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E00740: Greek inscription commemorating the paving of a street next to an oratory of *Gabriel (the Archangel, S00192) in Ephesos (western Asia Minor) commissioned by two municipal officials. Probably 5th/6th c.

online resource

posted on 2015-09-24, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[ἐγέ]νετο ἡ στρῶσ[ις]
[τῆς] πλατείας ταύτης
[ἀ]πὸ ἔνθεν ἕως τοῦ εὐ-
κτηρίου οἴκου τοῦ ἀρ-
χαγγέλου Γαβρι-
ὴλ ἐπὶ Ἰωάννου
καὶ Λεοντίου τῶν
λογιωτάτων
σχολαστικῶν
καὶ πατέρων
+

'This street was paved from here to the oratory of Gabriel the Archangel, under Ioannes and Leontios, the most eloquent scholastici and fathers (of the city).'

Text: Knibbe & Iplikçioğlu 1981-1982, no. 124. Translation: P. Nowakowski.

History

Evidence ID

E00740

Saint Name

Gabriel, the Archangel : S00192

Saint Name in Source

Γαβριήλ

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Gabriel_the_Archangel/13729645

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

450

Evidence not after

650

Activity not before

450

Activity not after

650

Place of Evidence - Region

Asia Minor

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Ephesus

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Ephesus Nicomedia Νικομήδεια Nikomēdeia Izmit Πραίνετος Prainetos Nicomedia

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Officials

Source

On a white marble base. H. 1 m; W. 0.55 m; Th. 0.525 m. Reused in a wall in the street leading to the stadium, to the north of the great theatre.

Discussion

The inscription commemorates the paving of a street which was commissioned (and probably funded) by two municipal officials: Ioannes and Leontios, scholastici and patres civitatis. For these functions see e.g. Feissel 2017; Jones 1964, pp. 758-759; Ganghoffer 1963, pp. 170-172; Roueché, Ch., ala2004 IV.22-23. The post of pater civitatis and the title the most eloquent scholasticus are unlikely to occur before the mid-fifth century. Pater civitatis was a municipal office held by the members of the local elite. These officials usually supervised the municipal budget and commissioned public construction works. Scholasticus was a title bestowed upon people who completed studies in law. The inscription is unlikely to be later than the early seventh century, when the city of Ephesos experienced a considerable crisis. The mentioned street ran near an oratory (ὁ εὐκτήριος οἶκος) of Gabriel the Archangel.

Bibliography

Edition: Knibbe, D., Iplikçioğlu, B., "Neue Inschriften aus Ephesos, VIII", Jahreshefte des österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes 53 (1981-1982) Hauptblatt, no. 124 Further Reading: Feissel, D., "Trois fonctions municipales dans l'épigraphie protobyzantine (curator, defensor, pater civitatis)", in: K. Bolle, C. Machado & C. Witschel (eds.), The Epigraphic Cultures of Late Antiquity, Stuttgart 2017, 473-501. Ganghoffer, R., L'Évolution des institutions municipales en Occident et en Orient au Bas-Empire (Bibliothèque d'histoire du droit et droit romain 9, Paris: R. Pichon et R. Durand- Auzias, 1963), 170-172. Jones, A.H.M., The Later Roman Empire 284-602: A Social Economic and Administrative Survey (Oxford: Blackwell, 1964), vol. 2, 758-759. Roueché, Ch., ala2004 IV.22-23 (http://insaph.kcl.ac.uk/ala2004/narrative/sec-IV.html). Reference works: Bulletin épigraphique (1983), 335. Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 33, 961.