Neue Inschriften aus Patara III: Elitenrepräsentation und Politik in Hellenismus und Kaiserzeit

Abstract

The article continues the publication of new inscriptions from Patara initiated in Chiron 42, 2012 and 43, 2013. 1) An inventory of votive offerings (3^rd c. BC) is the second inscription of this type from Patara. It remains unclear from which sanctuary the two texts originate. 2) The fragment of an honorary inscription for a citizen of Patara (2^nd/1^st c. BC) is the earliest epigraphic evidence known today for the office of lyciarch. Other magistracies of the Lycian League are also mentioned. 3) Two further blocks are added to the list of councillors published in Chiron 42 (early imperial period, after 43 AD). The inscriptions 4) – 9) contain new information about prominent citizens of Patara who held the high priesthood of the Lycian League and about their activities as agonothets and benefactors. One of the texts (no. 7) attests for the first time the existence of the privileged group of grain recipients (σιτομετπούμενοι ἄνδρες) at Patara. A double statue base for the well-known benefactor Tib. Claudius Eudemos and his wife Claudia Anassa (no. 9) provide an overview of the management of a bequest of 250000 denarii that Eudemos had earmarked for the funding of public buildings. Several buildings are mentioned, inter alia the house of the prophets in the oracle of Apollo. No. 7 and 10 show that the office of the prophet was split up into an arch- and a hypoprophet. The texts provide a clearer picture of the history of the sanctuary, which had supra-regional importance, during the imperial period.