DiscussionBase for statue of Justinian, emperor. Antiochia ad Pisidiam (Pisidia). 527-565 INSCRIPTION:In four lines: Ἡ πόλ]ις Ἀντι[οχήων στῆσε] / [θ]εοστεφὲς ἕρκ[ος], / θ(ε)ῖον Ἰουστινιανὸν ὅρ[ων] / κοσμήτορα κόσμου. The city of the Antiochenes erected a rampart crowned by God: the divine Justinian, the orderer of the rules of the world.' (trans. C. Zuckerman). We reproduce the inscription with the completions suggested by Zuckerman 2002. D. Feissel, in AE 2002, proposes a variant reading: ἡ πόλις Ἀντιόχοιο λαχοῦσα / [θ]εοστεφὲς ἕρִμ[α] / θ(ε)ῖον Ἰουστινιανὸν ὅִρ[ᾷ] / κοσμήτορα κόσμου. In French: 'La cité d’Antiochos, ayant obtenu comme soutien couronné par Dieu le divine Justinian, voit l’ordonnateur du monde.' (transl. D. Feissel) 'The city of Antiochus, having obtained a support crowned by God, the divine Justinian, views the orderer of the world' . In uneven letters, c. 5 cm high, set within a frame. DESCRIPTION (from Zuckerman 2002 and the published photograph): Massive rectangular stone block: H 136, W 83, D 90 cm. Upper part broken on the sides, though part of the original upper surface survives in the middle. The front face carries our inscription, filling the top of a framed field. All sides are smoothly finished; but the epigraphic field displays traces of rougher chiseling, presumably to remove an earlier inscription. The inscription is framed within what was almost certainly originally a tabula ansata, set horizontally and (presumably) once bearing an earlier inscription. In its secondary use, the block was turned vertically, and the upper part cut off. The surviving ansa is decorated with a cross, cut into it in very low relief. LOCATION: 'To the right of one of the main thoroughfares of the city of Antioch, in the theatre area' (Zuckerman 2002, 243) (probably referring to the decumanus maximus, cf. city plan in Mitchell & Waelkens 1998, 92 and Taslialan 1997, 27). HONORAND: The 'divine' Justinian, emperor 527-565, is named as the honorand and metaphorically styled 'a rampart crowned by God' (for similar expressions, see Robert 1948). The name of the awarding body is very badly damaged on the inscription, but Zuckerman's reconstruction of it as the city itself is plausible. The erection of a statue to Justinian as a god-given rampart for Antioch may have been in gratitude for imperial contributions to the city's more conventional defences. An imperial statue in a provincial city would be a very unusual feature at such a late date. However both the shape of the block, and the wording of the inscription, do suggest (though not unequivocally) that this was the base for a statue. (The top face is unfortunately too damaged to provide any further indication, such as the imprints of the feet of a bronze statue or clamps for fixing one in marble.) A recently published base from Cyrrhus (on the Persian frontier), which was certainly for a statue of Justinian, now provides a parallel for our base, and strong support for interpreting ours as also for a statue: LSA-2636. As Feissel (AE 2002) points out, the epithet θεοστεφὲς (line 2) became a part of the imperial titulature only in the 7th century; one should therefore assume that the statue was crowned. The epithet θεῖος suggests the assimilation of the emperor to Christ. Main ReferenceL'Année épigraphique, , 2002, 1468Zuckerman, C., The dedication of a statue of Justinian at Antioch, Actes du Ier Congres International sur Antioche de Pisidie, Paris 2002, 243-53 Discussion ReferencesMitchell, S. & M. Waelkens, Pisidian Antioch. The Site and its Monuments, London 1998, 92 Robert, L., Epigrammes du Bas-Empire (Hellenica IV), Paris 1948, 27 Taslialan, M., Pisidian Antioch, Ankara 1997, Linkhttp://edh-www.adw.uni-heidelberg.de/edh/inschrift/HD043954 |
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