DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0160
134 IV- MOSSYNA, MOTELLA, DIONYSOPOLIS, ETC.
scripfcions, Zeus, Zeus Nonouleus, Zeus Soter, Asklepios Soter; it is,
however, impossible for us to discover how far the difference of
personality was intended in these varieties of naming-. Probably the
view stated above is true:; but we must bear in mind how prone
are the uneducated to give separate individuality to varieties of name,
and even to regard the St. George of one town as better than the
St. George of another.
§ 12. The Native Social System. The sacred village is a neces-
sary and universal adjunct of the great hiera of Anatolia. In it the
priests must have lived, and those who were actually serving before
the god. There is every probability that a little excavation on the
site would give much additional information about this curious hieron.
Meantime we collect the known evidence.
(a) Enfranchisement by Dedication. The first class of documents
found here are deeds of enfranchisement (nos. 37-40). The name of
the slave was inscribed on a list kept at the temple (Karaypdcjieiu);
some of the extant documents seem to have been engraved in a series
on pilasters in the wall of the temple (no. 39); others were inscribed
on the blank space left on stelae of a different character standing in
the sacred precinct (no. 37). The documents usually contained the
date, the name of the owner, the name of the slave, sometimes the
occasion of enfranchisement; and concluded with a penalty against
any one that challenged the status of the dedicated slave. In one
remarkable case, no. 38, parents dedicate their son, whom they had
exposed in accordance with a vision and who had been brought up by
a stranger. The parents had probably bought him back from his
foster-parents 2, in order to dedicate him to the gods.
The influence of the divine command is noteworthy: of eleven
manumissions, three at least were performed ' at the orders of the
god'3. The phrase is very common in Anatolian inscriptions ; and
it is a relic of the original purely theocratic form of government, when
the life of the population was guided mainly by the will of the god
declared through his priests or prophets.
(b) Exemplaeia. An even more important class of documents are
the Exemplaria or Exempla*. In the inscriptions of this class,
1 See Ch. II § 1, second last para- 4 I use the term employed in the
graph. inscriptions themselves : exemplarion
2 Pliny consulted Trajan about the has a peculiar interest in connexion
status of such SpeirToL (or Bpe^iiaTa), with the letters of Ignatius, where its
Epist. 65. occurrence has been made an argument
3 Most of the others are too fragmen- against their genuineness. Here we
tary to show if the occasion was stated, find the term in common use during
scripfcions, Zeus, Zeus Nonouleus, Zeus Soter, Asklepios Soter; it is,
however, impossible for us to discover how far the difference of
personality was intended in these varieties of naming-. Probably the
view stated above is true:; but we must bear in mind how prone
are the uneducated to give separate individuality to varieties of name,
and even to regard the St. George of one town as better than the
St. George of another.
§ 12. The Native Social System. The sacred village is a neces-
sary and universal adjunct of the great hiera of Anatolia. In it the
priests must have lived, and those who were actually serving before
the god. There is every probability that a little excavation on the
site would give much additional information about this curious hieron.
Meantime we collect the known evidence.
(a) Enfranchisement by Dedication. The first class of documents
found here are deeds of enfranchisement (nos. 37-40). The name of
the slave was inscribed on a list kept at the temple (Karaypdcjieiu);
some of the extant documents seem to have been engraved in a series
on pilasters in the wall of the temple (no. 39); others were inscribed
on the blank space left on stelae of a different character standing in
the sacred precinct (no. 37). The documents usually contained the
date, the name of the owner, the name of the slave, sometimes the
occasion of enfranchisement; and concluded with a penalty against
any one that challenged the status of the dedicated slave. In one
remarkable case, no. 38, parents dedicate their son, whom they had
exposed in accordance with a vision and who had been brought up by
a stranger. The parents had probably bought him back from his
foster-parents 2, in order to dedicate him to the gods.
The influence of the divine command is noteworthy: of eleven
manumissions, three at least were performed ' at the orders of the
god'3. The phrase is very common in Anatolian inscriptions ; and
it is a relic of the original purely theocratic form of government, when
the life of the population was guided mainly by the will of the god
declared through his priests or prophets.
(b) Exemplaeia. An even more important class of documents are
the Exemplaria or Exempla*. In the inscriptions of this class,
1 See Ch. II § 1, second last para- 4 I use the term employed in the
graph. inscriptions themselves : exemplarion
2 Pliny consulted Trajan about the has a peculiar interest in connexion
status of such SpeirToL (or Bpe^iiaTa), with the letters of Ignatius, where its
Epist. 65. occurrence has been made an argument
3 Most of the others are too fragmen- against their genuineness. Here we
tary to show if the occasion was stated, find the term in common use during