DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0090
52
APHRODISIAS.
If the repairs recorded in these documents were required in consequence of an earthquake, it
was probably that which occurred A. D. 358, about three years before the death of the emperor
Constantius, and which was peculiarly destructive in Asia Minor.* In this case the Caesar whose
name is deficient in the inscription of the western gate was Julian, who obtained that dignity in
355, the year following that in which his brother Gallus the former Caesar had been put to death
by his cousin the emperor. And thus the date of that inscription would be in the interval be-
tween the earthquake, and the death of Constantius in November 361; for although Julian was
proclaimed Augustus at Paris in April 360, he was doubtless never acknowledged as such in the
eastern provinces, whilst they remained subject to Constantius. The erasure of the name of Julian
may then be attributed to the hatred of the Christians.
But the ancient walls were probably often repaired after that time, as among the materials of the
fabric are many honorary inscriptions, both civil and sepulchral, which could hardly have been
applied to such a purpose, until a later period than the fourth century.
Aphrodisias under the Roman emperors, as well as at the commencement of the Byzantine empire,
was one of the most enlightened cities of Asia. The branches of knowledge chiefly cultivated
in those times were medicine, music, rhetoric and philosophy; and the same professor was often
eminent in more than one of them. But in Asia the philosophy of the Academic and Peripatetic
schools was soon infected by the astrology and divination of Egypt, until it degenerated into the
frauds or absurdities of the later Platonists, which at length corrupted Christianity itself.
The earliest writer of whom we have any notice is Apollonius. The loss of his works, as well
from their subject as their time, is more to be regretted than those of any other Aphrodisian. He
was author of a history or description of Caria, entitled Kapxa in not less than eighteen books,
of remarks on Tralles, and on Orpheus and his mysteries.* It is supposed that some coins,
bearing on the obverse, heads of Augustus or of Livia, and on the reverse a temple containing a
statue of Venus holding a mirror, with the legend 'JxoWomoc; vioq 'Afyohmiav, refer to this Apol-
lonius the historian, who according to Suidas was also the high-priest of Aphrodisias.^
Of the distinguished men of Aphrodisias, Alexander enjoyed the highest estimation among his
contemporaries and immediate successors. He taught the Aristotelian philosophy at Athens about
the year 205 of the Christian era maintaining the existence of one supreme being, the eternal
parent of all things, but denying the immortality of the soul of man, or its separability from the
human body. His followers distinguished him by the title of 6 ifyynrnc, or the expounder. His
reputation was so great and lasting, that some of his commentaries on Aristotle were among the
Greek works translated by the Arabs, among whom the name of Skender el Afrodisy was held
* Ammian. Marcell. XVII, 7.
*j" OUld. in. AttoWwvioc A<j>po$iai£VG.
I Haym, Tesoro Brit. II, tab. 1, n. 2. Millingen, Sylloge
of anc. uned. coins, p. 71.
APHRODISIAS.
If the repairs recorded in these documents were required in consequence of an earthquake, it
was probably that which occurred A. D. 358, about three years before the death of the emperor
Constantius, and which was peculiarly destructive in Asia Minor.* In this case the Caesar whose
name is deficient in the inscription of the western gate was Julian, who obtained that dignity in
355, the year following that in which his brother Gallus the former Caesar had been put to death
by his cousin the emperor. And thus the date of that inscription would be in the interval be-
tween the earthquake, and the death of Constantius in November 361; for although Julian was
proclaimed Augustus at Paris in April 360, he was doubtless never acknowledged as such in the
eastern provinces, whilst they remained subject to Constantius. The erasure of the name of Julian
may then be attributed to the hatred of the Christians.
But the ancient walls were probably often repaired after that time, as among the materials of the
fabric are many honorary inscriptions, both civil and sepulchral, which could hardly have been
applied to such a purpose, until a later period than the fourth century.
Aphrodisias under the Roman emperors, as well as at the commencement of the Byzantine empire,
was one of the most enlightened cities of Asia. The branches of knowledge chiefly cultivated
in those times were medicine, music, rhetoric and philosophy; and the same professor was often
eminent in more than one of them. But in Asia the philosophy of the Academic and Peripatetic
schools was soon infected by the astrology and divination of Egypt, until it degenerated into the
frauds or absurdities of the later Platonists, which at length corrupted Christianity itself.
The earliest writer of whom we have any notice is Apollonius. The loss of his works, as well
from their subject as their time, is more to be regretted than those of any other Aphrodisian. He
was author of a history or description of Caria, entitled Kapxa in not less than eighteen books,
of remarks on Tralles, and on Orpheus and his mysteries.* It is supposed that some coins,
bearing on the obverse, heads of Augustus or of Livia, and on the reverse a temple containing a
statue of Venus holding a mirror, with the legend 'JxoWomoc; vioq 'Afyohmiav, refer to this Apol-
lonius the historian, who according to Suidas was also the high-priest of Aphrodisias.^
Of the distinguished men of Aphrodisias, Alexander enjoyed the highest estimation among his
contemporaries and immediate successors. He taught the Aristotelian philosophy at Athens about
the year 205 of the Christian era maintaining the existence of one supreme being, the eternal
parent of all things, but denying the immortality of the soul of man, or its separability from the
human body. His followers distinguished him by the title of 6 ifyynrnc, or the expounder. His
reputation was so great and lasting, that some of his commentaries on Aristotle were among the
Greek works translated by the Arabs, among whom the name of Skender el Afrodisy was held
* Ammian. Marcell. XVII, 7.
*j" OUld. in. AttoWwvioc A<j>po$iai£VG.
I Haym, Tesoro Brit. II, tab. 1, n. 2. Millingen, Sylloge
of anc. uned. coins, p. 71.