Stadt und Statthalter zwischen Lokalem und Reichsgeschehen. Zur Lesung von SEG 56, 1762 (Olympos, Lycia)

Abstract

The renovation inscription of the baths in Olympos (Lycia) names Emperor Vespasian in the nominative case as the responsible authority (SEG 56, 1762). It has so far gone unnoticed, however, that the emperor’s name was inscribed over an erasure. Originally, therefore, another emperor must have been named; due to the situation in Lycia in the Year of the Four Emperors under the governor Sex. Marcius Priscus and the space available on the inscription, Galba is the most likely candidate. The inscription can thus be assigned to a group of epigraphic documents recording reconstruction work begun under Galba after an earthquake hit Lycia. The unusual epithet ἐπιφανὴς γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης for Vespasian, newly created here in the context of erasure and re-inscription, is also discussed.