Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley:
An Inscriptional, Archaeological, Numismatic, and Iconographic Approach Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison
This chapter discusses the archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics, and iconography of the Lycus Valley and its famous three New Testament cities
(Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis). Part 1 of the chapter, written by Alan H.
Cadwallader, is an epigraphic portrait of Colossae. Crucially, among other important contributions, Cadwallader provides an up-to-date list of the thirty-one Colossian inscriptions available for New Testament researchers on ancient Colossae. What is known archaeologically about the (as yet) unexcavated city may be found in his book on the few archaeological fragments that we do have, as well as the collection of essays on the city, edited with Michael Trainor.1
Parts 2 and 3 have been written by James R. Harrison. Part 2 explores the history of Laodicea and its archaeological excavation, proceeding then to an archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, and iconographic investigation of the site. The reason for such a comprehensive approach is that the publications on the archaeological excavation of the city are either in French, Italian, or Turkish. Gratifyingly a small but helpful collection of English essays on Laodicea and Hierapolis has recently appeared.2 In 1. Alan H. Cadwallader, Fragments of Colossae: Sifting through the Traces (Hindmarsh: ATF Press, 2015); Cadwallader and Michael Trainor, eds., Colossae in Space and Time: Linking to an Ancient City (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011).
Note most recently his authoritative essay: Alan H. Cadwallader, "The Historical
Sweep of the Life of Kolossai," in Epigraphical Evidence Illustrating Paul's Letter to the Colossians, ed. Joseph Verheyden, Marcus Öhler, and Thomas Corsten, WUNT 411
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), 25–67.
2. Celal Şimşek and Francesco D'Andria, eds., Landscape and History in the Lykos
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison Harrison's treatment, he draws attention to the intersection of the material evidence of Laodicea and Hierapolis with the New Testament at various places.
Part 3 adopts a more constricted approach to the evidence of Hierapolis, examining the Severan theater reliefs at Hierapolis and their significance for the city's identity in the Second Sophistic period, as well as several epigraphic vignettes of its urban life. Although the results of the archaeological and epigraphic investigation of Hierapolis continue to be published in the ever-expanding Italian series Hierapolis Di Frigia, eleven volumes having appeared so far, there are for the English reader two invaluable publications on the archaeology of Hierapolis and its epigraphy.3 The history of the city and of the archaeological teams who unearthed its remains can also be consulted there.4 The coinage of the city has also received detailed attention in English scholarship over the years.5
This allows us to pursue the more focused approach adopted in this section. However, for specialists, the technical study of the city's epigraphy is exceptionally well served by several publications of the highest quality.6
In 2013 the pioneering publication of Ulrich Huttner on the history of early Christianity in the Lycus Valley appeared to subsequent critical acclaim. The current volume pays homage to his scholarly contribution
Valley: Laodikeia and Hierapolis in Phrygia (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2017). Additionally, Francesco D'Andria, "Hierapolis of Phrygia: Its Evolution in Hellenistic and Roman Times," in Urbanism in Western Asia Minor: New Studies on Aphrodisias, Ephesos, Hierapolis, Pergamon, Perge and Xanthos, ed. David Parrish,
JRASup 45 (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2001), 96–115.
3. Tullia Ritti, An Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis (Pamukkale) (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2006); Francesco D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale): An Archaeological Guide, trans. P. Arthur (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2010). Additionally, D'Andria,
"Hierapolis of Phrygia," 96–115.
4. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 9–13, 17–19.
5. See Leo Weber, "The Coins of Hierapolis in Phrygia," NumC 13 (1913): 1–30, 161; Weber, "The Coins of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Continued)," NumC 13 (1913): 133–
61; Ann Johnston, "Hierapolis Revisited," NumC 144 (1984): 52–80.
6. Carl Humann, et al., ed. Altertümer von Hierapolis (Berlin: Reimer, 1898); Tullia Ritti, Hierapolis I: Fonti Letterarie ed Epigrafiche, Archeologica 30 (Rome:
Giorgio Bretschneider, 1985); Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis; Ritti et al., Museo
Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis: Catalogo delle iscrizioni greche e latine (Naples:
Liguori, 2008); Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX: Storia e istituzioni di Hierapolis (Istanbul:
Ege YayinLari, 2017). For the documentary evidence regarding Asian Jews, including those at Laodicea and Hierapolis, see IJO 2.
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with three incisive responses to his work from seasoned Lycus Valley scholars.7 As a further contribution in this volume, Huttner brings the coins of Hierapolis into dialogue with the Epistle to the Colossians. Rosemary
Canavan, Alan H. Cadwallader, and Harry O. Maier respond to Huttner's magnum opus from various viewpoints and methodologies, appreciatively highlighting his enormous contribution to the discipline, while posing new questions about his arguments, use of evidence, and conclusions. The remaining essays in the volume—authored by Clinton E. Arnold, Peter
Arzt-Grabner, Angela Standhartinger, Michael P. Theophilos, Michael Trainor, Allen Brent, and James R. Harrison—present thematic and exegetical essays on aspects of the historical, social, and religious life in the Lycus Valley from a variety of methodological viewpoints involving the material and documentary evidence.
Part 1. An Epigraphic Portrait of Colossae Colossae is frequently represented as the poor relative of the major triad of cities in the Lycus Valley: that is, of Hierapolis, Laodikeia, and Colossae.
Hierapolis and Laodikeia have received extensive excavations and analysis (see above). Their inventories of inscriptions are significant and expanding
(see above), but, perhaps significantly, have yet to reveal any epigraphical mention of their neighbor to the east, at the entrance to the valley. Rather, they carry mutual references (both affirming and contesting),8 in addition to their many connections with other cities, villages, and sanctuaries in ever-widening circles across Asia Minor (and occasionally beyond).
This mutuality of notice seems to be mirrored in the Roman institutional perspective that at times grouped Laodikeia and Hierapolis as a pair9 but neglected any grouping of these cities with Colossae. No Colossian-minted bronzes have been found thus far in the coins discovered in finds from 7. Ulrich Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, trans. David Green, AJEC
85; Early Christianity in Asia Minor 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
8. For conflict (over fishing taxes/rights) between the two cities (with Tripolis joining Hierapolis in the dispute), see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX, 388–95; for (a form of) cooperation, see the Laodikeian northern theater seat-allocation to the famed association of purple-dyers: Celal Şimşek and M. A. Sezgin, "Laodikeia Kuzey
Tiyatrosu (The North Theatre at Laodikeia)," Olba 19 (2011): 186.
9. See Michel Christol and Thomas Drew-Bear, "Un sénateur de Xanthos," Journal des Savants 3 (1991): 195–226, especially at 213; see also TAM 2:194.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison Laodikeia or Hierapolis, even though the latter boasts at least twenty-eight other cities among those civic coins found in excavations at the ancient site.10 References to either city in a Colossian connection must await a fourth century date.11 This is not to suggest that Colossae was either isolationist or reduced to the decaying rump that earlier scholarship predicated of the city.12 Even with the minimal amount of evidence that we possess,
Colossae can be demonstrated to have enjoyed contact with other cities such as Apameia, Aphrodisias, Attouda, Boubon, Ephesus, Eumeneia,
Keretapa, Sardis, Smyrna, and Tripolis. Other cities might reasonably be affirmed to be connected with Colossae by reason of road networks. Certainly, the Roman army, when passing the city, seems to have relied on supplies from her civic warehouses (IGRR 4.870.9).
Colossae's list of inscriptions has witnessed only small increments since the initial discoveries of Francis Arundell in 1826, and the fixing of the site itself by William Hamilton in 1836.13 It is clear that earlier epigraphic evidence was seen,14 but transcriptions were not executed. To 10. A. Travaglini and V. G. Camilleri, Hierapolis di Frigia, Le Monete: Campagne di Scavo 1957–2004 (Istanbul: Ege, 2010), 9–12, 23.
11. A positive reference to Hierapolis occurs in the early Byzantine story, The Miracle of St Michael of Chonai, which probably originates in the late fourth century as a popular reaction to the implicit Laodikeian impugning of Colossian religious practices in the Synod of Laodikeia canon 35; see Alan H. Cadwallader, "Inter-City
Conflict in the Story of St Michael of Chonai," in Religious Conflict from Early Christianity to the Rise of Islam, ed. Wendy Mayer and Bronwyn Neil (Tübingen: de Gruyter,
2013), 109–28.
12. See Cadwallader, Fragments of Colossae, 5–24.
13. Published in F. V. J. Arundell, A Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor with an Excursion into Pisidia (London: John Rodwell, 1828), 98, 156; Arundell, Discoveries in Asia Minor, 2 vols. (London: R. Bentley, 1834), 170; W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia, 2 vols. (London: J. Murray, 1842).
14. In 1750, Robert Wood mentions an inscription when he was journeying from Laodikeia that caused him to surmise that Colossae was nearby; this suggests a milestone: journal 6, fol.67 (Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies, University of London). The Italian explorer, Antonino Picenini, in 1705, commented on many columns, inscriptions, and other remains strewn along the space of a mile, but he provided no more than this general observation: travel diary, Asia Minor, fols. 68–69 (BL
Add MS 6269). In 1828, Francis Arundell relayed a report from a Greek correspondent that an inscription was to be seen high on a cliff face above two artificial caves that were probably used by religious ascetics overlooking the Saint Michael shrine at what is now the Göz picnic ground between Honaz and Emirazizli. Investigations by
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date, thirty-one inscriptions are known if two inscriptions from elsewhere (Smyrna, Boubon) that mention Colossae are added.15 Also included in this number is an inscription on a recently rediscovered double-sided intaglio gem held in a swivel ring—"Tyche Protogeneia of the Colossians."
The extensively carved cornelian was first published in 1780 but was thought to be lost.16 Some efforts to expand the list have been encouraged by the misleading descriptions in the collection of epitaphs published by Ernst Pfuhl and Hans Möbius, who referred to a number of discoveries as somehow related to Colossae.17 The stylistic similarities in funerary stelae from Colossae and Attouda are manifest, but stylistic similarities can also be found in the funerary bomoi (altar-like tombstones) from Colossae and Eumeneia without suggesting that the Eumeneian bomoi should be included as those of Colossae. When the original publications of the stelae and their inscriptions are traced, it is clear that they are to be assigned to Attouda and its surrounding region, not to Colossae.18
This small (but for that reason treasured) aggregate provides scholarly analysis of Colossae with an even more penurious supply than that the author of this section revealed the carved cavities but no inscription. It may well have been painted. See Arundell, Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, 318–20.
15. IK 23.440 (Smyrna); Milner, Epigraphical Survey, 3.4.11 (Balboura). See the list following in the main text.
16. A. Belley, "Observations sur une Cornaline Antique du Cabinet de Mgr le Duc D'Orléans," in Histoire des Ouvrages de l'Academie Royale des Inscriptions et BellesLettres (Paris: Panckoucke, 1780), 17–27; P. G. P. Meyboom, The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 210 n. 37. Cadwallader announced the "rediscovery" at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta in 2016: "A forgotten intaglio gem of Colossae: exploring religious aggregation in a first-century polis of Asia Minor." However, the gem had remained secure at The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg for more than two hundred years. It was included as part of a special exhibition of the Duc d'Orléans collection in 2001 and published in a Russian-French catalogue to the exhibition; see Y. O. Kagan and O. Y. Neverov, Le Destin d'une Collection: 500 pierres gravées du Duc d'Orléans (Saintt Petersburg: Musée de l'Hermitage,
2001), §274/92.
17. So "aus der Gegend von Attouda bis Kolossai"; see Ernst Pfuhl and Hans Möbius, Die Ostgriechischen Grabreliefs, 4 vols (Mainz: von Zabern, 1977–1979), nos.
236, 1607, 1634, 1665b, 1920, 1973, 2005.
18. This requires that one funerary stela for Zeuxis, son of Zeuxis (Pfuhl and Möbius, Die Ostgriechischen Grabreliefs, no. 1920), now found at the Basmahane museum at Izmir and listed there as from Colossae (sometimes so found on the web), should be corrected.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison of Lystra,19 a similarly unexcavated site of particular interest to New Testament commentators. There has been no collation of the discoveries to date. The published transcriptions of Arundell and Edward T. Daniell were incorporated into the early massive compilation, the four-volume Corpus
Inscriptionum Graecarum.20 Subsequently, several more inscriptions were published in various journals.
The largest number of inscriptions was provided by William Buckler and William Calder in 1939, the result of half a day's on-site coverage in 1933, with a handful of further days spent scouring Denizli and Honaz.21
The resultant publication contained twelve new inscriptions (MAMA 6.38–49), along with two broken funerary stones (a stela and a sarcophagus side), both of which could be expected to have contained an inscription on lost fragments of the respective installations (MAMA 6.50, 51). One item found on site was adjudged to be too fragmentary for inclusion.22 Calder and Buckler also provided a list of all inscriptions of Colossae up to the time of their publication, a further eight inscriptions.23 These are indicated by an asterisk in the list below. The inscribed swivel-ring carnelian gem was not included in their list.
Since 1939, a small number of inscriptions have been published and previously published inscriptions have been revised in their readings, translations, and analyses. Noteworthy has been Tullia Ritti's inclusion of a number of inscriptions from Colossae that are now held in the Denizli
Museum at Hierapolis.24 For the sake of providing the most up-to-date (compressed) concordance of inscriptions for ongoing research, the following list has been compiled.25 The abbreviated publication references
19. For the number of inscriptions assigned to Lystra, much depends on the designation of the catchment area. MAMA 8 lists fifty-one inscriptions for Lystra itself, with another forty-seven if the region includes the territory bordered by the Çarşamba
River.
20. CIG 3955, 3956, 4380k3. A selection of Daniell's Inscriptions were also published in T. A. B. Spratt and E. Forbes, Travels in Lycia, Milyas and the Cibyratis in company with the late Rev. E. T. Daniell, 2 vols. (London: John van Hoorst, 1847).
21. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "Revisiting Calder on Colossae," AS 56 (2006):
103–11.
22. Cadwallader, "Revisiting Calder on Colossae," 108.
23. MAMA 6:142.
24. Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, nos. 59, 73, 80 (= MAMA
6.50, anepigraphic), 113.
25. There are possible additions to this list. High up the monolith above the
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may be checked against the list of abbreviations and the bibliography to obtain full details.26
1. Belley, "Observations," 17–27 = Belley 1784, 11–14 = Kagan Neverov, Destin d'une Collection, 274/92. Tyche Protogeneia of the Kolossians (intaglio gem).
2. MAMA 6.45. Epitaph for Trophimos and his wife.
3. MAMA 6.44 = Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 40.112 §2 = SEG 57.1385. Epitaph for Dion the leatherworker.
4. CIG 3956 = Arundell, Discoveries in Asia Minor, 170 = Arundell, Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, 98 = MAMA 6.51 =
Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 40.114 = SEG 57.1383. Tomb of Datys (?) son of Zenon.
5. MAMA 6.46. Epitaph for Damokrates by Testamentary Disposition.
6. MAMA 6.41. Honour for Herakleon.
7. CIG 3955 = Arundell, Visit to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, 156 = MAMA 6.53*. Epitaph (?). spring that was likely the site of the Saint Michael hagiasma, there appears to be the letters T H P carved vertically. Confidence is impossible, but it may suggest ὁ σωτήρ, which would fit with the story of Saint Michael of Chonai and its possible forebears in a Zeus cult. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "'As If in a Vision of the Night…': Authorising the Healing Spring of Chonai," in Dreams, Memory and Imagination in Byzantium, ed.
Bronwyn Neil and Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 265–92. The Ak khan caravanserai outside Denizli (built in 1253–1254) made extensive use of materials quarried from ancient sites. There are reasons to suspect that Colossae rather than
Laodikeia was a preferred source. The wall contains two re-used fragmentary inscriptions. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "One Man, Two Women, One Grave: Complicating
Family Life at Colossae," in Stones, Bones and the Sacred: Essays on Material Culture and Ancient Religion in Honor of Dennis E. Smith, ed. Alan H. Cadwallader (Atlanta:
SBL Press, 2016), 165 n. 36. Two other references to inscriptional evidence have been made, a stone reused in the old Moslem cemetery adjacent to the fortress above the town of Honaz seen by George Lampakis in 1909; the other noted by Harold Mare in 1976. Both inscriptions were said to be too abraded for recording. See G. Lampakis,
Οἱ ἑπτά ἀστέρες τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως [The seven stars of Revelation] (Athens: Tzabella,
1909), 452–54; W. Harold Mare, "Archaeological Prospects at Colossae," NEASB 7 (1976): 39–59. One bomos with relief, situated in a Honaz café, is heavily weathered but could be expected to have contained a funerary inscription when pristine; see
Cadwallader, "One Man, Two Women, One Grave," 167.
