Provenance and location

Ancient city: Aphrodisias
Modern city: Geyre (Turkey)
Province: Caria
Diocese: Asiana
Regional prefecture: Oriens
Provenance: Aphrodisias, South Agora, center of the West Stoa (south-side of the staircase of entrance to the courtyard of the Hadrianic Baths)
Current location: Aphrodisias Excavations (according to Iaph2007 4.10, in 1994), or Aphrodisias Museum (according to LSA 0164, in 2012)
Ancient location: Public building (South Agora)

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription to the emperor Arcadius

Greek text

Critical edition

This edition follows the text edited in IAph2007 4.10 (Roueché). 1: [Ἀγαθῆι] Mendel; first line omitted by Grégoire.
2: [αὐτοκράτορα] Grégoire.
5-9: Mendel reports accurately: «groupe de 3 lignes martelées, groupe de 2 lignes martelées»; Grégoire does not transcribe anything and does not report the erasure; Robert suggests the presence of the name of Tatianus in the erasion, but does not integrate the Greek text.

Translations

English

“May Fortune be propitious! To the emperor of the earth under the sun, and our victorious master, Flavius Arcadius the eternal Augustus, Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, of clarissimus rank, prefect of the sacred praetorium, dedicated with the customary devotion, when Antonius Priscus was governor of clarissimus rank.”

French

“Que la Fortune soit favorable ! À l’empereur de la Terre sous le soleil, et notre seigneur victorieux, Flavius Arcadius l’éternel Auguste, Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, le clarissime préfet du prétoire sacré, avec la dévotion habituelle a consacré, alors qu’il était gouverneur clarissime Antonius Priscus.”

Italian

“Alla Sorte propizia ! All’imperatore della Terra sotto il sole, e nostro vittorioso signore, Flavius Arcadius l’eterno Augusto, Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, il chiarissimo prefetto del sacro pretorio con la consueta devozione consacrò, mentre era chiarissimo governatore Antonius Priscus.”

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

In September 1905 the French engineer P. Gaudin (1858-1921) found the inscribed columnar base on the West side of the stoa of the South Agora. It lay near the door and the staircase (South side) of the access gate leading from the Agora to the Hadrianic Baths through the eastern forecourt (the so called Palaestra Court) (on the findspot of the base, see http://insaph.kcl.ac.uk/ala2004/iPlans/0001/03.html ; Smith 2007, fig. 42, B 33; about Gaudin’s research, see Commentary to PPRET 82). It appears to have been found in its original location. The base was separated from the statue. Some holes for clamps around the shaft of the column attest to its use as a columnar base for supporting a statue (for this typology of support, see Commentary to PPRET 82).

The monument in honour of the emperor Arcadius was erected by order of the Praetorian prefect Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus, during his prefecture in 388/392 AD, and it was made at Aphrodisias by the governor of Caria Antonius Priscus (see below; for a possible dating to 388/390 see PPRET 86). The area of the Hadrianic Baths and the forecourt (the so called Palaestra Court) that connected the Baths on their West side to the short East-side of the stoa of the South Agora, have preserved the highest number of honorary inscriptions and statues in the city (for figures, see Commentary to PPRET 82).

At Aphrodisias, two other inscriptions were carved on two other columnar statue bases made by the same awarders, the praetorian prefect Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus and the governor Priscus: one in honour of the emperor Valentinianus II Augustus (PPRET 84), and the other in honour of Honorius nobilissimus puer (PPRET 82). It is highly likely that the emperor Theodosius was also honoured on a similar monument now lost (so also J. Lenaghan in LSA 0167; for the statue of this emperor discovered in 1972 in the Tetrastoon of Aphrodisias, see Smith 2001; Smith 2018, fig. 10; LSA 0196). The columnar base for emperor Arcadius was found together with the columnar base for emperor Valentinianus II, both of which lay near the same gate (North side) which connected the South Agora with the eastern forecourt of the Hadrianic Baths (Palaestra Court) (see PPRET 84).

