Muğla Müzesi’nden Yeni Bir Onurlandırma Yazıtı / A New Honorary Inscription from Muğla Museum

Abstract

This paper presents a statue base with an inscription, which was found in 2019 abandoned in a park in the Muslihittin neighbourhood of Menteşe in Muğla province and it was moved to the Muğla Museum. Although the original location of the base is unknown, it is extremely likely that it belongs to the region that includes Mobolla and Pisye. The bottom edges of the round base are profiled with torus and kyma recta and the top edges are profiled with ovolo and a listel. No trace of a statue on the top plane of the base can be detected. There is a circular dowel hole in the center of the bottom of the base. On the round base which reflects a Rhodian influence in light of its stylistic features and similar examples, an eight-line Greek honorary inscription is carved. According to the inscription dated to the mid or the 1st half of the 2nd century BC (after 188 BC) due to lettering and its content, Iason of Rhodos, son of Euandros, possibly a leading member of the association, was honoured and crowned with a golden crown by the association of eranistai because of his virtue and benefaction towards them. The dedication of base to Zeus by the association of eranistai indicates the possible connection between the association at Mobolla-Pisye and the religion of Zeus. The associations of eranistai were attested at Athens and Rhodos, also at the Karian settlements Thyssanous, Loryma and Hyllarima The attestation of the association of eranistai at the region of Mobolla–Pisye should be considered as a result of the Rhodian influence at Karian inlands after 188 BC.

Keywords

• eranistai
• associations
• pisye
• mobolla
• rhodos
• round base
• honorary inscription