DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45610#0026
292
Division III Section A Part 5
Lucius was discarded by Commodus after his father’s death in favor of Marcus, but
was resumed by him toward the end of his principate; it is found in several inscriptions,
e.g. his sepulchral inscription, C. IM. vi 992, but it is usually accompanied by the
name Aelius, for which there is hardly room on this stone.
The name and number of the legion to be restored in 1. 2 is almost certainly
the Tertia Gallica, the name of which is so generally erased. However, the name
cannot be restored in full with Waddington, since the space calls for only eight letters,
and Γαλλικής must be abbreviated, as above.
The name of the community in 1. 2 makes it possible, as Waddington pointed
out, to identify is-Sanamfen with Aere, situated, according to the Itinerarium Antonini,
32 miles from Damascus. The name is found in no. 65 51 also.
The term σηκός evidently denotes the precinct around the Tychaion including the
pool at the back; it was surrounded by a colonnade, see Div. II. a. 5, Ill. 293. The
language of the inscription would lead one to believe that this precinct was built after the
Tychaion itself, since it is not the construction of the temple but the consecration
that is commemorated. The building may have been erected some years before, and
the inscription was in that case an afterthought due to Germanus’ desire to record his
construction of the precinct. This hypothesis seems to be borne out by the character
of the pulvinated moulding, which is ill-adapted for an inscription, and does not seem
to have been intended for any such purpose.
The phrase από της επιγραφής has been variously rendered. Gesenius interpreted
it as de censu, Francke as de peettnia collata, an explanation which received the approval
of Franz. Waddington, on the other hand, supposed the expression to indicate that
“Germanus avait acheve l’edifice a partir de l’endroit ou se trouvait l’inscription”, and
this interpretation has been accepted with a question by Cagnat. Messrs. Wright and
Souter in editing Mr. Ewing’s copy translate the phrase “in accordance with the deed”.
Quite another meaning for επιγραφή has been found by Professor Wilcken; see
Griech. Ostraka 1, p. 195 f. He has shown that it is a general term for the tax levied
on the citizen by the state, and that in Egypt the word designated the land-tax, paid
in money or in natura according to the character of the products of the district.
Such a meaning accords perfectly with the present inscription, for the word, as Francke
and Franz saw, must designate a sum of money which was used to complete the σηκός.
This sum was evidently at the disposal of a centurion who was regarded by the people
of the community as a benefactor, and who therefore may be supposed to have been
stationed more or less permanently at is-Sanamfen. Accordingly, we believe that the
επιγραφή here mentioned was a tax or tithe laid on the inhabitants of the district for
the benefit of the soldiers stationed among them.
The date of the inscription was at first supposed by Franz to have been reckoned
according to a local era, but in the Appendix to C. I. G. in he referred it to the
reign of the emperor (whom he wrongly believed to be Severus Alexander). Several
of the cities of this region have, indeed, a local era; see P.A. hi, p. 305 f. However,
in many of the cities of the northern Haurhn and the Ledja the year of the emperor
was used as the date (see P. A. hi, p. 266 f.), and this method seems to have been
in vogue at is-Sanamfen also; see no. 6552 and Ewing, P. E. F. 1895, P· 55, no. 37·
Accordingly, έτους ις·' refers to the reign of Commodus, the years being numbered
from the bestowal of the tribzinicia potestas in 176 a. d.
Division III Section A Part 5
Lucius was discarded by Commodus after his father’s death in favor of Marcus, but
was resumed by him toward the end of his principate; it is found in several inscriptions,
e.g. his sepulchral inscription, C. IM. vi 992, but it is usually accompanied by the
name Aelius, for which there is hardly room on this stone.
The name and number of the legion to be restored in 1. 2 is almost certainly
the Tertia Gallica, the name of which is so generally erased. However, the name
cannot be restored in full with Waddington, since the space calls for only eight letters,
and Γαλλικής must be abbreviated, as above.
The name of the community in 1. 2 makes it possible, as Waddington pointed
out, to identify is-Sanamfen with Aere, situated, according to the Itinerarium Antonini,
32 miles from Damascus. The name is found in no. 65 51 also.
The term σηκός evidently denotes the precinct around the Tychaion including the
pool at the back; it was surrounded by a colonnade, see Div. II. a. 5, Ill. 293. The
language of the inscription would lead one to believe that this precinct was built after the
Tychaion itself, since it is not the construction of the temple but the consecration
that is commemorated. The building may have been erected some years before, and
the inscription was in that case an afterthought due to Germanus’ desire to record his
construction of the precinct. This hypothesis seems to be borne out by the character
of the pulvinated moulding, which is ill-adapted for an inscription, and does not seem
to have been intended for any such purpose.
The phrase από της επιγραφής has been variously rendered. Gesenius interpreted
it as de censu, Francke as de peettnia collata, an explanation which received the approval
of Franz. Waddington, on the other hand, supposed the expression to indicate that
“Germanus avait acheve l’edifice a partir de l’endroit ou se trouvait l’inscription”, and
this interpretation has been accepted with a question by Cagnat. Messrs. Wright and
Souter in editing Mr. Ewing’s copy translate the phrase “in accordance with the deed”.
Quite another meaning for επιγραφή has been found by Professor Wilcken; see
Griech. Ostraka 1, p. 195 f. He has shown that it is a general term for the tax levied
on the citizen by the state, and that in Egypt the word designated the land-tax, paid
in money or in natura according to the character of the products of the district.
Such a meaning accords perfectly with the present inscription, for the word, as Francke
and Franz saw, must designate a sum of money which was used to complete the σηκός.
This sum was evidently at the disposal of a centurion who was regarded by the people
of the community as a benefactor, and who therefore may be supposed to have been
stationed more or less permanently at is-Sanamfen. Accordingly, we believe that the
επιγραφή here mentioned was a tax or tithe laid on the inhabitants of the district for
the benefit of the soldiers stationed among them.
The date of the inscription was at first supposed by Franz to have been reckoned
according to a local era, but in the Appendix to C. I. G. in he referred it to the
reign of the emperor (whom he wrongly believed to be Severus Alexander). Several
of the cities of this region have, indeed, a local era; see P.A. hi, p. 305 f. However,
in many of the cities of the northern Haurhn and the Ledja the year of the emperor
was used as the date (see P. A. hi, p. 266 f.), and this method seems to have been
in vogue at is-Sanamfen also; see no. 6552 and Ewing, P. E. F. 1895, P· 55, no. 37·
Accordingly, έτους ις·' refers to the reign of Commodus, the years being numbered
from the bestowal of the tribzinicia potestas in 176 a. d.