26. References to the journals JHS, BE, GRBS, MDAIA, and BCH include only the volume and pages.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison 8. Clerc, "Inscriptions de la vallée du Méandre," 11.353 §11 =
MAMA 6.40 = Magie, Roman Rule, 1523 n. 57. Games honors for Zenon.
9. MAMA 6.48 = PfMb 2.1974 = BE 1979:15 = SEG 29.1391 = Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §73 = Huttner,
Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 31. Epitaph for Tatianos.
10. IGRR 4.869 = JHS 18:90 §25 = MAMA 6.47* = Magie, Roman Rule, 1479 n. 28 = Pflaum, Les Carrières, 1.262 §109. Dedication to the Emperor Hadrian.
11. JHS 18:90 §26 = MAMA 6.50* = Merkelbach and Stauber, Steinepigramme, 1.02.15.01. Kastor the pugilist.
12. MAMA 6.49 = GRBS 48:334. Offering at Saint Theodore's Church (?).
13. MDAIA 16:199 = IGRR 4.871 = MAMA 6.52*. Epitaph of Karpon.
14. MAMA 6.42 = Robert, "Les inscriptions," 328. Epitaph of Aurelios Herakleon.
15. MAMA 6.38 = Foss, History, 2.483. Dedication to Constantius I, Diocletian, and Maximian.
16. LBW 1693b = IGRR 4.870 = Ramsay, Cities and Bishopric, 212 = MAMA 6.48* = Robert, "Les inscriptions," 269 = BE 1970:584 =
Magie, Roman Rule, 986 n. 22. Honor for a Boularch.
17. Cadwallader, "Revisiting Calder," 56.108. A cautionary (funerary) fine to the fiskos.
18. MDAIA 18:206 §3 = Bell, "Archives," F210 = Wilson, Handbooks, 104. Funerary bomos for Dionysios and family.
19. Clerc, "Inscriptions de la vallée du Méandre," 11.354 §12 = IGRR 4.868 = MAMA 6.46* = Robert, "Les inscriptions," 278. Votive
(road marker?) to Trajan.
20. Clerc, "Inscriptions de la vallée du Méandre," 11.353 §10 = MAMA 6.49*. Priest of Dionysos.
21. MDAIA 18:207 §4 = MAMA 6.43 = IK 49.104 = Emrys-Evans, "Notes on the Consonants," 12.162. Epitaph for Markos.
22. Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 40.114 §3 [109 §1] = EBGR 2007:25 = SEG 57.1382. Honor for Markos, chief translator of Colossae.
23. MAMA 6.47 = BE 1939:392 = PfMb 1.594 = Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §113. Epitaph for Glykon.
24. Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 40.109 §1 = SEG 57.1384. Epitaph for Karpos and his family.
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25. MAMA 6.39 = Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §59. Funerary honor for Crispinus.
26. Spratt and Forbes, Travels in Lycia, 2.289 = LBW 1220 = CIG 3.4380k3 = BCH 107:552 n. 9 = Milner, Epigraphical Survey, 3.4.11
= IBoubon 102. Epitaph for (Arphias/Apphias/)Aphias.
27. IK 23.440 = Michon, "Erwerbungen," 1900.156 §24 = Dain Inscr §53 = Robert, Opera Minores, 3.1587 §53. Epitaph for Diodotos the Colossian.
28. Konakçi-Duman Denizli Sempozyumu 1.61 §8 (pl. 12b). A votive altar for Bacchus?
29. Cadwallader, "Honouring the Repairer of the Baths," 2012 = NewDocs 10.17 = AÉ 2011.1347 = BE 2013:407 = SEG 61.1160 = SEG
62.1235 = Reasoner, Roman Imperial Texts, 138–39. Honour for Korymbos for the repair of the baths.
30. Cadwallader, "One Man, Two Women," 168. Epitaph for Epictetus and Ariste.
31. Cadwallader, "One Man, Two Women," 171. Epitaph for Meniandros, Zenonis and Hieikis (?).
The inscriptions span a period from perhaps the first century before the common era (no. 5) to the fifth or early sixth century (no. 12). So the inscriptions, though few, witness to six hundred years of epigraphical activity, even without any archaeological excavations. The majority (eighteen) are epitaphs or funerary memorializations. Only one inscription is in Latin (no. 15, an imperial reuse of a Greek memorialization, no. 14, executed barely sixty years previously). The inscriptions in their style and geographical context have also enabled some insights into the religious, political, and social structures and influences within Colossian society.
Most significant for the interpretation of the history of Colossae in the first century has been the discovery of a large honorific pedestal that acknowledges the beneficence of a certain Korymbos in repairing the baths and extending the water infrastructure of the city (no. 29). The inscription is dated to the late first century to early second century CE on the basis of letter style and the Hellenistic naming formulae of the thirty honorands.27
This has laid to rest the axiom that Colossae was either destroyed or set 27. Alan H. Cadwallader, "Honouring the Repairer of the Baths: A New Inscription from Kolossai," Antichthon 46 (2012): 150–83.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison into a terminal spiral by the earthquake of 60 CE that hit the Lycus Valley.28
It has revived attention directed toward other inscriptions that belong to the second and third centuries. Most important in this regard has been the short honorific inscription (IGRR 4.869) for the emperor Hadrian set up at Colossae by one of the commanders of Hadrian's military escort Loukius
(Statius) Makedo.29 Hadrian's pan-Hellenic tour of 129 CE brought special contact with those ancient cities that had a proud heritage of the worship of Zeus. Colossae seems to have been one of the stations for this propaganda extravaganza. How important was the honor of an imperial adventus for the city can be witnessed in its coins. Two separate benefactors sponsored the minting of bronzes that accorded Hadrian the key title marking his tour—Olympios. One coin, struck by the named benefactor,
Hieronymos, has already been published. It has a bare-headed Hadrian, wearing a paludamentum and featuring the legend "Olympian Hadrian."30
Hieronymos was responsible for eight different coins struck from the Colossian mint, so one might expect him to have joined the honor roll exalting Hadrian. But he was joined by another benefactor, Octavios Apollonios, son of Valerianos or Valerios. (He seems concerned to give his full identification on his coins.) Four of his civic coins, running through to the end of Hadrian's reign have been published.31 Recently, a fifth has come to light that probably indicates the enthusiasm of Colossae's ruling elite to join the celebrations honoring Hadrian on tour. Apollonios also
28. Alan H. Cadwallader, "Refuting an Axiom of Scholarship on Colossae: Fresh Insights from New and Old Inscriptions," in Cadwallader and Trainor, Colossae in Space and Time, 151–79; Lukas Bormann, Der Brief des Paulus an die Kolosser, ThHK
10.1 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2012), 12–28; Paul Foster, Colossians,
BNTC (London: T&T Clark, 2016), 1–24; Janice C. Anderson, Colossians: An Introduction and Study Guide: Authorship, Rhetoric, and Code (London: T&T Clark, 2018),
20–21, 55–58.
29. See H-G. Pflaum, Les Carrières Procuratoriennes Équestres sous le HautEmpire romain, (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1960), 1.109 (262–64); H. Halfmann Itinera principum: Geschichte und Typologie der Kaiserreisen im Römischen Reich (Stuttgart:
Steiner, 1986), 206; Anthony R. Birley, Hadrian: The Restless Emperor (London: Routledge, 1997), 216–20.
30. Hans von Aulock, Münzen und Städte Phrygiens, 2 vols., IstMitt 25, 27.
(Tübingen: Wasmuth, 1980, 1987), 2.547; RPC 3.2309.
31. See von Aulock, Münzen und Städte Phrygiens 2.447, 550, 551. On the coins from Colossae for the reign of Hadrian, see Alan H. Cadwallader, "Wealthy, Widowed,
Astute and Beneficent: Claudia Eugenetoriane and the Second Century Revival of the Colossian Mint," New Docs 12 (forthcoming).
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minted a coin bearing the Colossian banner, his own name, and honoring "Olympian Hadrian." The iconography is virtually identical to that minted by Hieronymos.32 This evidence shows clearly that Colossae remained a vibrant city into the second century (and beyond). In fact, the evidence of coins, including a homonoia coin indicating an alliance with Aphrodisias struck early in the reign of the emperor Commodus, plus that of inscriptions, suggests that Colossae, along with a number of cities in Asia Minor, experienced a substantial increase in its prosperity in this period.33
The yield of names (of subscribers, with their genealogies) from this inscription amounts to sixty-six that survive in whole or in part on the damaged shaft of the bomos. It probably originally contained about one hundred names. This list has substantially bolstered the onomastic stock of Colossae, so as to make a significant contribution to the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names.34 The Hellenistic-style genealogies sometimes run to five generations and so provide the names of Colossian citizens, some dating back to the turn of the common era. Scholarly interaction since the publication of the editio princeps has made a few valuable suggestions as to alternate onomastic forms and their origins.35 But this list enables tentative assessments of the shifting identities and ethnic origins of the Colossian population. Particularly interesting is that the dedicants all have
Greek names, even one, named Theodore, who could claim a Roman name (Likinnios) belonging to a (servile?) forebear. At the same time, the names in the genealogies for these dedicants occasionally reveal indigenous Phrygian, Thracian, and perhaps Scythian, Lycian, Carian, and Lydian names.
This suggests that ethnicity was somewhat fluid in this period, with a clear preference for Greek identification. Colossians were self-curating as Greek, none more so than the family that gave a son the rare name of a Homeric character, Tudeides. None of these Colossian citizens either has or wants to display a Roman citizenry name, and all proudly display stability in their family lines (at Colossae) with a clear adherence to "Greekness."36 This
32. RPC 3.2310A online.
33. See generally, Cadwallader, "Historical Sweep of the Life of Kolossai."
34. See LGPN 5C., e.g., s.v. "Κόρυμβος."
35. See especially the comments of Patrice Hamon in BE 2013.407, who suggests Τρυφωνίων for Τρυφωνίωνος in l. 27.
36. See Harry O. Maier, Picturing Paul in Empire: Imperials Image, Text and Persuasion in Colossians, Ephesians and the Pastoral Epistles (London: T&T Clark,
2013), 92–93.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison valorization of Greek identity may explain the unique occurrence in the New Testament of Greek being placed before Jew in Col 3:11, a recognition of the dominant cultural commitment permeating Colossian society.37
This seems to be corroborated by one Colossian youth who ventured to Smyrna for further education in philosophy (no. 27), perhaps at the feet of the renowned cosmological theorist, Theon, and the reliance on Greek epiphany stories and foundation narratives for a pagan and Greek shrine that is reflected in the early Byzantine text related to the site, called The Miracle of Saint Michael (the Archangel) of Chonai.38
One inscription (no. 22) has received considerable attention since it was first published in 2007.39 The slightly incomplete text reads (as first published) Μάρκωι Μάρκου | Κολοσσηνῶν | ἀρχερμηνεῖ | καὶ ἐξηγητῆ[ι] …;
"[… dedicated this] to Markos son of Markos, chief interpreter and translator for the Colossians." The limestone pedestal was found wedged in mud low in the northern bank of the Ak Su (Lycus River) near the site traditionally designated the Church of Saint Michael, to the east of the höyük
(artificial mound) and across the river from the western edge of the building remains identified by locals as the Roman baths.40 The initial analysis of the inscription took the pedestal as an agora installation honoring an official largely responsible for commercial, administrative matters, though recognizing that a wide range of tasks (including military, imperial, or religious responsibilities) might be envisaged. The ἀρχcompound was taken as suggesting a leadership position, perhaps the head of a bureau with "a focus on the activities of the commercial and civic agoras," especially in 37. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "Greeks in Colossae: Shifting Allegiances in the Letter to the Colossians and Its Context," in Attitudes to Gentiles in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. David C. Sim and James S. McLaren (London: Bloomsbury,
2013), 224–41. Compare Mark Reasoner, Roman Imperial Texts: A Sourcebook (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2013), 139.
38. See Leonard L. Thompson, "ISmyrna753: Gods and the One God," in Reading Religions in the Ancient World: Essays Presented to Robert McQueen Grant, ed. David
E. Aune and Robin Darling Young (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 101–24.
39. Alan H. Cadwallader, "A New Inscription, A Correction and a Confirmed Sighting," EA 40 (2007): 112–18 (no. 3).
40. Unfortunately, the spring rains and melting snows subsequent to the summer low water level apparently washed the pedestal away. The discovery had been made following information from a local farmer that he had pushed a cylindrical, carved stone from his field into the river.
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
a region where multiple languages operated.41 The inscription was seen as making a contribution to and informed by the monograph on ancient translation by Claudia Wiotte-Franz.42
While a number of commentators have adopted this line of interpretation,43 there have been two alternate readings provided. Angelos Chaniotis argued that the inscription honors a temple official and that the work envisaged in the phrase ἀρχερμηνεύς καὶ ἐξηγητής was religious in nature, the interpretation of oracles, a position specifically rejected in the editio princeps interpretation.44 However, one should be mindful that the rigid demarcation of categories, such as religious and commercial, is artificial. Chaniotis's reason was that "it is not very likely that the translation needs of Kolossai were so substantial as to require a board of translators."45 Here Chaniotis has clearly been influenced by the received convention that Colossae was a shadow of its former pre-Laodikeia days.
Laodikeia was manifestly the largest city in the Lycus Valley, but Colossae had maintained its civic pride and, as noted above, had enjoyed considerable prosperity, ascendant in the second century but, from the number of paraded long genealogies, built at least during the previous decades. More important, Colossae was the gateway to and from the Phrygian highlands to the east and had an institutional memory of the past far longer than the other main cities of the Lycus. Nevertheless, Chaniotis's interpretation has been endorsed by his coeditor in the Supplementum epigraphicum graecum series, H. W. Pleket.46
A recent examination by Lukas Bormann has challenged this religious reading.47 Bormann suggests that the compound ἀρχερμηνεύς is an honorific title indicative of status rather than a hierarchical position, much
41. Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 116.
42. C. Wiotte-Franz, Hermeneus und Interpres: Zum Dolmetscherwesen in der Antike (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, 2001).
43. See Rick Strelan, "The Languages of the Lycus Valley," in Cadwallader and Trainor, Colossae in Space and Time, 91; Foster, Colossians, 7; Rosemary Canavan,
Clothing the Body of Christ at Colossae: A Visual Construction of Identity, WUNT
2/334 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 13–14.
44. Cadwallader, "New Inscription," 116 n. 21.
45. Angelos Chaniotis, "Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion," Kernos 23 (2010): 285–86, no. 25. This is repeated at SEG 57.1382.
46. See Pleket's comment at the conclusion of the entry for SEG 61.1160.
47. Lukas Bormann, "Barbaren und Skythen im Lykostal? Epigraphischer Kommentar zu Kol 3:11," in Verheyden, Öhler, and Corsten, Epigraphical Evidence, 193–96.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison like ἀρχισυνάγωγος. However, he does not use this parallel to authenticate a religious connection, even though he does not examine how the element ἀρχoperates in other contexts, apart from an undeveloped aside to ἀρχιγεωργός in P.Oxy. 477. He also seems to place undue weight on the languages of the few inscriptions that we currently have from Colossae, namely, Greek and Latin, to argue that translational demands were far more limited than Rick Strelan assumed. But Strelan had been careful to underscore that inscriptional language cannot be taken as indicating the range of languages that might be heard in the Colossian marketplace and environs.48 Indeed, a Greek name is no guarantee that the bearer can actually speak Greek, as P.Oxy. 237 demonstrates.49
Bormann's alternative to both previous interpretations is to take the Greek and Latin of the published inscriptions as an indication of the much-needed assistance for the interpretation and translation of imperial administrative and legal requirements. He claims that only the name
Apphia (no. 19; cf. Phlm 2) might claim a Phrygian background but consigns this to rural areas. However, he neglects those theonyms built on the Phrygian god Mên in the Korymbos inscription (Menas and especially
Menogas) as well as the likelihood of a Phrygian origin in the name Minnion.50 The multitude of inscriptions from neighboring Laodikeia even more indicates the presence of Phrygian names, especially held by those who often maintained family histories and allegiances, namely, women.51
Moreover, he makes no reference to the Phrygian influence to be found in grave stylistics. Of course, this does not necessarily collate to the survival of the Phrygian language, but it does provide a fertile support.
Certainly, the demand for services to cope with the legal pluralism of the empire was considerable in the eastern empire, where cities such as Colossae had a long history of development of their own constitutional and jurisprudential frameworks.52 Though Bormann does not mention it,
48. Strelan, "Languages of the Lycus Valley," 79–82.
49. In a dispute over a will, a certain Dionysia, daughter of Chaeremon, was apparently so nonor ill-versed in Greek, that an interpreter had to be appointed for the hearing of her case.
