Provenance and location

Ancient city: Perge
Modern city: Antalya (Turkey)
Province: Pamphylia
Diocese: Asiana
Regional prefecture: Oriens
Provenance: Perge, found by George Ewart Bean near the western pillar of the Hadrian’s Gate
Current location: Antalya Museum since 1970
Ancient location: public space

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription for the praet. prefect Flavius Philippus by the city council of Perge

Greek text

Critical edition

This edition is based on the text of Şahin 2015, pp. 177-178, nr. 1.

Translations

English

“To the praetorian prefect of clarissimus rank Flavius Philippus, benefactor in every respect and corrector of all things, the council of the splendid metropolis of the Pergeans.”

French

“À Flavius Philippus, clarissime préfet du prétoire, munificent en tous points et correcteur de toutes choses, le conseil de la brillante métropole de Perge”.

Italian

“Al chiarissimo prefetto del pretorio Flavius Philippus, munifico sotto ogni aspetto e correttore di ogni cosa, il consiglio della splendente metropoli di Perge.”

The inscription and its prefects: critical commentary, updating, overviews

This fragmentary marble slab was found at Perge by George Ewart Bean sometime before 1970, after which it was brought to the Antalya Museum. This large slab, bearing the inscription carved in honour of Flavius Philippus (for his career, see PPRET 27), was discovered on the western foot of Hadrian’s Gate, on its side facing the city. Şahin (2015, p. 177) assumed that this Greek inscription is flanked on the right and on the left by a long Latin inscription concerning Philippus (the name Philippus in the vocative case could be seen on the third to last line of the right-hand column; we are very grateful to Prof. D. Feissel for showing us an image of the blocks on which the inscription in Latin is carved). The Latin text preserves an exceptional document: an Oratio ad Senatum (BE 2016, 595; see PPRET 31), of which about fifty lines has survived (the text was longer than what can be seen today), by Constantius II addressed to the Senate of Constantinople, in which the emperor informed the senators of his wish to erect statues to his praetorian prefect Flavius Philippus.

Even if we do not possess any photographic reproduction of these inscriptions, it is clear that in this city, near Hadrian’s Gate, a monument had been erected in honour of Flavius Philippus that included both texts and was composed as follows. The shorter Greek inscription was carved on a marble slab that was originally attached to the lower central housing between the two pillars, upon which the Latin inscription, the Oratio ad Senatum, was placed. This long and still unpublished text is divided into two parts: it begins at the marble base on the left side and continues along the right one. The statue stood at the centre of the arrangement, on the top of the Greek inscription (Onur 2017, p. 135, nt. 5).

If this reconstruction is correct, this monument is the most complete epigraphic dossier in honour of Philippus (PPRET 27, PPRET 28, PPRET 31). Not only was the construction monumental, it was also bilingual, comprising a Latin copy of an imperial communication relating to the erection of the monument itself, and a Greek one celebrating the honoured personage. Our inscription is different from the Latin one of Chytri, dedicated by Constantius II Augustus and Gallus Caesar (see PPRET 27), since it was composed in Greek by the local city council, albeit by order of Constantius II.

It seems therefore that the emperor Constantius II took (at least) two simultaneous but separate decisions, both aimed at having golden statues made in the cities of the East. Firstly, a series of gilded statues to Philippus was commissioned and financed directly by Constantius II (with Gallus) to be made probably by the provincial governors and at the expense of Augustus (PPRET 27 Chytri), which may be linked to the letter of Ephesus (PPRET 28) if the commissioner of the statues was the emperor. Secondly, a series of gilded statues to Philippus was decreed by Constantius II and made directly by the senate of Constantinople and by the cities, probably at the expense of the civic coffers, as seems to be deduced from the Oratio ad Senatum (PPRET 31) and from this Greek inscription from Perge, both dedicated to the senator on behalf of the individual cities.

In such a way the city council of Perge honoured Flavius Philippus as both benefactor and corrector in every respect since, as Constantius II claimed, “through his efforts he took care of almost every city and inhabitant” (quia non minus eius laboribus omnium fere civitatum commodis populisque prospectum est, PPRET 31).

Also the inscriptions from Perge can be dated to the period 351/352 AD.

Bibliography

Moser M., Emperor and Senators in the Reign of Constantius II. Maintaining Imperial Rule between Rome and Constantinople in the Fourth Century AD, Cambridge 2018.

Onur F., The Anastasian Military Decree from Perge in Pamphylia: Revised 2nd Edition, Gephyra, 14, 2017, 133-212.

Şahin S., Spätrömisch-frühbyzantinische Inschriften aus Perge in Pamphylien, in Rhoby A. (ed.), Inscriptions in Byzantium and Beyond. Methods – Projects - Case Studies, Wien 2015, 177-185.

Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit