Gephyra (May 2023)
New Honorary Inscriptions from Aizanoi
Abstract
In this paper, four new honorific inscriptions from Aizanoi are presented. All of the inscriptions have been found in Çavdarhisar during the excavation seasons of 2021 and 2022 and excluding n. 2, the stones are rectangular bomos-type statue bases. Inscriptions are dated to the Roman Imperial Period. N.1 is the honorary inscription of Lucius Claudius Lepidus who was the life-long high priest of the emperor in the reign of Commodus. He was the chief priest of Asia and the neokoros of the temples in Smyrna. The inscription was erected by the phyle Asklepias, the name of which first came into light due to the excavations in the theater in 2020. N. 2 is a honorific inscription of a chreophylakes whose name is unfortunately missing. Chreophylakia was a prominent public office in Aizanoi, as seen in the honorific inscriptions of the city’s elite citizens. N. 3 and n. 4 are rectangular bomos-type statue bases. Both of them are honours of the “πατρίς”. Although ἡ πατρὶς occurs frequently in the inscriptions of Aizanoi, it was in the nominative case in only two published examples. N. 3 belongs to Philiskos, son of Philiskos, the ephebos. Finally, n. 4 is the statue base of Neikostratos, son of Dionysios, the stephanephoros, honoured by his fatherland.
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