50. So Ladislav Zgusta, Kleinasiatische Personennamen (Prague: Czechoslovakian Academy, 1964), 318, 522.
51. See P. O. Aytaçlar and E. Akıncı, "A List of Female Names from Laodicea on the Lycus," EA 39 (2006): 113–16.
52. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "Complicating Class in the Letter to Philemon: A Prolegomenon," in The Struggle over Class: Socioeconomic Analysis of Ancient Jewish
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
the names surviving on the inscription, Markos and Markos, are suggestive of a Roman connection (perhaps servile in origin, given the use of a common praenomen without elaboration).53 His interpretation is suggestive and has the value of comparative support. However, his reliance on the languages of the small number of extant Colossian inscriptions and a failure to consider the valuable work of Wiotte-Franz means that the sociopolitical setting in the interpretation of this inscription must be considered as still debatable.
Of course, the limited number of inscriptions demands circumspection about too-encompassing assertions about the overarching characteristics of Colossian society. The small cache has fostered scrutinization of any other material that may assist in filling in the sketchy outline we can form. This has meant a sifting of the coins, a careful appraisal of the layout of the site itself, and analysis of anepigraphic finds that have surfaced—primarily ceramics.54 Numismatics has historically been separated from epigraphy but, like gems, can offer pertinent insights through their legends and iconography. Colossae is well-served in this regard by the catalogue assiduously compiled by Hans von Aulock.55 Since the publication of his work, several new coin types have surfaced, mainly through auction rooms. One type (the two "Olympian Hadrian" coins) has already been mentioned. These discoveries have expanded the range of key benefactors and magistrates exerting their influence in Colossian society in the second and third centuries, including one named Epaphras (unrecognized by von Aulock) and a woman named Eugenetoriane
(who designated herself "widow" on one legend of the three coin types she sponsored). The coins have begun to be analyzed for more than the simple equation of their iconography with the range of deities worshiped at Colossae, though the recent discovery of two coins displaying a Silenus typology,56 combined with a (probably) votive altar to Bacchus (no. 28, an and Christian Texts, ed. G. Anthony Keddie, M. Flexsenhar, and Steven J. Friesen
(Atlanta: SBL Press, forthcoming).
53. The name is common in the region of Phrygia though often as part of a citizenry formula. See LGPN V.C, s.v. "Μᾶρκος."
54. See B. Duman and E. Konakçi, "The Silent Witness of the Mound of Colossae:
Pottery Remains," in Cadwallader and Trainor, Colossae in Space and Time, 247–81, and, generally, Cadwallader, Fragments of Colossae.
55. Von Aulock, Münzen und Städte Phrygiens, 2.83–94.
56. The small denomination coin (probably worth a quarter of an assarion, that is, about a quadrans) was minted under the auspices of (Tiberius Claudius) Sacerdos, who,
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison inscription yet to be critically published), has increased the likelihood of a significant Dionysian cult in the city. The role of benefaction in undergirding civic mints and the subtle political posturing of Hellenistic cities in relation to their imperial masters have begun to be explored. There is greater awareness of the delicate imperative on Colossian leadership to balance civic and imperial institutions (such as the local demos and the imperial senate, as well as the emperor and his family) and to cultivate productive and cohesive inter-city relations. The detailed research of Andrea Armstrong, Katharina Martin, and Robert Bennett is critical and exemplary for extracting an invaluable yield from numismatics.57
A second broad vein of materials has been mined in the effort to supplement and color our picture of Colossae. This is the harvesting of potentially relevant evidence from sources outside of the ancient city. This utilization of comparanda (in papyri, inscriptions, and coins in the main, with occasional reference to literary sources outside of testimonia) is particularly to be found in the ground-breaking work of Arnold, though its progenitor in the work of the classicist David Magie is still worth sifting.58
The methodology has gained increasing refinement and diversification in the two decades since 1996, notably in the publications of Standhartinger,
Maier, Canavan, Huttner, and, most recently, a collection that focuses on epigraphical contributions to the understanding of the letter to the Colossians.59 We eagerly await the eventual publication of the contribution on on other coins, is self-identified as archon of the Colossians. One coin (2.62 g, 14 mm) was sold as Lot 227 at the Kölner Auction in October 2017 (misidentifying the magistrate as Aristides); a second (1.95 g, 15 mm) was sold as Lot 259 at the Savoca Silver
Auction, 29 December 2018. The obverse features the head of Silenus, facing right, with the legend ΚΟΛΟCCΗΝΩΝ; the reverse has a running boar, facing right, with the legend CAKEPΔΩC, the sponsoring magistrates—on other coins designated an archon.
57. Andrea J. Armstrong, "Roman Phrygia: Cities and Their Coinage" (PhD thesis, University College, London 1998); Katharina Martin, Demos—Boule—Gerousia: Personifikationen städtischer Institutionen auf kaiserzeitlichen Münzen aus Kleinasien, 2 vols (Bonn: Habelt, 2013); Robert Bennett, Local Elites and Local Coinage:
Elite Self-Representation on the Provincial Coinage of Asia, 31 BC to AD 275 (London:
Royal Numismatic Society, 2014).
58. Clinton E. Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996); David Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of the Third Century after Christ, 2 vols. (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1950).
59. Angela Standhartinger, Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte und Intention des Kolosserbriefs (Leiden: Brill, 1998); "Kolosserbrief," Das wissenschaftliche Bibelpor-
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Colossians in the Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament series.. Of course, there is a fine balance to be struck between the survey of comparanda and the explicit evidence deriving from the city itself.60
Equally the importance of material culture generally as a corrective to a narrow concentration on a New Testament letter cannot be underestimated and one can only repeat a century-long hope that Colossae will be permitted to be fully surveyed in preparation for excavation.
Part 2. An Archaeological, Numismatic and Epigraphic Portrait of Laodicea 1. The History of Laodicea The prehistory of the Lycus Valley stretches back to the Neolithic and early
Chalcolithic periods.61 Laodicea itself was founded by King Antiochus II on behalf of his wife Laodike.62 This means that the city was so named before 253 BCE, when Laodike was divorced. An alternative tradition claims that the city was named after the sister of Antiochus I, called Laodike. But, as Magie notes, "there is no record of any sister of Antiochus tal der Deutschen Bibelgesellschaft (2010): https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/51912/; Maier, Picturing Paul in Empire; Canavan, Clothing the Body of Christ;
Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley; Verheyden, Öhler, and Corsten, Epigraphical Evidence, loc. cit. See also Paul McKechnie, Elect Cities: Christianity in Phrygia from the First Century to the Great Persecution (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2019); 60. See Alan H. Cadwallader, "On the Question of Comparative Method in Historical Research: Colossae and Chonae in Larger Frame," in this volume.
61. See Ali Ozan et al., "Prehistory of the Lykos Valley," and Erim Konakci, "The Lykos Valley during the Second Millenium BC," in Landscape and History in the Lykos
Valley: Laodikeia and Hierapolis in Phrygia, ed. Celal Şimşek and Francesco D'Andria
(Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2017), 53–77 and 79–107.
62. For discussions of the history of Laodicea, see Jean des Gagniers, "Première partie: Introduction historique," in Laodicée du Lycos: Le Nymphée Campagnes 1961–
1963, ed. Jean des Gagniers et al. (Paris: Éditions E. De Boccard, 1969), 1–11; Giogio
Bejor, "Per Una Ricerca Di Laiodicea Ellenistica," in Laodicea Di Frigia I, ed. Gustavo
Traversari, RDASup 24 (Rome: Bretschneider, 2000), 15–23; Celal Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia on the Lykos in the Light of New Evidence," in Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley: Laodikeia and Hierapolis in Phrygia, ed. Celal Şimşek and Francesco D'Andria (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2017), 2–7.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison with this name, and her existence is very doubtful."63 Pliny the Elder tells us that the city was first called Diospolis ("city of Zeus") and later renamed
Rhoas, before its eventual Hellenistic foundation by Antiochus (Pliny the Elder, Nat. 5.105). The name "Diospolis" explains the strong attachment of Laodicea to Zeus in its coinage.64 The strategic geographic position of the city, situated in a fertile plain,65 cannot be understated: "Roads ran west along the Lycus and Maeander valleys to Ephesus, south east to Apamaea and Cibyra, beyond to Syria, and southeast to Pamphylia."66 Later, the first
Roman governor of Asia, M. Aquillius, erected milestones along the roads between 129–126 BCE, several of which have been found.67
Our earliest inscription from the Hellenistic age of Laodicea (January 267 BCE, the reign of Antiochus I) is an honorific decree eulogizing two officials from the villages of Neoteichos and Kiddoukome in Asia Minor
(ILaodikeia 1.6, 31), both near the foundation site of Laodicea (ILaodikeia 1).68 The officials are praised for administering the property of Achaeus, who was probably the younger brother of Antiochus I.69 Several other
63. Magie, Roman Rule, 2:986 n. 23.
64. Armstrong, Roman Phrygia.
65. Gagniers, "Première partie," 2.
66. Stephen Mitchell, "Italian and Turkish Archaeological Work in the Lycus Valley around Laodicea and Hierapolis," JRA 14 (2001): 632. Armstrong writes: "The position of Laodicea near these major routes would ensure that both goods and personnel would pass by in the vicinity of the city and in turn this would ensure the city's growth and development" (Roman Phrygia, 35–36).
67. David French, Roman Roads and Milestones of Asia Minor: An Interim Catalogue of Milestones, vol. 2.1, BARIS 392 (Oxford: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1988), 101 no. 266; 106 no. 279; 111 nos. 294–295.
68. Translated by Michel M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest: A Selection of Sources in Translation, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), §168. For usages of κώμη ("village") in this Hellenistic inscription that refer to other small local settlements outside of the city of Laodicea, see ILaodikeia 1, 19 (Βάβα κώμη), 21/29 (Κιδδίου κώμη). There are no further references to villages in Corsten's collection of the Laodicean inscriptions. For a discussion of the villages and communities in the territory of Hierapolis, including their religious affiliations, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX, 35–36. Note especially the revealing clash between shepherds and vineyard owners over vines damaged by grazing cattle and sheep in the Hieropolitan village of Kagyetteia (MAMA 4.297: 250 CE). For a translation, see Peter Thonemann, The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 194.
69. See Michael Wörrle, "Antiochus I., Achaios der Ältere und die Galater: Eine neue Inschrift in Denizli," Chiron 5 (1975): 59–97.
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
inscriptions illustrate the daily life of Laodicea in the Hellenistic Age: a decree in honor of three Laodicean citizens for erecting public buildings
(ILaodikeia 2); a decree of Laodicea recognizing the asylum of Artemis Leukophryne in Magnesia on Meander (ILaodikeia 4); last, a decree in honor of three judges from Priene for their legal work in Laodicea (ILaodikeia 5), among several other very fragmentary decrees.
However, political stability was not necessarily assured at this time and ultimately Laodicea would transition, along with rest of Asia Minor, to be under Roman rule. Polybius writes regarding Achaeus who chose
Laodicea as the site in 200 BCE to rebel against his nephew Antiochus III (Hist. 5.57.5). This would-be king was executed and Anatolia was returned to the Seleucid rule of Antiochis III. Two years later Garsyeris, the general of Achaeus, led the Seleucid forces southwest from Laodicea to fight a war against Pisidian Selge (Polybius, Hist. 5.772). Laodicea remained under Seleucid rule until 190 BCE when, after the battle of Magnesia, the victorious Romans prized Laodicea from Seleucid rule and placed its newly acquired territory under the control of the Pergameme dynasty, client-kings and allies of Rome, as agreed under the terms of the Treaty of Apameia (180 BCE).
Eventually, however, Pergamum—and therefore Laodicea—was annexed to Rome in line with the specifications of the will of Attalos III in 133 BCE, with the result that the Roman province of Asia was established in 129 BCE (Strabo, Geogr. 13.4.2). But Laodicea was not yet immune from external threat. The Pontic armies under Mithridates VI besieged the city during the First Mithridatic War (87–85 BCE) until a peace treaty was formalized between Rome and Mithridates in 85 (Appian, Bell. Mith.
20).70 The Roman consul Sulla demanded that five years of unpaid taxes be paid, along with war reparations, by the Asian cities. Consequently, cities were impoverished, borrowed money at high interest, and mortgaged their public buildings (Appian, Bell. Mith. 62–63). Notwithstanding, the Laodiceans astutely offered a bilingual inscription to the city of Rome as an appeasement to the Roman people, "which have become its saviour and benefactor because of their virtue and good will towards it."71
70. Appian's historical account is truncated when viewed against the inscriptional evidence of Aphrodisias. See Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 26.
71. For translation, see E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin IV: Archaic Inscriptions, LCL (London: Heinmann, 1940), "1. Inscriptions Proper: Honorary
Inscriptions" §23.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison Economic problems still continued for Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae during Cicero's governorship of Cilicia, though caution is required with his evidence because Cicero is highlighting his success as a governor (Att. 5.16).72 Further difficulties resulted from the occurrence of an earthquake in the 20s BCE (Suetonius, Tib. 8). But, despite the troubles, wealth increasingly accrued to Laodicea in the imperial age (Strabo,
Geogr. 12.8.13; 12.18.16) and the city became famous for its wool and the production of woolen fabrics (Pliny the Elder, Nat. 21.9.27; 25.9.67; Vitruvius, Arch. 8.13.14; Cicero, Fam 2.17.2; 3.5.4; Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.13). It is perhaps this economic self-sufficiency and its seductive dangers spiritually in the first century CE that John of Patmos pinpoints in his critique of the Laodicean church (Rev 3:17–18). Indeed, Laodicea recovered from further severe earthquakes in the Lycus Valley in 60 CE and did not require imperial munificence like Hierapolis to recover (Tacitus, Ann. 14.27).73
Laodicea grew in political and civic status as well in the imperial age.
The city, Pliny writes (Nat. 5.105), became famous in the Cibyratic conventus, one of the Asian juridical districts. Hadrian also visited the city, one of his letters reveals (IGRR 4.1033: 129 CE), during his eastern tour of Asia,
Lycia, and Syria. In the frenetic competition for imperial patronage among the Asian cities, Laodicea became a neokoros city during the reigns of (possibly) Hadrian, (possibly) Commodus, Caracalla, and Severus Alexander.74
72. Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 28.
73. Note Sib. Or. 4.106: "Wretched Laodicea, at some time an earthquake will throw you headlong and spread you flat, but you will be founded again as a city, and stand." For discussion of earthquakes in the region, see Armstrong, Roman Phrygia,
31–33; Halil Kumsar, "Historical Earthquakes that Damaged Hierapolis and Laodikeia
Antique Cities and Their Implications for Earthquake Potential of Denizli Basin in Western Turkey," Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 75 (2016):
519–36.
74. The attribution of neokorate status to Laodicea under Hadrian and Commodus finds no explicit published epigraphic or numismatic confirmation, despite the claim of Şimşek ("Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 4) to the contrary. Does Şimşek know of unpublished inscriptions in each case? But, as Cadwallader notes in private correspondence, "Certainly there is no 'twice/thrice neokoros' statement in the evidence which one would expect if there were separate awards." Possibly the Hadrianic neokorate status is inferred on the basis of ILaodikeia 53 below, though, I would note, precise dating of the inscription is debateable. I am grateful to Cadwallader for his methodological cautions regarding Şimşek's arguments. The Laodicean coins minted under the reigns of Caracalla, and Severus Alexander emphasize the neokorate status either on the obverse or reverse (ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ). For the coins, see
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
Moreover, the Laodiceans enthusiastically adopted Roman habits such as bathing, demonstrated by the proliferation of bathhouses in the city.75 Furthermore, games in honor of the imperial rulers were held at Laodicea,76 and the adoption of Roman gladiatorial spectacles in the Greek East and the Lycus Valley in particular, discussed below, also became highly popular. But one last earthquake levelled the city in 494 CE.
Finally, the place of Jews in Laodicean society, as revealed in the epigraphy, will be discussed in our last section.77 We now turn to the history of excavation of the city.
2. History of the Excavations of Laodicea Prior to the major excavations conducted at Laodicea from the mid-twentieth century onward, there were many individuals, too many for us to list here,78 who had visited the site from 1671–1939, often as part of a wider itinerary of visits to ancient sites in Asia generally. They wrote journals and Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 268–70 §§95–110 (Julia Domna in the reign of Caracalla), 271–76 §§120–158 (Caracalla), 279 §§173–174 (Severus Alexander). Note, too,
ILaodikeia 135 (third century CE): "the Augustus-loving temple-warden (νεωκόρ[ος]) metropolis of Asia, the city of Laodicea"; cf. ILaodikeia 50 (third century CE), ILaodikeia 136 (third century CE). Additionally, the honorific inscription of Antonia from the Zenon family underscores neokorate status: "Antonia, daughter of L(ucius) Antonius Zeno, the greatest high priest of Asia, priest of the city … gymnasiarch … best wife, temple-warden (νε[ωκόρον]) and high-priestess of Asia and priestess of … gymnasiarch" (ILaodikeia 53 [first–second century CE]).
75. Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 150.
76. An inscription (second–third century CE) mentions the games in honor of the emperor Commodus held at Laodicea (ILaodikeia 59: "high priest and agonothete of the five-year festival of the great games Dia Kommodeia"). On the role of the agonothete, see James R. Harrison, "Paul and the agōnothetai at Corinth: Engaging the Civic Values of Antiquity," in The First Urban Churches 2: Roman Corinth, ed. James R.
Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016), 271–326.
77. For an excellent discussion of the Jewish community in the Lycus Valley, see
F. F. Bruce, "The Jews and Christians in the Lycus Valley," BSac 141 (1985): 3–15. On Jews in Phrygia more generally, see William M. Ramsay, The Lycos Valley and SouthWestern Phrygia, vol. 1.2 of The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (Oxford: Clarendon,
1895), 667–76.
78. For a detailed history of the visitation and excavation of the site from 1671–
2008 onwards, see Celal Şimşek, Laodikeia (Laodicea ad Lycum) [Turkish], Laodikeia
Calismalari 2 (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2013), 23–26.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison books on what they saw, conducted preliminary investigations of features of the site (e.g., W. J. Hamilton), or catalogued the extant epigraphy on public monuments and tombstones.79
The first major excavation of an important Laodicean complex commenced with the 1961–1963 campaigns carried out by L'Université Laval,
Québec, Canada. The team, under the direction of Professor Jean des Gagniers, excavated the Caracalla Nymphaeum, with the archaeological results being published in 1969. In a wide-ranging coverage, Gagniers and his collaborators, including the formidable epigraphist Louis Robert, discussed the history and geography of Laodicea, as well as the sculptures, ceramics, lamps, and inscriptions of the Nymphaeum.80 Robert's superb coverage of the epigraphy remains as authoritative, insightful, and penetrating as the day it was written.81 Robert's masterful coverage was eventually crowned in 1997 by Thomas Corsten's pioneering publication of the entire corpus of Laodicean inscriptions, accompanied by German translations and commentaries on each of the 126 documents. Standing now on the shoulders of Buckler and Calder, Robert, and Corsten, classical and New Testament scholars are well placed to establish a clear epigraphic portrait of the city from Hellenistic times to the late imperial period, notwithstanding the relative poverty of our Laodicean epigraphic resources in comparison to the eight volumes of inscriptions from Ephesus.82
79. E.g., F. V. J. Arundell, R. Chandler, W. Cochran, C. Fellows, W. M. Leake, R.
Pococke, W. M. Ramsay, G. Weber, among others. For a list of their publications, see
Şimşek, Laodikeia, 521–22. Sherman E. Johnson writes appreciatively: "Early travellers, such Pockocke, Hamilton, and Fellows, laid the basis for later archaeological and topographical study of Asia Minor." Sherman E. Johnson, "Early Christianity in Asia
Minor," JBL 77 (1958): 1. Note especially the pivotal English publication of Ramsay,
Lycos Valley and South-Western Phrygia; Ramsay, St Paul the Traveller and the Roman
Citizen (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1897). Şimşek notes that W. J. Hamilton visited
Laodicea during his tour through Anatolia, investigating "the post-earthquake situation of the city and the remaining structures like the stadium, gymnasium, theatre and aqueduct" (Laodikeia, 23; see Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia). For the Laodicean inscriptions available before World War II, see MAMA 6.1–37.
80. Gagniers et al., Laodicée du Lycos.
81. Louis Robert, ed. "Les inscriptions," in Gagniers et al., Laodicée du Lycos,
247–389.
82. Thomas Corsten, Die Inschriften von Laodikeia am Lykos (Bonn: Habelt, 1997); James R. Harrison, "An Epigraphic Portrait of Ephesus and Its Villages," in The First Urban Churches 3: Ephesus, ed. James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta:
SBL Press, 2018), 1–67.
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The next major excavation of Laodicea occurred under the auspices of Ca'Foscari University of Venice, under the direction of Professor G. Traversari. Surveys of the city were carried out by the archaeological team from 1995 to 2002. New topographical maps of the city were undertaken, its structures then imposed upon the new plan and then related back to the initial survey. The results were published in Italian in 2000, though to some critical reviews.83 The aerial photographs of the site are nonetheless spectacular, and the coverage of the southern complex of monuments in the city (i.e., bouleterion, bath-gymnasium, stadium) is very helpful because it also draws on previous archaeological reports as much as the evidence of the new Italian reports.84
An entirely new Turkish archaeological campaign, including major restorations of existing monuments at the site as well as new excavations, has been carried out since 2003 by Professor Celal Şimşek of Pamukkale
University, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. On any day onsite, Şimşek has a team of fifteen archaeologists, eight restoration specialists, and master craftsmen specializing in stonework and masonry.85 There would also be a continuous stream of doctoral candidates from Pamukkale University present as well. From 2008 there has been established a protocol between the Denizli Metropolitan Municipality and Ministry of Culture and Tourism, where the municipality acts as a benefactor of the campaign in twelve month turnovers, ensuring a continuous advancement of new excavations and restorations through the provision of secure funding. The impressive list of what had been accomplished since 2003 can be found on the UNESCO World Heritage List website.86 Most recently, in 2018 the Denizli Metropolitan Municipality has announced that, under the guidance of Şimşek, the 2,200-year-old
83. See Luigi Sperti, "Ricognizione Archaeologica a Laodicea di Frigia 1993– 1998," in Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 29–102. For critical reviews, see, e.g., Mitchell, who bluntly states: "The first publication results from the Italian survey at Laodicea on the Lycus is extremely disappointing" ("Italian and Turkish Archaeological
Work," 632).
84. Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, pls. I–XVI; Sperti, "Ricognizione Archaeologica a Laodicea di Frigia 1993–1998," 29–102.
85. Mark R. Fairchild, "Laodicea's 'Lukewarm' Legacy: Conflicts of Prosperity in an Ancient Christian City," BAR (March/April 2017): 36.
86. See the section on "Statements of Authenticity and/or Integrity" on "Archaeological Site of Laodikeia," UNESCO World Heritage Centre," https://tinyurl.com/
SBL4218a.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison western theater, with a capacity for 15,000 people and operative in Hellenistic and Roman times, will be restored in a three-year project, with a view to hosting in the theater various cultural and arts events.87
As a result, there has been an explosion in scholarship on the archaeology of Laodicea since 2003. First, there has appeared a massive two-volume study, published in Turkish, of the necropolis surrounding the city in all directions, comprising some 283 tombs.88 Second, the results of the archaeological campaigns in Laodicea from 2003–2013 were published in 2014.89
Third, this has been followed by Şimşek's definitive archaeological guide to the city, incorporating the excavation and new finds until 2013, written in Turkish, but needing translation into English so that its scholarly riches can be more widely accessed.90 Fourth, this guide has been most recently followed up by a helpful English collection of essays on Laodicea and Hierapolis, edited by Şimşek and Francesco D'Andria.91 Fifth, a volume on the amphorae of Laodicea also appeared in the same year.92 Sixth, another volume explores how Laodicea became a venue of religious pilgrimage from the fourth century CE onwards. Christian churches spread as architectural monuments across the city and family chapels were established in private houses. The main focus of the study, however, is upon the 2010 excavation of the Church of Laodicea, with its various architectural elements, and the development of a Christian quarter around it.93 In sum, the appearance of the four volumes of the Laodikeia Çalismalari series, as well as Şimşek's various archaeological guides to the city in its Graeco-Roman and Christian expressions, testifies to the momentum and continuing vitality of the archaeological campaigns at Laodicea and their scholarly
87. "Laodikeia's Western Theatre to Be Restored," Hurriyet Daily News, 23 March 2018, https://tinyurl.com/SBL4218b.
88. Celal Şimşek, M. Okunak and M. Bilgin, Laodikeia Nekropulü (2004–2010 Yillari), Laodikeia Çalismalari 1.1–2 (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2011).
89. Celal Şimşek, 10. Yilinda Laodikeia (2003–2013 Yillari), Laodikeia Çalismalari 3 (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2014).
90. Şimşek, Laodikeia. The dated chapter of Edwin Yamauchi on Laodicea (The Archaeology of New Testament Cities in Western Asia Minor [Grand Rapids: Baker,
1980], 135–46) still retains some value.
91. Şimşek and D'Andria, Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley.
92. C. Şimşek, A. Alkac, and B. Duman, Laodikeia amphora mühürleri, Laodikeia Çalismalari 4 (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2017).
93. Celal Şimşek, Church of Laodikeia: Christianity in the Lykos Valley (Istanbul:
Ege Yayinlari, 2015).
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significance for our understanding of Phrygian society, culture, and history. It is therefore not surprising that the site of ancient Laodicea, with several other archaeological sites, was added to UNESCO's World Tentative Heritage List in June 2013.
3. The Main Structures of Laodicea: The Archaeological, Epigraphic and Iconographic Evidence What are the main structures of the city?94 The structures discussed below were highlighted as significant features in Laodicea's UNESCO's
World Heritage Temporary List application.95 However, we will only discuss those sites where there are intersections between the inscriptional, iconographic, and archaeological evidence (though, pace, the Church of Laodikeia, omitted below, where such intersections exist).96 This means that the following structures will not be discussed: (1) the conjectural identification of the council house (bouleuterion) or, possibly, odeon;
(2) houses with a peristyle design (house A complexes, peristyle house with church [Oratory]); (3) temples (Temple A); and (4) churches (East,
North, West, Central, Southwest Churches, and Laodikeia Church).97 S.
Mitchell assesses the importance of Laodicea in comparison to its nearby neighbor in these words: "The remains of Laodicea, compared to those of Hierapolis, are unspectacular and attract few tourists, but the city was
94. See now the excellent English coverage of Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia."
95. See "Archaeological Site of Laodikeia."
96. There are several inscriptions in the Laodikeia Church, now conveniently translated into English with Greek texts supplied (Şimşek, Church of Laodikeia, 37,
45). Three inscriptions are found on the altar table pieces, a marble vessel, and the ambo of the church's nave: specifically, an honorific memorial of family members, a vow, and the names of the presbyters at the time of the pulpit restoration. There are also two honorific mosaic inscriptions accompanied by a cross on the south aisle of the church, citing in each case the name of the benefactor deacon, including the status conscious "first deacon Polykarpos" (Şimşek, Church of Laodikeia, 75 figs. 108–109).
97. For identification as bouleuterion or odeon, see Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia
I, 42–54; Şimşek, Laodikeia, 240–43. For house A complexes, see Şimşek, Laodikeia,
307–19; Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 13–14, 18–19. For the peristyle house with church (Oratory), see Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 45–46, figs. 34–35.
For Temple A with chapel in courtyard, see Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia,"
46, fig. 36. For plan of Laodikeia Church, see Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia,"
47 fig. 37. For basilicas north and south, see Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 95–97.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison not simply a centre of regional significance but one of the key cities of Asia Minor."98
At the outset, it should be noted that the city was surrounded by rivers (Maeander, Lycos) and minor creeks (Kadmos, Asopos) on three sides.99
However, the absence of any springs within the urban territory of Laodicea meant that complex water supply systems had to be devised to secure the city's water needs. These consisted of two water distribution terminals, as well as an elaborate piping system, comprising thick-walled terracotta pipes in the Hellenistic Age and travertine pipes (less susceptible to pressure) in Roman times.100 Aqueducts and open channels also contributed to the overall water distribution system.
In terms of urban planning, the city had three main streets (Syria, Stadium, Ephesus), each flanked with porticoes that had shops behind them.101
There were two monumental gates (Ephesus and Syria),102 as well as six other city gates. What, then, do we learn from the city's major sites?
3.1. The Stadium The doubled-ended Laodicean stadium, a structure 285 m long and 70 m high, was the largest in Anatolia.103 Its enclosed structure hosted gladiatorial combats, as we learn from Cicero who had privately criticized the young Hortensius for behaving badly with gladiators while he was
98. Mitchell, "Italian and Turkish Archaeological Work," 632.
99. On the reverse of a Laodicean coin (Henry Clay Lindgren and Frank L.
Kovacs, Ancient Bronze Coins of Asia Minor and the Levant from the Lindgren Collection [San Mateo: Chrysopylon, 1985], §599), we see a reclining river god holding a flower (or branch) in his hand and reed in his left, while water flows from an inverted vase poised on his right arm.
100. See Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 10; for travertine pipes, see 36 fig. 19.
101. On each street, see Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 10–13.
102. The Syria gate is dated by an inscription (ILaodikeia 24) to 84/85 CE, discussed below. On the Ephesian monumental propyla (gate) in the Western Agora, see Giorgio Bejor and Jacopo Bonetto, "Recognizione del 1999: Dalla Porta Efesia
All'Agora Occidentale" in Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 105–24. For the monumental propylon of the Northern Agora, see Şimşek, Laodikeia, 276–77, figs. 371,
373. Pholostratus (Vit. soph. 1.25) refers to the Syrian gates of Laodicea, the eastern entrance to the city.
103. On the stadium, see Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 63–74 (figs. 30–32); Şimşek, Laodikeia, 208–18 (plates 275–79).
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at Laodicea (Cicero, Att. 6.3.9). There are nine extant gladiator inscriptions at Laodicea, with rich accompanying iconographic evidence in some cases.104 Four examples will suffice.
On a first–second-century CE inscription, the stela depicts a loinclothed and belted gladiator whose left hand is placed on his shield, whereas his right hand holds a palm branch. To his right a small dog stands away from the gladiator, but the animal looks back towards him.
The gladiatorial contests of the gladiator are honored thus: "[N.N. erected this stela] for Kallimorphos, her own husband, from Thyateira, out of her own means in memory (of him). Kallimorphos the Beautiful greets the passers-by."105 Elsewhere, in a first-century CE (?) inscription, gladiators are honored for the contests, sponsored by the high status imperial priest of the city, in which they have participated: "(This monument) of the gladiators (is) given by the archierus and stephanephoros, Diokles, the son of Metrophilos."106 Finally, we see panelled reliefs of venatio contests where the wild animals to be fought included a wild bull, depicted as falling forwards, and a bear.107 The relevance of this background for New Testament studies has not escaped the attention of scholars. In this regard, Paul's strategic use of gladiatorial imagery in his epistles has been exhaustively demonstrated by James R. Unwin, along with forays from other scholars.108
Finally, there are three inscriptions of a wealthy and elite Laodicean family whose members had acted as benefactors in various civic liturgies
104. ILaodikeia 73–78, 81A; Louis Robert, "Monuments des gladiateurs dans l'Orient grec," Hellenica 7 (1949): 140 (plate 16, 1); Robert, Les gladiateurs dans l'orient grec (Paris: Champion, 1940), 151, no. 116. For Laodicean gladiator inscriptions and their iconography, see Michael J. D. Carter, The Presentation of Gladiatorial Spectacles in the Greek East: Roman Culture and Greek Identity (PhD thesis, McMaster University, 1999), "Catalogue of Inscriptions," §§351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 355a.
105. ILaodikeia 75. Throughout I am indebted to the German translations of Corsten, Die Inschriften von Laodikeia am Lykos.
106. ILaodikeia 73.
107. ILaodikeia 78; Robert, "Monuments des gladiateurs dans l'Orient grec," 140
(plate 16, 1).
108. James R. Unwin, Subversive Spectacles: The Struggles and Deaths of Paul and Seneca (PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 2017). Note also C. W. Concannon, "'Not for an Olive Wreath, but Our Lives': Gladiators, Athletes, and Early Christian Bodies,"
JBL 133 (2014): 193–214; Alan H. Cadwallader, "Paul and the Games," in Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook, ed. J. Paul Sampley, vol. 1 (London: T&T Clark
Bloomsbury, 2016), 363–90.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison from Vespasian's reign to the first half of the second century CE.109 An inscription honors Nikostratos, the son of Lykios, for his role in the completion of the incomplete parts of the stadium at the time of the inscription in 79 CE:
To Imperator Titus Caesar Augustus Vespasianus, consul for the seventh time, son of the divine Caesar Vespasianus, and the (Laodicean) people:
Nikostratos, the son of Lykios, the son of Nikostratos, has consecrated the amphitheatre stadium in white marble from his own funds, (with)
Nicostratos' inheritance being, (in the estimate of posterity), that he completed the parts of the structure not yet completed, and the proconsul Marcus Ulpius Traianus made the consecration.110
Subsequent family members up to first half of the second century CE—the time of the premature death of Tatia in our honorific inscription below— had continued to exercise civic beneficence in the city and serve in various magistracies as required. The granduncle of deceased Tatia below, for example, had assumed the prestigious position of priest of the city and had performed the same role as his forebears in conserving the stadium for future generations by maintaining its white marble facades:111
The Council and the people have honoured Tatia, daughter of Nicostratos, son of Pericles, who died young, for the sake of the magistracies, services, and supervision of public works filled by her father and for the cause of his granduncle Nicostratos, who, in other services, had been priest of the city and has consecrated the amphitheatre stadium in white marble.112
109. For the family tree, see Corsten, Die Inschriften von Laodikeia am Lykos, referring to the following inscriptions: ILaodikeia 9, 13, 83. We will not discuss the statue inscription in honor of Vespasian erected by the "Caesar-loving" Nicostratos, son of Nicostratos Theagenes (ILaodikeia 9).
