAAAAKMlIAAONIONQ2EAP TrK(v) cI-rJE[v]ov 681 rravT' o 1TlUT&.)S KQi ETrL[LEAC)S []cWv 5r OoiCo[v]

vac. XpEiCov. vacat.

Translation. "... having throughout a faithful and concerned attitude to the public wants."

One might conjecture that the base carries honours of the city of Balboura for a magistrate belonging to the family of Meleager. But the block in front of it needs to be removed, if the inscription is to be properly read.

E. CHRONOLOGY, STYLE, AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS (J. J. Coulton, N. P. Milner, A. T. Reyes)

All three buildings are simple in character and their style adds nothing significant to the evidence provided by the inscriptions. As we have seen, the exedra of Meleager is firmly dated to A.D. 158-161, and the lettering and content of the inscription on Onesimos' statue base suggest that it too belongs to the reign of Antoninus Pius. Both exedras were built to fit against the temple of Nemesis, which must therefore have been built by A.D. 161; it too probably belongs to the reign of Antoninus. It is worth noting that the rear wall of the exedra of Meleager, although oblique to the faqade, is not parallel or perpendicular to the sides of the agora court as they existed in the Severan period.

The style of the buildings is more interesting as an expression of the early Antonine culture of Balboura, which does not fully display the norms of Greco- Roman architecture. Thus, in both the temple of Nemesis and the exedra of Meleager, we find column shafts with flutes of Doric type used in an Ionic/ Corinthian context, and their number is not the conventional 20 but 16, which is more easily set out. Furthermore, although the use of a Doric frieze above an Ionic architrave, can be paralleled from the Hellenistic period onwards,158 a Doric architrave and frieze, acting together as the frieze above an Ionic architrave, as in

'58Above Ionic columns: Pergamon, porticoes of the Athena sanctuary (H. Berve, G. Gruben, M. Hirmer, Greek Temples, Theatres and Shrines (1963) fig. 148); above Corinthian columns: Petra, ed-Deir (A. Boethius, J. B. Ward-Perkins, Etruscan and Roman Architecture (1970) pl. 221; above an archway (and geographically much closer): the east entrance into the theatre at the Letoon near Xanthos (0. Benndorf, G. Niemann, Reisen in Lykien und Karien (1884) pl. 29).


the exedra of Meleager, is highly unusual. Also unusual is the very shallow relief of the decorative carving of the pillars and architrave crown of the exedra. This unconventional handling of architectural forms contrasts markedly with two of the neighbouring buildings. The Doric Fagade, which must have stood not far behind the temple of Nemesis, and was probably built in the later first century A.D., displays a thoroughly normal order, and across the street to the west of the exedra of Onesimos is an elaborately carved entablature of characteristically Late- Antonine-Severan style.'59

Although nothing survives of the sculpture, it is noteworthy that all the statues in the exedra of Meleager were bronze, but not marble, and so too was that of Onesimos at the front of his exedra. Indeed all the statue bases at Balboura whose tops are visible carried bronze statues, and of course the statues from the Sebasteion at nearby Boubon were also all of bronze.160

Thus the surviving remains and inscriptions allow us to reconstruct about 20 m. of High Imperial street architecture at the centre of Balboura, together with (in outline) the accompanying display of honorific sculpture. But in addition to its physical appearance, we can also see something of the rich social and political, religious and festive life in a small second-century Anatolian city, with its outside connections ranging from the Lycian League and Attaleia to the Emperor in Rome. It is extraordinarily hard to separate the various aspects, because they belong to a tightly interconnected, organic whole; the cult of the emperors is celebrated in the games provided by Meleager, and the spirit of the Council and People is extolled through the munificence of Onesimos. The social range runs from magnates like Meleager to the city's slave official, and the stark juxtaposition of these two, and their comparable behaviour in spite of differences in rank constitute a noteworthy feature of this complex. Some hint of problems appears in the reference to a sitometrion, and the buildings are modest; but in its small way the city seems to be thriving, and Meleager's festival was still being celebrated more than sixty years later.

'59It is not clear to what building this entablature belongs. It was apparently entered by a monumental doorway from the street to the south, and included a partially colonnaded court, for the entablature (spans 2-00 to 2-30 m.) turned at least one re-entrant angle. This and the closeness of the bath building to the west suggest a small palaestra. At Oinoanda, bath Mkl was given a new palaestra in the Severan period (R. J. Ling, AS XXXI (1981) 33-53), and so too, perhaps, was Bath M1l there.

160J. Inan, IstMitt XXVII/XXVIII (1977/78) 267 if; J. Inan, E. Alfoldi-Rosenbaum, R6mische und friihbyzantinische Portrdtplastik aus der Tiirkei: neue Funde (1979) 47-9, nos. 57-8, 63, 68, 70.

CORRIGENDUM In AS XXXVIII (1988) 130 the characteristic letters for Inscription 7 are wrongly given. They should be: M E Y I'O-I Z A 0

PLATE V

•"v

r A A

T.

44'.

,•.. ., .- .•?rr~

'" g6 x

,.• -b V

. .....

......

(I))

Exedra of Meleager, (a) from the northeast, (b) from the south.

PLATE VI

?.L. .:CL•,•R

...... .

?; 4

% ?i ??:; o..ii,

?ii~ii

4

~~•,• '..•l

*F;

(D ) (•:')

(a), (b) Exedra of Meleager, (a) Doric architrave-frieze, (b) pillar block, (c) pillar block southwest of Upper Theatre.

PLA TE VII

? . :

..

iv

.

F

'

*??)c

,, ," -. "... •.% " ::.: '" :: h r,.:,, , ? " •

.

lt *-. :, *

. ..

" ~ ~ r

, :i:': "

,

.. ,•_

I

. .. .

.

.u ? . .

: . .

•. ' ",, .. . .,

? .." , ,.- .

.^ .

1. , ,•

? ?

~i .? :~~~r. ~?. . .

.,g i

Exedra of Meleager, inscribed architrave blocks, (a) 1B1, (b) 1B2, (c) IC (Inscr. 1).

PLATE VIII

?,,.

%+*i ..h *.

4f

1 ,

Per.~

04r

3 ., ,-

+++ i

" .•

" " ++' "+

? " " +,.r

• =• •

::T: "+! :

r .. • :..•..• .++•+. .,

., .... ,E~

•.,, ,..

"

,.

-.~:s?- .-F

?. .

? r . 5 •.. .. ~ ~ ?_?

,. , . ..

..

t~ . - + -~-

• .... -., .+,S ....: , . ,.

',

..

Q

,4 ... . . .

J

;I(t•)

Exedra of Meleager, (a) base A (Inscr. 2), (b) base B (Inscr. 3, 4).

PLA TE IX

;10

44% 1

I

? oor

, ,?

i"

(a)

(h) K ik

. . .. .? .,.•• . .•

•? .

(hI)

Exedra of Meleager, (a) detail of Inscr. 2, (b) base H (Inscr. 6).

PLATE X

i

..... ..V

iwit

;rW I

hir

(C)

? T:•;• :::, 'rt.., ii

, .

A..

(ep

'lit

Exedra of Meleager, (a), (b) base G (Inscr. 5), (c) detail of Inscr. 6.

Documents

Balboura Survey Onesimos and Meleager Part II