Gephyra (Nov 2021)
New Inscriptions from Smyrna
Abstract
The latest corpus of the inscriptions from Smyrna was published by Georg Petzl in Die Inschriften von Smyrna, Teil II,2: Addenda, Corrigenda und Indices, in series of Inschriften griechische Städte aus Kleinasien, volume 24,2, Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt, in 1990. New inscriptions from Smyrna after Petzl’s corpus have not been collected as addenda. In the present article it is aimed to make an addition to the corpus with the presentation of 14 inscriptions and fragments newly found during the excavations of the agora and theatre of Smyrna conducted by associate professor Akın Ersoy from İzmir Katip Çelebi University since 2007. Some inscriptions discovered around the agora and theatre, mainly at Kadifekale, but not belonging to the excavation area were also included to the study as an epigraphic material of ancient Smyrna. The inscriptions unearthed in the agora of Smyrna are mostly spolia used in the construction of different buildings over two millennia as it was occupied till to modern years. There are only three complete inscriptions and they are funeral. The rest of the inscriptions are very fragmentary. The group of the inscriptions found in the excavation of the theatre of Smyrna are subject of interest for the use and construction phases of the theatre. On a cornice piece composed of two lines the names of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla as Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius were identified. Two inscriptions found on the blocks of room walls in the 1st floor of the stage building are recorded to show places of actors. One of them records instruments of Bassus and children of Thessaloniki. The other belongs to a mimologus with the name of Iulius who is attested as mimologus Iulius in a funerary inscription from Smyrna. On two blocks found above the proskenion a certain Eustochius is defined as magnificentissimus, illustris and father possibly for the father of the city.
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