110. ILaodikeia 15. The editors of RPC 2.194, suggest that the appearance of an athletic designs on the reverses of the coins of Titus (RPC 2.1272–1280) "can be plausibly connected to the building of a new stadium at Laodicea in 78/80."
111. On the importance of the marble trade in Asia Minor, see Lea Emilia Long, Urbanism, Art, and Economy: The Marble Quarrying Industries of Aphrodisias and Roman
Asia Minor (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2012). Şimşek ("Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 9) notes that Laodicea had its marble and travertine quarries at the foot of Mount
Cökelez in the north, Mount Salbakos in the south, and Mount Kadmos in the southeast.
112. ILaodikeia 83 (first half of the second century CE). Translated by Yamauchi,
Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 142.
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Here we see how certain Laodicean elites maintained their prestige over several generations not only by exercising beneficence and assuming magistracies, but also by continuing to care for particular sites in the city, such as the stadium, reputed over time to be their peculiar preserve as benefactors.
3.2. Two Theaters (Western, Northern) The western theater was constructed in the Hellenistic Age whereas the northern theater was built in the second century CE.113 Two Laodicean inscriptions underscore the importance of the theater in civic honorific rituals. Building commissioners and two judges from other cities visiting
Laodicea were rewarded with (respectively) the privilege of the front seats in the Hellenistic theater and were crowned with gold crowns before the people at the same site.114 Şimşek incisively observes that "the existence of two theatres and one of the largest stadia in Anatolia sheds light on the population, and reveals the importance of sports, art and culture."115
Like most theaters in antiquity there was reserved seating in the theaters of Laodicea.116 There are reserved seats for guilds, high-status magistrates ("[Place] of Paulinus, man of consular rank"), and other individuals of whom we only possess the names.117 By contrast, the teaching of Jesus eschews the ancient quest for public conspicuousness (Matt 6:1–4) and social precedence (Luke 14:7–11; cf. Prov 25:6–7) that was associated with honorific rituals and feasting culture in antiquity. Instead Jesus maintains the priority of personal humility before God and others (Matt
19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30; 18:9–14) and inculcates a culture of honoring of the weak and marginalized (Luke 14:12–14), as opposed to 113. For full discussion, see C. Şimşek and M. A. Sezgin, "The West and North
Theatres in Laodicea," in Restoration and Management of Ancient Theatres in Turkey:
Methods, Research, Results, ed. Filippo Masino, Paolo Mighetto, and Giorgio Sobra,
Archaeologia e Storia 11 (Lecce: Congedo Editore, 2012), 103–28. Additionally, see
Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 81–91; Şimşek, Laodikeia, 219–27 (West Theater),
228–40 (North Theater).
114. ILaodikeia 2, 5.
115. Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 17.
116. On seating in theaters in antiquity, see Tamara Jones, "Seating and Spectacle in the Graeco-Roman World" (PhD diss., McMaster University, 2008).
117. ILaodikeia 32–33 (guilds); ILaodikeia 31 (magistrates); ILaodikeia 29 (Zenon), ILaodikeia 30 (Sacerdotos Pomponianos), ILaodikeia 34 (Titus Varus).
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison courting the favor of the powerful (Luke 22:25–27). The Pauline epistles similarly invert honorific rituals within the body of Christ (Rom 12:8b,
16b; 1 Cor 12:24b).
3.3. Five Agorae (East, Central, West, South, North) Despite the wide distribution of agorae throughout the city, there are only two inscriptional references to the ἀγορά (marketplace): both are from the Hellenistic Age and refer to the erection of honorific stone stelae in the most prominent place in the marketplace.118 Once again, the city's cultivation of honorific culture had to be publicly conspicuous for the honorand to be properly reciprocated for his civic favors to the people.119
3.4. Five Fountains (Nymphaea), Latrines, Bath Complexes (East, Central, West), and Two Large Water Distribution Terminals
Under this diverse group of structures in the city we are concentrating upon the importance of water distribution throughout the city. There are five
Laodicean fountains (nymphaea), each situated on one of the main streets:
(1) the Caracalla Nymphaeum and Septimus Severus Nymphaeum (Nymphaeum A) on Syria Street; (2) the Trajan Nymphaeum and Nymphaeum
B on Stadium Street; and (3) the West Nymphaeum on Ephesus Street.120
The nymphaea at Laodicea were one or two-story structures situated on the corners of main streets or in plazas.121 Three inscriptions survive from the nymphaea, two of them too fragmentary to be comprehensible,122 but the third is sufficiently legible for the honorific epigram eulogizing governor Skylakios (340–359 CE) to be understood: "There are many miracles of older (times); but now, as the greatest of our generation in his tenure as 118. ILaodikeia 2.22; 4b.12–13.
119. Note in this regard the boastful epigraphic dedication of the governor (or high official) of Syria called Dyscolius (317–24 CE) on a statue base found in the southwest stoa of the so-called Temple A: "Dyscolius, by far the best of governors, dedicated the wonderful statue of me, Artemis." See Celal Şimşek and F. Guizzi, "A Dedication of the Praeses Dyscolius from Laodikeia on the Lykos," Mediterraneo
Antico 14.1–2 (2012): 511–18.
120. On the nymphaea, see Gagniers, Laodicée du Lycos, passim. Additionally, see
Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia I, 63–74; Şimşek, Laodikeia, 143–76.
121. Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 16.
122. ILaodikeia 16–17.
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eparchos, with wisdom built this edifice in just twelve months, he who has done no harm to anyone, Aiakide Skylakios."123 Of fundamental importance among the many fragments of sculpture found among the nymphaea is a superbly rendered and undamaged statue of the Egyptian goddess Isis.124
With such an abundance of water at these sites, it should not surprise us that there were also latrines at Nymphaeum B on Stadium Street.125 In a latrine vestibule at Laodicea the remains of a fragmentary but beautifully colored geometric mosaic, with a wonderfully rendered goat, shows how pleasant such facilities could be visually.126
Regarding the bath complexes, of which there were three, Şimşek encapsulates their significance well in a 2014 interview at the archaeological site:
Baths were prepared at noon for people to wash and later served as a school in the afternoon. They were places for young people at the same time. The baths also hosted between 20–30 people for private meetings.
The baths were very important in that era because they were the places for meeting and education, as well as trade centres.127
Finally, we turn to the two large water distribution terminals and the important question of how adequately the city maintained its water supply.128 An inscribed fragment of a marble architrave block found in the north-western moor of the water tower retains this crucial phrase: "he made the reservoir from his own funds."129 Furthermore, several scholars have argued that an inscribed block, found on a block at the foot of a water tower, represents the dedication of the freedman Hedychrus to his patron:
"He, Hedychrus, built me and he called me 'Hedychrus' by establishing 123. ILaodikeia 18.
124. See Lilly Kahil, "La Sculpture," in Laodicée du Lycos: Le Nymphée Campagnes
1961–1963, ed. Jean des Gagniers et al. (Paris: de Boccard, 1969), 189–92, with plate opposite 190.
125. On the latrines, see Şimşek, Laodikeia, 177–79.
126. Şimşek, Laodikeia, 178 plate 232.
127. "Ancient Baths Double as Schools in Laodicea," Hurriyet Daily News, 11 June
2014, https://tinyurl.com/SBL4218c.
128. For the large water distribution terminals, see Traversari, Laodicea Di Frigia
I, 63, figs. 19 and 20; Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," fig. 20. For the travertine pipes, see fig. 19.
129. ILaodikeia 12 (first century CE).
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison me for his masters as the fruit of their labours."130 Craig Koester helpfully writes that the name Hedychrus, "which means 'sweet complexioned', apparently suited the pleasing quality of the water provided by the city's first-century water system."131 This is confirmed by a Laodicean epigram
(fourth–fifth century CE), probably belonging to a fountain house, which speaks of its high quality water in this manner: "To good fortune. We, the nymphs of the spring, have the sweet, clear water of the Aldiskos."132
But perhaps the most revealing find is a new inscription, excavated by Şimşek and announced in a popular 2015 Turkish publication,133 though, disappointingly, without the provision of the Greek text or a translation.
Şimşek elaborates upon the pivotal significance of the inscription thus:
"This inscription, which is of utmost importance, addresses issues such as maintenance of waterways to Laodikeia, their destruction, keeping the water uncontaminated and unlittered, and its use for orchard irrigation, as well as indicating severe fines for illegal use."134 The prominent inscription was inscribed on the eastern wing of the façade of Trajan's nymphaeum, overlooking the public square.
In a 2018 publication,135 Şimşek helpfully summarizes the content of the water law. Initially, the law deals with the illegal retention of public water from the city for private interests by means of its re-routing
(ll. 7–9). People who illegally use the city water for personal use will be fined 5000 denarii (ll. 9–11), as will corrupt public officials who siphon off water to private individuals (ll. 11–12). However, those who legally
130. ILaodikeia 13. For discussion, see pp. 362–63.
131. Craig R. Koester, "The Message to Laodicea and the Problem of Its Local Context: A Study of the Imagery in Rev 3:14–22," NTS 49 (2003): 410. See also the methodological discussion of the proper use of archaeological evidence in Lynn R.
Huber, "Making Men in Rev 2–3: Reading the Seven Messages in the Bath-Gymnasiums of Asia Minor," in Stones, Bones, and the Sacred: Essays on Material Culture and Ancient Religion in Honor of Dennis E. Smith, ed. Alan H. Cadwallader, ECL 21
(Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016), 101–28.
132. ILaodikeia 11.1–3. Trans. Koester, "Message to Laodicea," n. 6.
133. Celal Şimşek, "1900 Yillik Su Yasasi Balundu," Tübitak Bilim ve Teknik 49.576
(2015): 66–67, here 67.
134. Şimşek, "Urban Planning of Laodikeia," 8.
135. Celal Şimşek, "Laodikeia Water Law," in Future Cities: Second International
Urban Environment Health Congress. 16–29 April, 2018 Cappadocia, 199. The article is found on Şimşek's academia.edu website. The publication is in Turkish, with a brief
English abstract.
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buy water for their homes, gardens, and farms do not violate the imperial edict (ll. 12–14). In terms of the care of the water supply, the diameter of pipes for the water reservoir has very clear specifications (ll. 14–15); but, conversely, the illegal use of piped water for gold digging is fined (ll.
15–16). Moreover, 30,000 denarii are allocated for closing the top of the city water reservoir in order to protect this valuable resource (ll. 16–19).
At an administrative level, any magistrate or city official who removes any work on the pipes will be fined 12,500 denarii (ll. 19–20). Two honorable citizens from the city attend to the safety of the urban water supply (ll.
20–22), whereas the governor of the aqueduct and waterways ensures the security of provincial people's water as much as the water destined for the city center (ll. 23–25). In sum, the "magnificent cities" water formula creates equity for all (ll. 25–27).
This new evidence is pertinent for an important debate opened up by Koester.136 The great care that Laodicea took in maintaining the high quality of its water supply has been clearly demonstrated by the archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Consequently, Koester has justifiably called into question the suggestion that the so-called lukewarm water of Laodicea in Rev 3:16 was undrinkable. Certainly Strabo did not think so: his telling concession, "although their water was drinkable," proves otherwise (Geogr.
13.4.14). Nevertheless, Revelation commentators have often proposed that the Laodicean water changed its temperature from being cool to being lukewarm because it was channeled to the city from its springs source by means of an aqueduct: this, they claim, was the local origin of John's imagery. Alternatively, other scholars, as Lynn R. Huber notes, find the origin of the image to be drawn from Hierapolis: Laodicea piped in her water from her neighbor, with the result that the water was "medicinal tasting and nauseous."137
But, if these suggestions founder on the local evidence available, noted above, is there another ancient context that might be invoked to explain
John's imagery? Koester suggests that the lukewarm imagery should be understood against the backdrop of the hospitality rituals of antiquity where wine was served either chilled or warmed.138 The idea of a host offering lukewarm wine to his guests would have been highly insulting, and, therefore, the wine would be justifiably spat out of the mouth of its
136. Koester, "Message to Laodicea," 409–11.
137. Huber, "Making Men in Rev 2–3," 104.
138. Koester, "Message to Laodicea," 411–16.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison recipients. Thus the context of the metaphor is one of ancient feasting rituals as opposed to Laodicea's water distribution system. This is reinforced by John's later invitation to the auditors of his apocalypse to accept the invitation to the Lamb's wedding feast (Rev 19:7–10).
3.5. A Gymnasium The South Bath-Gymnasium complex, adjacent to the stadium, finds equivocal confirmation in the epigraphic evidence.139 In a 135 CE inscription the Greek word for "gymnasium" (γυμνάσιον) has been entirely restored by the editor: "To imperator Traianus Hadrianus Caesar Augustus and to Sabina Augusta: the council and people of Laaodicea dedicated the [gymnasium?] … when Gargilius Antiquus was proconsul."140 However, given the amount of spaces available on the stone, the editor Corsten also suggests that the original word could also be restored as βαλανεῖον
("bath").141 However, an inscription of the Zenon family, in a dedication to Antonia (first half of first century CE), there is reference to the "priest and gymnasiarch of the city."142 We have here, at the very least, epigraphic confirmation of the officials belonging to the gymnasium.143
The hermeneutical potential of bringing a bath-gymnasium perspective to Rev 2–3—enculturated as John's auditors were to the values of the gymnasium which was devoted to the construction of elite male identity—has been demonstrated by Huber. Although the values of the ancient gymnasium and early Christian communities are different, there are nonetheless interesting resonances in the rhetorical topoi employed in Revelation: that is, the construction of community identity, endurance in the face of hardship, valorized virtue, and the coronal awards of honorific culture, though postponed to the eschaton, to name a few.144 Did
John decide to pitch his summons to faithfulness to the risen Christ on 139. On the South Bath-Gymnasium complex, see Şimşek, Laodikeia, 196–201.
140. ILaodikeia 14.2.
141. Corsten, Die Inschriften von Laodikeia am Lykos, 50.
142. ILaodikeia 53.3; see also ILaodikeia 28.1; 47.4.
143. See James R. Harrison, "Paul and the Gymnasiarchs: Two Approaches to Pastoral Formation in Antiquity," in Paul: Jew, Greek, and Roman; Pauline Studies, ed.
Stanley E. Porter, vol. 5 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 141–78.
144. Huber, "Making Men in Rev 2–3," 108–25. On honorific crowning, see James R. Harrison, "'The Fading Crown': Divine Honour and the Early Christians," JTS 54
(2003): 493–529.
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the part of the Asian churches (Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14) in terms that, while resonating in familiar rhetorical ways, were designed to challenge the dominant values of the Asian elites and their paideia as much as the hegemony of the imperial beast?
3.6. The Cemeteries (Necropoleis) Surrounding the City on Its Four Sides The grave contents of the Laodicean necropoleis are typical of burial sites: bowls, ceramic lamps, coins, beads, jewellery, et cetera. Sometimes we find figurines of deities accompanying the deceased (e.g., Dionysius,
Aphrodite).145 But what religious beliefs undergirded such practices are difficult to identify. The quality of the other figurines found among the grave goods, including models of theater masks, is generally high.146 However, it is especially surprising that out the 1603 necropoleis finds catalogued by Şimşek only five inscriptions appear. Some of these merely comprise a list of three names with patronymics, accompanied by the traditional farewell of the deceased (ΧΑΙΡΕΤΕ).147
Another inscription imposes a fine upon anyone who violates the burial site by burying corpses other than the immediate family of the deceased.148 The heaviness of the fine and the preservation of the funerary epigraphic record in the public archives, while entirely conventional, demonstrates the seriousness with which such grave violations were viewed in antiquity:
Neratia Eutyche is buried in the coffin.
No one else can be buried in it except Aurelius Zosimianus and Neratius.
If anyone violates this (prohibition), the (fine) will be 2500 denarii 145. Şimşek, Okunak, and Bilgen, Laodikeia Nekropulü, §912 (Dionsius), §1531
(Aphrodite).
146. Şimşek, Okunak, and Bilgen, Laodikeia Nekropulü, §§605, 795, 913, 1506– 1508.
147. Şimşek, Okunak, and Bilgen, Laodikeia Nekropulü, §1149. Similarly, the inscription of the deceased Apollonides (p. 416). Sometimes the claim to possession of the burial site is made with great brevity (p. 414): "The sarcophagus belongs to Maustaria Aurelius Dionysius, who lived in Laodicea."
148. On the violation of tombs generally, see Dig. 47.12. I am indebted to Cadwallader for this reference.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison to the sacred treasury.
A copy of this (inscription) is placed in the (public) archives.149
Finally, there is in the necropolis of Laodicea an intriguing variation to conventional funeral practices, registered in our final inscription below.150
As we have seen from the inscription above, only family members were to be interred in allocated grave sites, with the possibility of penalties being invoked if this procedure was violated. But, in this case, a nonfamily member, as far as we can discern, is allowed to be buried in the grave of the very much alive grave-owner called Marcus. Marcus accedes to the corpse of Tatas being placed in his own grave site and donates the stela in memory of the deceased Tatas because of the public virtue (ἀρετή) of Tatas's two sons, Zosimos and Nikanor.
The inscription is silent as to whether there was a prior connection between the family of Tatas and the family of Marcus. Were they distant relations or perhaps close family friends? Was Marcus reciprocating a prior favor of Tatas and his sons? Was he ingratiating himself with the two sons for reasons unknown to us? Was he simply struck by the virtue of the family and helped these worthy fellow citizens of Laodicea in a time of crisis? Nevertheless, ancient readers may have been surprised by this departure from traditional burial rites on Marcus's part and would have responded to the grave-owner's own display of ἀρετή as much as the virtue of Tatas's two sons eulogized on the stone.
4. The Numismatic Identity of Laodicea In this section, for the sake of brevity, we will only focus on the Laodicean numismatic evidence from the death of Caesar to Domitian (44 BCE–CE
96), roughly corresponding to the period of the first two generations of the early Christians at Laodicea.151
In terms of the Julio-Claudian coins, we have already highlighted the strong association of Laodicea with Zeus through its original village, Dio149. Şimşek, Okunak, and Bilgen, Laodikeia Nekropulü, p. 506.
150. Şimşek, Okunak, and Bilgen, Laodikeia Nekropulü, §229.
151. For a much wider-ranging discussion of all the Laodicean coins, see Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 156–249. For a convenient list of all the available coins, see the "Catologue" therein, 254–358.
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spolis. This is heavily reinforced on the reverse of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian coins which depict Zeus Laodiceus standing to the left, accompanied by an eagle and staff.152 The Phrygian culture of Laodicea is also foregrounded with the reverse side showing its main deity, Men, wearing a Phrygian cap.153 On the Julio-Claudian and Flavian coins Apollo
(obverse) is accompanied by Isis (reverse), underscoring the importance of the Apolline oracular sites and the revelation dispensed there for Laodicea and Hierapolis.154 Other deities such as Aphrodite appear during the Julio-Claudian period, whereas Nike first appears on the Domitianic issues.155 The civic institutions of Laodicea receive attention too. Notably, the importance of the Laodicean demos, appearing on a republican coin issue and reappearing on an issue from the reign of Nero, predates the much later personification of the Roman senate, which is found on the coins of Caracalla.156
So far, the Julio-Claudian coin issues on their reverses have maintained local Phrygian and Laodicean referents notwithstanding the recognition of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian rulers on the obverse. Nonetheless, the Julio-Claudian obverses acknowledge the Augustan imperial age of blessing (ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ), symbolized on one issue by the cornucopia of plenty and the astrological auspiciousness of Capricorn, Augustus's birth sign.157
Other Julio-Claudian and Flavian relatives such as Agrippina II and Domi152. Augustus: RPC 1.2893–2896, 2898; Tiberius: RPC 1.2901, 2905, 2908, 2911;
Claudius: RPC 1.2912–2914; Nero: RPC 1.2917–2923, 2926; Vespasian: RPC 2.1268– 1270; Domitian: RPC 2.1282 [Hera facing Zeus Laodicus], 1288, 1292.
153. RPC 1.2907, 2927. Issues showing the Phrygian deity Men drop out in the Flavian period.
154. RPC 1.1294, 2903, 2905, 2909. See James R. Harrison, "The Inscriptions and Oracular Prophecy in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin: Assessing the Book of Revelation in Its Graeco-Roman Revelatory Context" in this volume.
155. Aphrodite: RPC 1.2910, 2924–2925. Nike: RPC 2.1286, 1293.
156. For coins of Nero, see Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 199; RPC 1.2892 (first century BCE?): the laureate head of Demos with drapery on shoulder; RPC 1.2928: the Demoi of Laodicea and Smyrna face each other, clasping hands and holding scepters.
For the Flavian period, see RPC 2.1271, 1276–1278. For coins of Caracalla, see Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 179–219, "Catalogue," §§B65–66. For discussion of personifications, indigenous (e.g., Hierapolis and Tyche; Demos; Gerousia; Boule) and Roman
(e.g., Roman senate; goddess Roma), in the inscriptions, numismatics and iconography of Hierapolis, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX, 129–32.
157. RPC 1.2897. See Tamsyn Barton, "Augustus and Capricorn: Astrological Polyvalency and Imperial Rhetoric," JRS 85 (1995): 33–51.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison tia are also honored, and the potential future heirs to imperial power in the Claudian era, Brittanicus and Nero, are similarly acknowledged.158 The goddess Roma makes her appearance from the Flavian period onwards.159
The three deities Zeus, Hera, and Athena make their first appearance on a coin of Domitian and correspond to the Capitoline deities (Jupiter, Juno,
Minerva) at Rome.160 On a Domitianic era coin with Roma on the obverse, the wolf and twins of Roman mythological origins are found on the reverse.161 Here we see a seamless interplay between the Julio-Claudian realities of political power in Asia Minor and the Laodicean commitment to their indigenous religious identities of the city.
Last, an intriguing coin issue emanates from the Neronian period, already noted. Purportedly, it shows on the reverse the Demoi of Laodicea facing each other, who mutually clasp hands, while holding scepters.162 What has grabbed scholarly attention and has divided interpreters is the legend on the reverse: ΑΝΤΩ ΖΗΝΩΝΟΣ ΖΗΝΩΝ ΥΙΟΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ
ΖΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ ΟΜΗΡΟΣ. The odd order of the words, the difficulties posed by their interrelation, and where the punctuation should be placed has led to competing translations of the legend. This also affects how we understand the identity of the two figures on the coin's reverse and how we understand the intention of the coin. We cannot enter here into the reasons for the differing translations, but the reader is referred to the comments in the Roman Provincial Coinage (vol. 1) and in the doctoral thesis of Armstrong.163 Three alternate translations have been proposed:
1. Antonius Zenon, Son of Zenon. Peace pledge [ΟΜΗΡΟΣ] of the Laodicians and of the Smyrnans.164
2. Zenon, son of Antonius Zenon. Peace pledge [ΟΜΗΡΟΣ] of the Laodicians and of the Smyrnans.
3. Antonius Zenon. Zenon, son of the Laodicians. Homer [ΟΜΗΡΟΣ], (son) of the Smyrnans.
158. Agrippina II: RPC 1.2918; Domitia: RPC 2.1281–1285, 1290–1292; Brittanicus: RPC 1.2915; Nero: RPC 1.2915.
159. RPC 2.1279–1280, 1293–1295. See Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 220–49.
160. RPC 2.1282–1283. See Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 165–78.
161. RPC 2.1295.
162. RPC 1.2928.
163. RPC 1.2928 (notes); Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 156–63.
164. For discussion of Antonius, see Thonemann, Maeander Valley, 210–12.
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At the outset, it must be acknowledged that certainty of interpretation in the case of this coin is impossible. In translations (1) and (2), the first named figure—however we translate his name—is the magistrate responsible for the coin's minting (i.e., the moneyer). The word ΟΜΗΡΟΣ, translated here as "peace pledge," is arguably the precursor of the later abstraction ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ ("sameness of mind," "unity"), a word which is found on coins establishing concord between the cities of Asia Minor (e.g.,
Hierapolis and Ephesus; Laodicea and Smyrna).165 Hence the figures on the reverse represent the Demoi of Laodicea and Smyrna, who demonstrate their unity by facing each other and clasping hands, while retaining the symbols of their independence by holding scepters. Thus the potential conflicts aroused by interstate rivalries in Asia Minor are overcome by this act of homonoia. Notably, as John Lotz has argued, the peace and unity articulated in Eph 1:21 represents an alternative construct to the political model espoused in Asia Minor.166
In translation (3), the first named individual is the moneyer. The next two individuals are Zenon, a member of a wealthy family from Laodicea,167 and Homer, the famous Greek epic poet whose home town was, according to tradition, Smyrna. Thus, as Strong argues, the coin reveals Laodicea's concern with its own status and identity. This Laodicean coin "is a definitive statement about its own Hellenism and cultural importance."168
Simultaneously, however, the legend on the reverse on this Neronian coin, represents an astute nod to Nero's phihellenism on the part of Laodicea.
5. Epigraphic Vignettes of Laodicea: Gods, Benefactors, the Heroic Past, and the Jewish Community So far we have touched upon many Laodicean inscriptional motifs: the relation of archaeological sites to their inscriptions, spectacles and gladiators, theater seating, funeral culture, and water distribution, among others.
165. See John Paul Lotz, "The HOMONOIA Coins of Asia Minor and Ephesians 1:21," TynBul 50.2 (1999): 173–88; Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 294–300 (Laodicea),
338–48 (Hierapolis), 349 (Colossae).
166. Lotz, "HOMONOIA Coins." See the fragmentary letter of an unidentified Caesar or governor on rivalries between states: ILaodikeia 10.
167. For the evidence, see Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 163.
168. Armstrong, Roman Phrygia, 164.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison In our final section we will explore four inscriptional vignettes that throw further light on Laodicean society.
5.1. The Gods The divine world is always at the center of Laodicean society, an emphasis which the inscriptions consistently reveal. First, the involvement of Laodikeia in the Apolline cult at Claros surfaces in several inscriptions. There is mention of a prophet, Lucius Antonius Aurelianus, in an honorific dedication.169 Among the twenty-five inscriptions discussed by Robert, each of which records the arrival of a Laodicean delegation to the oracular sanctuary of Apollo of Claros, there is mention of various prophets of Laodicea among the delegates.170 Last, a fragmentary oracle of Claros and a lot oracle have also been discovered at Laodicea.171
Second, an inscriptional dedication links the Roman ruler to the tutelary deity of Laodicea in an address to Domitian, whose name has been erased from the inscription in damnatio memoriae: "for Zeus Megistos
Soter and Imperator [[Domitian]] Caesar Augustus Germanicus."172 Elsewhere there is another dedication to Zeus Soter and the divine Augusti.173
Significantly, in both dedications above, the address to Zeus precedes the address to the Roman ruler: the founding god of the city, therefore, had preeminence. There are also dedications to Zeus Patrios by himself or in conjunction with other closely associated deities, as seen in a splendid relief of Zeus and Hermes on the stela of an inscription (cf. Acts 14:11–12).174
Third, in a fragmentary inscription, an unnamed Laodicean dedicates gilded statues to the Erotes for his "night generalship,"175 which, in his case, was carried out according to decree in his role as a night police offi169. ILaodikeia 67. See the exhaustive discussion on pp. 289–312.
170. ILaodikeia 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21 [restored], 22, 23, 24; see also the discussion on pp. 299–303.
171. ILaodikeia 68–69.
172. ILaodikeia 24. For discussion, see Rosalinde A. Kearsley, "Epigraphic Evidence for the Social Impact of Roman Government in Laodicea and Hierapolis," in Cadwallader and Trainor, Colossae in Space and Time, 132–38. On erasure in antiquity, see James R. Harrison, "The Erasure of Honour: Paul and the Politics of Dishonour,"
TynBul 66.2 (2016): 161–84.
173. ILaodikeia 62A.
174. Zeus: ILaodikeia 26; see also 62. Zeus and Hermes: ILaodikeia 125, with plate.
175. ILaodikeia 70.
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cer. Importantly, the fear of night crime in antiquity is also reflected in Jesus's brief parable on the thief in the night (Matt 24:43)
Fourth, an honorific inscription employs the language of mercy to describe the goddess, Hestia, whose role of protecting home, family and state is enlisted for the fatherland. What is slightly unusual is that mercy or pity is not readily granted by the gods in antiquity:
[–] Terentius Longinus (consecrated) the gracious [ἵλεων] goddess Hestia to the fatherland with the base and altar for the office over and above the revenues; he has also twice gone on an embassy at his own expense, both to Lucius Caesar and to the great Imperator Titus Aelius Hadrianus
Antoninus Augustus Pius to Rome for the time of (his) office.176
5.2. Benefactors Our epigraphic evidence provides us insight into the benefaction culture of the elite citizens of Laodicea. Building programs and monetary foundations were the substance of their munificent activity. We have already referred to the role that the family of Nikostratos played across the generations in the building and maintenance of the stadium amphitheater at Laodicea. Other examples surface in our inscriptions. Q. Pomponius
Flaccus is honored by the city because he "has laid out a marble pavement for Zeus at his own expense."177 Ti Claudius Tryphon, freedman of Tiberius Claudius Augustus, "built the walls and towers and the triple gate."178 Pythadoros gives 3000 drachmae for "a crown for the Apollonis tribe of the council."179
However, other types of activities such as embassies and night-policing on behalf of the city were also conducted at the expense of the benefactor, as the previously mentioned honorific inscription to Terentius Longinus, ambassador of the city, demonstrates. The honorific decree of Q. Pomponius Flaccus, also mentioned above, sums up his night-policing role and ambassadorship on behalf of Laodicea thus: "who, according to the laws,
176. ILaodikeia 65. David Konstan (Pity Transformed [London: Duckworth, 2001], 110) writes: "Divine pity, however, is not a quality on which human beings can rely safely. In general, characters in Homer do not ask the gods for pity, and when they do, it is always with the recognition that the result of such petition is at best doubtful."
177. ILaodikeia 82.11–12.
178. ILaodikeia 24b.3.
179. ILaodikeia 84.7–8.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison was a night general and undertook at his own expense an embassy for his hometown to Rome."180 We have also already seen that a dedication of gilded statues to the Erotes was made for the worshiper's (presumably dangerous) role as a night policeman. Benefactors, it seems, were as concerned for the city's civic safety as much for its buildings and grain provision.
5.3. The Heroic Past Reborn An epigram from a tomb at Laodikeia praises the σωφροσύνη and the appearance of its honorand, Epigonos, claiming that he is superior in virtue and descent to the mythological heroes of the Trojan war: namely, the Greek Achilleus and the Trojan Hector.181 The inflated claim is bold when one remembers that Rome derived her mythological origins solely from the Trojan heroes, Aeneas and his family, who had fled the war upon the sack of the city by the Greeks:
Tomb none other you see, passers by, than that of Epigonos, whose virtue [τὰν ἀρετάν] Time will not quench, leaving behind first place in the presence of the living on account of his prudence [σωφροσύνας] and his most godlike shape [θειοτάτος μορφᾶς]; even Achilleus, Hector, son of Priam, and Hippolytus, who fled his father's marriage bed, were not as Epigonos, the son of Andreas, the well-born [εὐγενέτα], a king of same father.
But Epigonos remains with the survivors on a monument; also Achilleus the son of Thetis, did not escape Fate [μοιρ(ᾶ)ν].182
Whereas Fate had triumphed over the Greek hero Achilleus, the virtue of Epigonos not only trumps Time itself but also outshines the illustrious reputation of all Homeric heroes, Greek and Trojan. But that is not the end of the mythological allusions in the epigram. Hippolytus, the illegitimate
180. ILaodikeia 82.10–12.
181. ILaodikeia 81.
182. For another Homeric epigraphic example, see IG 10051 in Stephen Mitchell, "The Ionians of Paphlagonia," in Local Knowledge and Microidentities in the Imperial
Greek World, ed. Tim Whitmarsh (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 95. See also G. H. R. Horsley, "Homer in Pisidia: Aspects of the History of Greek
Education in a Remote Roman Province," Antichthon 34 (2000): 46–81. For a hero cult inscription at Philippi, see James R. Harrison, "Excavating the Urban and Country Life of Roman Philippi and Its Territory," in The First Urban Churches 4: Roman
Philippi, ed. James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018), 29.
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son of the Athenian king Theseus, was killed after rejecting the sexual advances of his stepmother Phaedra ("who fled his father's marriage bed").
Once again, Epigonos is not only vastly superior in virtue to the adulterous royal house of Athens but also, in contrast to its tragic illegitimate prince
Hippolytus, is "well-born." In reality, this pretentious funerary epigram was a curious expression of a wider phenomenon of the Second Sophistic, best exemplified by Philostratus's On Heroes. In that literary work, readers were exposed to what was claimed to be a truer and more accurate version of the Trojan War than Homer's version, reflecting through the epic tradition the continuing historical importance of hero cults in the third century CE.183
5.4. The Jewish Community of Laodicea The Jewish inscriptions at Laodicea are especially sparse. Only two inscriptions are extant: IJO 2.212–213, but, importantly, the sarcophagus of L.
Nonius Glycon (IJO 2.213) refers to the stipulations of Deuteronomy in issuing a warning against the unauthorized use of the grave: "to him (will come) the curses that are written in Deuteronomy." This feature was also found at Jewish graves in Acmonia in Phrygia (CIJ 760; cf. MAMA 6.335).184
Not only is the explicit reference to the Old Testament Scriptures significant, but also the fact that is assumed that the Jewish reader knows to which section of Deuteronomy is being referred: Peter W. van der Horst postulates Deut 28:22, 28–29.185 We are dealing with a diaspora community that draws its identity and ethics from the Old Testament scriptures in its urban context and which demonstrates its piety by warning (presumably) other
Jews about the divine wrath facing those who violate the Deuteronomic commandments.186 Graeco-Roman readers would have been puzzled by 183. Flavius Philostratus, On Heroes, trans. Ellen Bradshaw Aitken and Jennifer
K. Berenson McLean (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001).
184. See Peter W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs: An Introductory Survey of a Millennium of Jewish Funerary Epigraphy (300 BCE–700 CE) (Kampen: Kok
Pharos, 1991), 56–57.
185. Van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs, 56; see also Paul Trebilco, Jewish Communities in Asia Minor, SNTSMS 69 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1991), 62–69.
186. Trebilco (Jewish Communities in Asia Minor, 65–66) rejects the suggestion that this is a magical use of the Deuteronomic text, arguing that the Jewish community
"was acting in accord with the intent of the passage" (66).
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison the Deuteronomic reference but, in line with their culture, they would have understood the prohibition perfectly well at a general level. But the very specificity of the Deuteronomic reference poses the question whether the prohibition is only intended for intra-mural consumption.
Furthermore, historical caution is required regarding the distinctiveness of such sentiments among Jews living in the Lycus Valley. As we have seen from an inscription from the Laodicean necropolis, noted above, warnings regarding the violation of tombs were widespread in antiquity. It seems probable, then, that the Jewish community at Laodicea adapted culturally to well-known Graeco-Roman funeral customs in Asia Minor, but in their case articulated these practices from an Old Testament perspective.187
However, it is not the case at nearby Hierapolis that warnings regarding violations of Jewish tombs carried a reference to the Deuteronomic commandments.188 This textual reference is a predilection of Acmonia and Laodicea alone in Phrygia, both of whom, seemingly, felt that they had to redefine existing funeral conventions by reference to Scripture. Why, then, did Jews in Laodicea resort to this scriptural strategy whereas other
Jews living in the same valley at Hierapolis did not? We do not know the answer other than the variegation with diaspora Judaism in Asia Minor.
Part 3. Hierapolis: An Iconographic and Epigraphic Portrait 1. Iconography, Mythology, and the Civic Identity of Hierapolis
The cities of the Greek East, in the period of the Second Sophistic, turned to the mythic past and their traditional gods in negotiating place for their own civic identity in the Roman Empire. Various manifestations of cultural archaism in the Greek world occurred during the period of the Second Sophistic (late first century CE−early third century CE) and were also facilitated by the philhellenism of Hadrian. This movement was not 187. Walter Ameling ("The Epigraphic Habit and the Jewish Diasporas of Asia
Minor and Syria," in From Hellenism to Islam: Cultural and Linguistic Change in the Roman Near East, ed. Hannah M. Cotton et al. [Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2009], 207–8) argues that the Jews of Laodicea adapted to the Phrygian cultural custom of "cursing" in funerary epitaphs.
188. Richard S. Ascough, Philip A. Harland, and John S. Kloppenborg, Associations in the Greco-Roman World (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press; Berlin: de
Gruyter, 2012), §§150–151.
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only confined to linguistic Atticism and paideia but also demonstrated increased concern for the mythical past and local religious traditions, including the continuing vitality of the Greek oracular sanctuaries. Elite benefactors in the Greek East vied with each other to build large urban monuments and sponsor elaborate civic processions that honored their city's protecting deities and celebrated the founder traditions associated with local myths.189 However, Roman rule and its cult were not supplanted by the elite endorsement of Greek religious traditions relating to the civic identity of each Asian city. Rather the elites worked cooperatively with their Roman overlords, acquiring additional status through imperial priesthoods and by integrating local religious traditions with the realities of Roman power and patronage.
The theater reliefs at Hierapolis, finished during the Severan period (206 CE), are found on the large richly decorated scaenae frons, which provides a spectacular backdrop to the stage (logeion).190 The originals, housed in the Pamukkale Museum, "present a narrative through images of the myths tied to the two most important deities at Hierapolis and, indeed, in the whole of Asia Minor."191 At the central exedra, the Apollo cycle of reliefs radiates to the right whereas the Artemis cycle radiates to the left.
The details of the reliefs are set out below.
(1) The Apollo cycle of reliefs commences with the sacred wedding of Zeus and Leto and moves to the birth of the child Apollo and his training from infancy to adulthood, highlighting Apollo's maturation in his punish189. For discussion of processions at Hierapolis, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX,
139–42.
190. See D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 157, figs. 135, 137. For discussion, see
Ritti, Hierapolis I, 55–77, 105–25; Francesco D'Andria and Tullia Ritti, Hierapolis II:
Le sculture del teatro; I rilievi con I cicli di Apollo e Artemide, Archaeologica 54 (Rome:
Bretschneider, 1985); Simon Price, "Local Mythologies in the Greek East," in Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces, ed. Christopher Howgego, Volker Heuchert, and Andrew Burnett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 118–19; Diana Yi-man Ng,
Manipulation of Memory: Public Buildings and Decorative Programs in Roman Cities of Asia Minor (PhD Thesis, University of Michigan, 2007), esp. 97–143; D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 147–81; Bailey Benson, The Creation of Shared Memory: The Theater
Reliefs from Hierapolis (MA thesis, Chapel Hill, 2014). On the theater and stage at Hierapolis, note the fragmentary inscription: "and [author of] contributions of theater and stage [ … ]" (Tullia Ritti, Fonti Letterarie ed Epigraphi: Hierapolis Scavi e Ricerche
[Rome: Bretschneider, 1985], 91–92, pl. 9a).
191. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 161.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison ment of the hubristic Adonis and his triumph over a serpent-like giant on a griffin-led chariot.192 From here the relief concentrates on the local Asian
Marsyas myth, with another scene of the punishment of hybris, leading to the eventual apotheosis of Apollo and his crowning by the nymphs.193 In the final section of the relief, Apollo is identified as the god of purification and as the god Musagetes, the conductor of the choir of the Muses.194 The relief culminates in the personification of Tyche (Fortune) of Hierapolis.195
(2) The Artemis cycle of reliefs parallels the progression of the Apollo cycle.196 The birth of Artemis progresses from her infancy to her maturation as the huntress goddess, symbolized by another chariot scene with Artemis as the driver.197 Another example of the punishment of hybris is displayed in the images of Artemis killing the fleeing daughters of Niobe.198
The local Anatolian myths about Artemis are preferred to classical traditions about the goddess, with imagery derived from the annual procession from Ephesus, along the Sacred Way, to Artemis's sanctuary, as well as scenes of cultic sacrifice and the divinities (Dike, Nemesis) from the Asian athletic contests.199
(3) Further reliefs, found on the upper orders of the theater, show the god Dionysos. His presence on these reliefs is appropriate because he is the god "who presides over all dramatic performance, (and) reinforces the significance of the Muses."200 The allusion back to the deities Musagetes and the Muses in the Apollo cycle is clear enough.
(4) On the central block of the Porta Regia above the doorway, various reliefs of the imperial family of Septimius Severus are depicted.201 Rather than the Roman ruler in Rome being personally disconnected from the 192. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 162–165, figs. 142a and 142b.
193. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 162, figs. 142a 6, 7 and 163, figs. 142a 8, 9,
10. For details of the myth, see Price, "Local Mythologies in the Greek East," 118.
194. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 164–5, fig. 142b.
195. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 165, fig. 142b 16.
196. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 171–75, esp. figs. 150a and 150b.
197. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 172, fig. 150a 1, 2 and 173, fig. 150a 3.
198. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 172, fig. 150a 4. For details of the myth, see
Price, "Local Mythologies in the Greek East," 118–19.
199. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 175, fig. 150b 5, 6, 7, 8; 176.
200. D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 139.
201. On the central section, Ng, Manipulation of Memory, 127–35; Benson, Creation of Shared Memory, 34–38. On the left and right sections of the Port Regia reliefs, omitted here, 30–34.
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
eastern provinces, this relief probably alludes to Severus's visits to the province of Asia in 194 and 202 CE.202 Hierapolis was intimately connected to the imperial family by virtue of the fact that one of their prominent citizens, the sophist Aelieus Antipater, was tutor to Severus's sons Geta and Caracalla (Philostratus, Vit. soph. 2.24). Finally, other nearby figures show (probably) Agon crowning himself and a figure epigraphically identified as Agonothesia (Ἀγωνο[θε]σία), alluding to the local Pythian games.203
Another figure personifies the city Hierapolis, placed alongside the local god of the Chrysorhoas river.204
What do we make of this rich interplay of Apolline, Artemesian, and imperial motifs at the theater of Hierapolis? The Apolline connection underscores the presence of the oracular at Hierapolis and Apollo's healing and purifying powers over a local plague.205 This connection was also present in an oracle articulating the triumph of Artemis over (the perceived) sorcerer's infliction of a plague at Sardis.206 Specific motifs from local myth are emphasized in the cycles of Apollo and Artemis as opposed to the generic myths ubiquitously found abroad. The punishment of hybris in each cycle warns Hierapolis to be faithful and submissive to her local gods and goddesses. The local Artemis traditions of Hierapolis are brought into dialogue with the Artemis traditions of Ephesus, conveying the impression of a shared past.207 The crowning of Artemis by the nymphs would link the myth directly with the Nymphaeum of the Tritons, which was soon afterwards dedicated at Hierapolis (ca. 218–236
CE).208
202. Benson, Creation of Shared Memory, 39–42.
203. Ritti, Hierapolis I, 61, pl. 2a.
204. Note the two inscriptional acclamations of Hierapolis: "Prosper, o Hierapolis!"; "Great fortune of the city!" (Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §22). See also
Ritti, Hierapolis I, 62, pl. 2a.
205. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §§16, 38.
206. James R. Harrison, "Artemis Triumphs over a Sorcerer's Evil Art," NewDocs 10 (2012): 37–47.
207. Benson, Creation of Shared Memory, 27.
208. See Francesco D'Andria, "Gods and Amazons in the Nymphaeums of Hierapolis," in Roman Sculpture in Asia Minor: Proceedings of the International Conference, May 24–26, 2007, Cavallino (Lecce), ed. Francesco D'Andria and Ilaria Romeo,
JRASup81 (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2011), 150–72. For the Nymphaeum's dedications, see Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §12. Note the third century epigram honoring Hierapolis for its nymphs (§21): "Sacred town, town of
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison Last, these mythic traditions are entwined with imperial cult, given resonance by the Roman ruler's visits to Asia and the strong connection of Hierapolis with the imperial family. D. Yi-man Ng proposes that the emperor "is shown as but one of the devotees, albeit the most exalted one, of Hierapolis' local cults."209 While this interpretation is possible in terms of the iconography, the dedicatory inscription in the theater points to the status equivalence of Septimius Severus, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Geta, and Julia Domna with Apollo Archegetes and the ancestral gods.210 The central position of Septimius Severus and his family in the upper level of the theater's decoration, with the personified Hierapolis to the imperial family's left, reinforces the message of equivalence. Elsewhere in the theater, reliefs of the old Pergameme kings, Attalus and Eumenes, also appear, affirming the fact that the Romans and their gods are the legitimate successors to the ruler cult of the Pergameme royalty.211
2. Epigraphic Vignettes of Hierapolis 2.1. The Indigenous Gods of Hierapolis At the outset we might ask how worship of the indigenous gods adapted to the arrival of the imperial cult at Hierapolis.212 While there are dedications to the Roman rulers for their beneficence at Hierapolis and honorific monuments erected by their clients at Laodicea,213 the inscriptions of Hierapolis are fascinating for the way that the Roman rulers and their family are often linked with the indigenous deities in the initial address to the ruler: for example, Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, and Zeus; Apollo gold, may you own the most advantageous territory of all of vast Asia, lady of the Nymphs, adorned by the splendour of (your) waters."
209. Ng, Manipulation of Memory, 142–43.
210. Ng, Manipulation of Memory, 236–37; Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis,
§24 (206–208 CE).
211. Ritti, Hierapolis I, 119–20; Price, "Local Mythologies in the Greek East," 124.
212. For discussion of the imperial cult at Hierapolis, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia
IX, 132–37.
213. E.g., Titus: ILaodikeia 9 [l. 9: φιλόκαισαρ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων]; Domitian: ILaodikeia
24. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §10. Note also the dedication to apotheosized
Livia (Λιβίαν θεάν) in Tullia Ritti and H. Hüseyin Baysal, eds., Museo Archeologico di
Denizli-Hierapolis: Catalogo delle iscrizioni greche e latine (Naples: Liguori Editore,
2008), §48: For Hadrian, see §19: "to [Hadrian] Olympios and Panhellenios."
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
Archegetes, the protecting deity of the city, and Severus Alexander; Zeus Olympios, the ancestral gods, and Hadrian.214 From the beginning of the Julio-Claudian era, some of the local Asian mints either identify the Roman ruler and his family with various deities or the local deity with the goddess Roma on their coins.215
The Roman rulers were also occasionally involved in official decisions regarding the rights of the indigenous cults. In a letter of Hadrian to Hierapolis, which was returned with the city's ambassadors upon their congratulating him at Rome with a gold crown at his accession to power, the Roman ruler reaffirmed the rights of shelter (asylium: "place of refuge") at their sanctuaries.216 This was a prestigious honor and a rare privilege, given that Tiberius had formerly abolished such rights in Asia (Tacitus, Ann. 3.60–63; Suetonius, Tib. 37). Furthermore, Hadrian sent back the crown with the ambassadors, not because he was snubbing
Hierapolis (indeed, contra: "feeling satisfied by the honor"), but rather, on account of the enormous expense of the crown, he was returning it as an unexpected benefaction.
In addition to dispensing asylum, the indigenous gods could dispense punishment.217 Insight into the invocation of the retribution of the indig214. Gaius Caesar: Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §34. Apollo Archegetes:
Note the prayer: "May the Archegetes be propitious to you" (Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §22). Severus Alexander: Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §12; see also
§14 [unnamed emperor]). See also Ritti and Baysal, Museo Archeologico di DenizliHierapolis, §29: "to Zeus Sotēr and to the divine Augusti." Zeus Olympios: Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §20.
215. For example, on the reverse of a leaded bronze coin from Smyrna, Livia is shown as Aphrodite (RPC 1.1.2467 [Augusta]), Drusilla as Persephone (RPC 1.1.2473
[Caligulan]), and Poppaea as Nike (RPC 1.1.2486 [Neronian]). In the case of Ephesus, on the reverse of a copper coin Roma stands, holding the scepter and cult statue of Artemis (RPC 1.1.2632). Sometimes an entirely Roman emphasis is articulated. On a brass coin of Tiberius from Smyrna (RPC 1.1.2469), the obverse displays the Senate and Livia, whereas the reverse renders a temple with four columns enclosing a statue of the emperor as Pontifex. No identification with any indigenous deity is made in this instance. The Flavian coins from Asia universally identify the Roman ruler or family member with indigenous deities by coupling his/her image on the obverse with a deity on the reverse.
216. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §36: Hadrian says, "As far as the rights of asylum that were given to your ancestral gods by the kings and emperors and senate, that have been ratified even by the divine Trajan, I [confirm] them as well."
217. For the inscriptions of the indigenous deities at Hierapolis, see Ritti and
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison enous gods is afforded by the imprecation of P. Ail. Apollinarios Makedon against potential desecrators of his and his wife's tomb at Hierapolis. After outlining the fines against those who might interfere with the burial site, the inscription (second half of second century CE) on the blocks beneath the entablature above the tomb's entrance then says:
The man who does anything against the prescriptions will be liable to fines, and may he not know the pleasure of children and of life, may the earth be not accessible and the sea not navigable, but may he die with all sufferings, childless [ἄκτενος] and destitute [ἄβιος] and deformed
[πήρος], and may he find after his death the gods of the underworld punishing and enraged, both the man who has ordered it to be built or made, and the workman.218
The unusual savagery of the retributive justice invoked in this particular inscription can be deduced from the fact that among J. Strubbe's collection of 404 imprecations,219 ἄβιος and πήρος (literally, "disabled in a limb,"
"maimed") are only found in this inscription. Otherwise the imprecation is entirely conventional.
Last, usually little is revealed in the honorific inscriptions regarding the rituals of the indigenous cults, other than the glimpses we receive, for example, in the honoring of an Ephesian priestess of Artemis, whom I have discussed elsewhere (IEph 3.987).220 But an inscription from Hierapolis reveals on what days the priest Tiberius Julius Myndios was to make libations and sacrifices to Zeus, presentations of new roses, bathing for Zeus, and sacrifices for the Deia after the Augustus day.221 Such cultic knowlBaysal, Museo Archeologico di Denizli-Hierapolis, §§27–47. See also their accompanying iconography in plates §§31A, 31B, 32–34, 42. For discussion, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX, 99–129.
218. Johann Strubbe, ed., ΑΡΑΙ ΕΡΙΤΥΜΒΙΟΙ: Imprecation against Desecrators of the Grave in the Greek Epitaphs of Asia Minor; A Catalogue (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt,
1997), §285.9–12 (= Walther Judeich, "Inschriften," in Altertümer von Hierapolis, ed.
Carl Humann [Berlin: Reimer, 1898], §339). For a picture of the tomb and the entablature on which the inscription is, see Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, 57.
219. Strubbe, ΑΡΑΙ ΕΡΙΤΥΜΒΙΟΙ, passim. Note the Ephesian curse against impiety and sacrilege in a synhedrion decree regulating the annual sacrifices to the emperor Commodus for his eternal continuance (IEph Ia 26.10, 22–23).
220. James R. Harrison, "Family Honour of a Priestess of Artemis," NewDocs 10 (2012): 34–35.
221. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §37 (117–137 CE).
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
edge, taken for granted by its adherents and casual observers, is seldom revealed epigraphically. Finally, it is important to realize that benefactors of the indigenous private associations could also be sponsors of the imperial cult in various capacities in the public sphere: the elites sought honor on multiple fronts.
2.2. Benefactors of Hierapolis In the case of Hierapolis, an archgallos, the head of the college of worshipers of Cybele and Attis, "has taken decorous care and has served the gods in a way worthy of the praise."222 Again at Hierapolis, the Latin-named
Pompeianus dedicates a statue of Tyche to Apollo Archegetes for his position of stephanephoros (holder of Apollo's sacred crown) and agoranomos
(inspector of the market).223 Without the eastern Mediterranean elites heavily funding the official civic cults and festivals, local association activities, the gods of the gymnasia and the games, including filling their various priesthoods, we would not be witnessing the strong revitalization of traditional indigenous religion during the first three centuries CE. Examples of other traditional civic benefactions can also be cited, such as the honorific list of the financiers of a building or the temple and stoas funded by Glykon, son of the priest Teimoxenos.224 Again, without the wealthy elites and the honorific culture driving them, the city would not have been able to afford the beautifying of its public spaces.225
222. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §27. On the archaeology of the Plutonium ("place of Pluto") and the castrated priests of Cybele who descended into the small cave at Hierapolis, see Francesco D'Andria, Cehennem'Den Cennet'e Hierapolis (Pamukkale): Ploutonion Aziz Philippus'un Mezari ve Kutsal Alani (Istanbul: Ege
Yayinlari, 2014), written in Turkish; D'Andria, "Nature and Cult in the Ploutonion of Hierapolis before and after the Colony," in Landscape and History in the Lykos Valley:
Laodikeia and Hierapolis in Phrygia, eds. Celal Şimşek and Francesco D'Andria (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), 207–40. Larry J. Kreitzer
("The Plutonium of Hierapolis and the Descent of Christ into the 'Lowermost Parts of the Earth' (Ephesians 4:9)," Bib 79 [1998]: 381–93) has argued that the Plutonium is the geographical location that Paul wants his Ephesian auditors to imagine when he speaks of Christ entering the lowermost parts of the earth (Eph 4:9). For a picture of the entrance to the Plutonium, see D'Andria, Hierapolis of Phrygia, 142, fig. 125.
223. Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §43.
224. Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §§22–23.
225. It would be unwise to restrict the contribution of building at Hierapolis to
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison 2.3. Spectacles at Hierapolis We have already discussed the gladiatorial spectacles that were held at Laodicea's stadium, along with the gladiator inscriptions and the iconography of their funeral stelae in the city. We have a similar wealth of information for spectacles at Hierapolis.226 Several examples will suffice.
A singular epigram from a gladiator stela at Hierapolis reveals how its honorand, Stephanos, died. The epigram arouses pathos through its explanation of the circumstances leading up to his death. Despite his display of courage and being crowned for victories in ten contests, Stephanos is nevertheless disconsolate. The reason, it seems, is that before he died he had to kill, probably in gladiatorial combat, a companion who had saved his life on another occasion. The gladiatorial cycle of bouts, if the competitor was to survive and be successful, sometimes involved heart-wrenching decisions for the combatant:
First celebrated in stadiums, I met death after killing an opponent filled with unreasoning hate.
My name is Stephanos; crowned ten times in contest, I die and in the long ages I will remain encircled in the womb of the earth; but my courage never left me, before with my hands I had to come to kill the defender of my life.
Polychronis made the inscription in memory.227 the elite benefactors alone. Note the inscription dedicated to the citizen of Herapolis,
M. Aur. Ammianos, who devised a water-powered twin saw for cutting stones for civic building projects. For the third century CE inscription and the iconography of the device on the sarcophagus relief, see Tullia Ritti, Klaus Grewe and Paul Kessner,
"A Relief of a Water-Powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and Its
Implications," JRA 20 (2007): 139–63.
226. For the inscriptions, see Ritti, Fonti Letterarie ed Epigraphi, 97–101; Robert,
Les gladiateurs dans l'orient grec, §§121–126. See also Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §§62–63, plates 62–63. For description of the iconography, see
Carter, Presentation of Gladiatorial Spectacles, "Catalogue of Inscriptions," §§341–348.
On gladiators at Hierapolis, see Tullia Ritti and Salim Yilmaz, Gladiatori e venationes a Hierapolis di Frigia (Rome: Accademia Naz. dei Lincei, 1998); Ritti, Hierapolis di
Frigia IX, 181–86. For victors at the athletic and artistic games held at Hierapolis, see
Ritti et al., Museo Archaeologicodi Denizli-Hierapolis, §§60–61. For discussion of the games, see Ritti, Hierapolis di Frigia IX, 168–81.
227. Ritti, Fonti Letterarie ed Epigraphi, 97–98 (= Robert, Les gladiateurs dans l'orient grec, §124). The translation is indebted to Ritti.
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
Last, what light does the iconography of the Hierapolis stelae throw upon the New Testament? We will focus on two important reliefs which depict prisoners condemned to death by the beasts (damnatio ad bestias) in the arena.228 First, a graphic relief shows three loin-clothed men, criminals to be executed in the arena, walking towards the right in a procession with eyes cast down towards the ground. Each man carries a placard over his right shoulder and has a rope draped around his neck.229 There are, however, no indications of any beasts in the relief, but dismemberment by wild animals would have been a typical punishment. Nevertheless, Paul was well aware of the potency of visual imagery like this throughout the Roman Empire. In 1 Cor 4:9b the dishonored apostles are depicted as shuffling last of all into the Corinthian theater, appointed to die or perform there for the entertainment of the highly honored, including the celestial audience (1 Cor 4:9b). Significantly, the visual dimensions of shame in the Hierapolis relief (placards, downcast eyes, neck rope) are also reflected in the terminology of shame (μωροί, ἀσθενεῖς, ἄτιμοι) that Paul applies to the apostles (1 Cor 4:10) so that, in a paradoxical reversal of status, the Corinthians might become wise (φρόνιμοι), strong (ἰσχυροί), and honorable
(ἔνδοξοι) in Christ.230
Second, a partially mutilated relief displays the execution of a condemned man. The man, covered by an undergarment, is tied to a pole across his chest, with his legs and arms free. To his left a large bear, clambering up the pole, begins to tear him apart. The horror and cruelty of the scene is not avoided, with greater precision of rendering being given to the bear.231
Again, in 1 Cor 15:32, the apostle graphically says he fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, so much so that, rather than this merely being a metaphorical reference, some commentators from the past have wondered whether the apostle actually did fight wild animals in the city's amphitheater.232
228. For a highly weathered relief showing diverse scenes of gladiators and a bound wild animal, see Robert, Les gladiateurs dans l'orient grec, §123; Ritti, Fonti
Letterarie ed Epigraphi, 100 plate 11b; Carter, Presentation of Gladiatorial Spectacles,
"Catalogue of Inscriptions," §344.
229. Ritti, Fonti Letterarie ed Epigraphi, 102 plate 13.
230. See James R. Harrison, "Paul and Ancient Civic Ethics: Redefining the Canon of Honour in the Graeco-Roman World," in Paul's Graeco-Roman Context, ed.
Cilliers Breytenbach, BETL 277 (Leuven: Peeters, 2015), 75–118.
231. Ritti, Fonti Letterarie ed Epigraphi, 102–3, plate 12d.
232. Robert E. Osborne, "Paul and the Wild Beasts," JBL 85 (1966): 225–30.
More recently, the majority of scholars, however, have regarded the reference in 1 Cor
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison 2.4. The Jews of Hierapolis: The Family Tomb of P. Aelius Glykon and Aurelia Amia in the Northern Necropolis Philip A. Harland has extensively treated the Jewish inscriptional evidence of Hierapolis.233 All the Jewish inscriptions are found on either tombs or sarcophagi, either in the northern (IJO 2.189, 192–194, 198, 201–203, 205–
209) or eastern (IJO 2.188, 196) necropoleis, or elsewhere in tumuli tombs closer to the city (IJO 2.200, 204). These are sometimes accompanied by Jewish symbols such as the menorah (seven-branched candlestick), the lulav (palm branch), the ritual trumpet made from the horn of a ram, and a (messianic?) lion.234 The inscriptions are entirely conventional. There are the names of the interred, sometimes the explicit identification of the interred as Ἰουδαίου or Ἰουδέων, warnings against the violation of the tomb, the fines to be paid "to the people of the Judaeans" if there were a violation
(IJO 2.206)235 and, last, a copy of the inscription in the civic archives (pace, a Judean archive: IJO 2.205).
The intriguing exception to the rule is the tomb of P. Aelius Glykon236 and his wife Aurelia Amia, the inscription of which is cited in part below
(IJO 2.196.5–11: late second–third century CE):
15:30–32 as metaphorical: Abraham J. Malherbe, "The Beasts at Ephesus," in Paul and the Popular Philosophers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 79–89; L. L. Welborn, "Paul's
Spectacle Metaphor in 1 Corinthians 15:30–32," The Bible and Critical Theory 8 (2012):
39–51.
233. Philip A. Harland, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora: A Jewish Family and 'Pagan' Guilds at Hierapolis," in The Religious History of the Roman Empire:
Pagans, Jews, and Christians, ed. John A. North and Simon R. F. Price (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2011), 385–418; Harland, North Coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor, vol. 2 of Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations and Commentary, BZNW 204
(Berlin: de Gruyter, 2014), §116. See also A. Thomas Kraabel, Judaism in Western Asia
Minor under the Roman Empire: With a Preliminary Study of the Jewish Community at Sardis, Lydia (Cambridge: Harvard University Library, 1969), 125–29. Also, see Elena
Miranda, "La communità giudaica di Hierapolis di Frigia," EA 31 (1999): 109–55.
234. For the tomb of the Jew Mar(cus) Aur(elius) Philoumenos Streneion, with menora, lalav and trumpet symbols flanking the entry, see Ritti, Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis, §54 fig. 18 (= IJO 2.203). For messianic lion and menorah on the family
"(Grave) of the Judaeans," see Harland, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora,"
389, fig. 11.1 (= IJO 2.187).
235. Fines were also paid to civic institutions (IJO 2.192, 193, 198, 199, 200, 202,
204) and the gerousia (IJO 2.189).
236. The name could be either "P. Aelius Glykon, son of Zeuxis Aelianus" (Har-
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
He (Aelius) left behind 200 denarii for the grave-crowning ceremony to the most holy presidency of the purple-dyers, so that it would produce from the interest enough for each to take a share in the seventh month237 during the festival of the Unleavened Bread. Likewise he also left behind
150 denarii for the grave-crowning ceremony to the association of carpet-weavers, so that the revenues from the interest should be distributed, half to the festival of Kalends on the eighth day of the fourth month238 and half during the festival of Pentecost.
Here we see depicted a citizen's experience of the religious pluralism and multiple identities of Hierapolis. The competing religious affiliations of the city collide in the social lives of the city's inhabitants and demand allegiance at various levels, depending upon one's professional, cultic, ethnic and client-patron obligations. Note (1) the presence of local trades associations (purple-dyers, carpet-weavers), among which were people of diverse social and ethnic status;239 (2) the calendrical observance of the traditional festivals by the Jews (Unleavened Bread, Pentecost); (3) the Romanization of Hierapolis evidenced by its observance of the Roman calendar (the celebration of the Roman New Year festival of the Kalends); and (4) the practice of indigenous funerary rituals of Hierapolis (the grave-crowning ceremony).
An important question emerges at this stage, but one without a definitive answer. Is Aelius—most likely a Roman citizen240—a native-born Jew, a god-fearer, or a gentile attracted by Jewish customs?241 Certainty is unachievable. Most probably the family's choice of the festival days of Unleavened
Bread and Pentecost for the performance of the grave ceremonies on behalf land, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora," 395 n. 19) or "P. Aelius Glykonianos Zeuxainos Aelianus" (IJO 2.196).
237. March–April.
238. 1 January.
239. On whether the ethnic membership of these two associations in our inscription were Jewish, gentile, or a mixture of both, see Harland, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora," 405–9. Harland and Kraabel (Judaism in Western Asia Minor,
134–35) opt for a mixed constituency, whereas Miranda ("La communità giudaica di
Hierapolis di Frigia," 140–45) opts for a Jewish constituency. For the inscriptions relating to the associations of Hierapolis, see Ascough, Associations in the Greco-Roman
World, §§148–158.
240. Harland, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora," 397–98.
241. Harland, "Acculturation and Identity in the Diaspora," 396–97.
Alan H. Cadwallader and James R. Harrison of the family points to Jewish extraction.242 If this inference is correct, more puzzling is the inclusion of the grave ceremonies on the feast of Kalends, given that various Jewish prohibitions were placed on commerce before and, though disputed by some rabbis, after the Roman festivals, including
Kalends (m. Avod. Zar. 1:1–3). However, this sensitivity expressed by the Tannaim in the Mishnah regarding any Jewish association with the gentiles during the Roman festivals was not reflected in the more acculturated and Romanized urban life of Hierapolis. Are we witnessing here a collision between the ideals of Jewish piety and the practical realities of routine urban life in the Jewish diaspora?
Finally, Aelius's arrangements reveal what was the common custom for grave-ceremonies at Hierapolis.243 One paid the local associations to act as burial societies, arranging the family interment for the grieving relatives and the maintenance of ongoing grave ceremonies for posterity.244
However, the fact that Aelius does not mention that he is a purple-dyer or carpet-weaver in the inscription makes it unlikely that he belonged to either association.245 Aelius's transaction regarding his family burial, therefore, was an entirely financial and organizational matter, reflecting no personal commitment to the local associations of Hierapolis and their associated cults. Consequently, the document is striking testimony to how well the Jews had assimilated to the culture of Asia cities, without compromising their core covenantal identity. Surprisingly, funerary segregation between gentiles and Jews was not the rule in the diaspora, if the Jewish adoption of the burial customs of Hierapolis for their families is representative.246
Conclusion Although Colossae is characterized as the poor relative among the family of our three Lycus Valley cities, to borrow Cadwallader's words, the epigraphic remains of the city and its coinage reveal a complex and self-assured community, notwithstanding the fact that our knowledge is
242. Harland, North Coast of the Black Sea, 173.
243. Harland, North Coast of the Black Sea, 173.
244. Harland, North Coast of the Black Sea, 170–72.
245. Harland, "Acculturation and Identity," 406 n. 49.
246. Éric Rebillard, The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009), 22.
Perspectives on the Lycus Valley
severely hampered by the fact that it awaits excavation in the modern era.
The wealth of material and epigraphic evidence available for Hierapolis and Laodicea gives us keen insight into the Romanized Phrygian culture of the valley, including its Jewish communities living within its territory, as well as affording us strong insight into the civic and mythological identity of each polis. We have noted several strong intersections with the New Testament documents that help to enrich exegesis of the texts. Until
Colossae itself is finally excavated, perhaps the archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, and iconographic evidence of Hierapolis and Laodicea can continue to provide some indirect light from the Lycus Valley on the epistle to the Colossians.
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Part 2 Responses to Ulrich Huttner's Perspectives on the Lycus Valley