The two monuments for Arcadius and Valentinianus II (PPRET 84) Augusti were placed on the two sides of the same entrance staircase to the Hadrianic Baths. The introductory formulas (resp. ll. 1-3 and 1-4) and the structure of the two inscriptions are identical: they are ‘twin’ inscriptions. In both inscriptions the names of the two dedicators, the praetorian prefect and the governor of Caria, have been erased. At a short distance from these two monuments for the Augusti, but in another building, the prefect Tatianus, had another columnar monument built. The creation of this too was supervised by the governor Priscus and is in honour of Honorius nobilissimus puer (PPRET 82). The columnar base for Honorius was found in the East forecourt of the Hadrianic Baths (the so called Palaestra Court), close to a dedication carved on a columnar base in honour of Aelia Flaccilla, his mother, by the provincial Council (ALA2004, 23 = IAph2007, 5.216 = LSA 0185, see Commentary to PPRET 82). Smith thinks that probably four columnar monuments (bases and statues) of the members of the imperial college (Valentinianus II, Theodosius, Arcadius Augusti and Honorius) were erected in 388/392 AD by the praetorian prefect at the entrance gate leading from the West stoa of the South Agora into the Hadrianic Baths (see the reconstruction by Smith 2018, pp. 338-339, fig. 10). The monument for Honorius may have been moved later. Several elements suggest that the prefect Tatianus may have placed the monument to Honorius and the pair of 'twin' bases to the two Augusti (and perhaps another to Thedosius I) in two different public spaces simultaneously. Such a theory is suggested by the different location (Palaestra Court), the preservation of the name of the governor of Caria, Priscus, and the different eulogistic formula in the monument for Honorius nobilissimus, compared to the two monuments in honour of the Augusti Valentinianus II and Arcadius (in the West stoa of the South Agora.)

The fragments of two statues were found in the same West stoa of the South Agora between 1904/05 and 1988 and portray two young emperors standing, wearing a diadem (see Commentary to PPRET 82). The identification is uncertain, but archaeologists believe that they are Arcadius and Valentinianus II, the Augusti celebrated by the prefect Tatianus on this side of the South Agora by our ‘twin’ inscriptions (resp. PPRET 83 and 84). It is very likely that the two statues were placed on the two columnar bases dedicated by the prefect Tatianus, although it does not seem possible to establish who is Arcadius and who is Valentinianus II. The headless togate statue of an emperor found in 1975, which is now in the Aphrodisias Museum (inv. 79/10/176 [75-248]; see Smith 2007, p. 228 and fig. 42, A 38; Taf. 63 fig. 30 = LSA 0165 = Gehn 2012, pp. 403-406, O 24, Taf. 14) is generally identified with Arcadius, who was aged between 10 and 15 years in 388/392 AD. The togate portrait statue of an emperor, found in 1904/05, now in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul (inv. 2264; see Smith 2007, p. 228 and fig. 42, A 37; Taf. 63 fig. 31 = LSA 0163 = Gehn 2012, pp. 398-403, O 23, Taf. 13-14) was identified by Mendel (1914, pp. 199-202, nr. 506) as Valentinianus II, who was between 17 and 21 years old in 388/392. This last identification, based on a comparison with the portraits on the coins, could be reversed, since the emperor whose portrait remains – the so called Valentinianus II – appears to be very young. In effect, it could be Arcadius and not Valentinianus II, who was older. In any case, one of the two statues was probably anchored to our columnar base. About the young emperor Arcadius, before Theodosius’ death, see McEvoy 2013, pp. 92-102; Icks 2014.

It should be noted that the prefect Tatianus had a series of monuments built in Side (Pamphylia, PPRET 85) and Antinoupolis (Thebais in Egypt, PPRET 86) in honour of the same imperial college (probably one statue on each base, but the four sovereigns are listed in each inscription): Valentinianus II, Theodosius I, Arcadius Augusti and Honorius nobilissimus puer. Dedications made by the same praetorian prefect Tatianus, in three different and quite distant provinces (Caria, Pamphylia, Thebais) confirms that they are all of the same date. The wide diffusion of monuments also reveals a systematic celebratory strategy.

Thanks to Roueché’s autopsy re-reading (ALA, nr. 25), it is possible to trace the name and the titulature of the Praetorian prefect Tatianus in the erased lines 5-6 of the inscription. Also a comparison of the partially erased letters in other inscriptions made by the prefect Tatianus in honour of the emperors during his prefectorial office (PPRET 84, 85, 86) is useful. In fact, his name and his titulature were often erased. After an important career, which began in 358 AD, Eutolmius Tatianus became praetorian prefect of the East and held the office from 388 to 392 AD. He resided in Constantinople during Theodosius I long stay in Italy (the emperor only came back to Constantinople in July 391 AD; for Tatianus’ career, see PLRE I, pp. 876-878; Delmaire 1989, pp. 62-67; Olszaniec 2013, pp. 394-407; his cursus honorum is recorded in the inscription carved in his honour in Sidyma, see PPRET 87). Shortly after his return to Constantinople, the emperor Theodosius I deprived Tatianus of his office and sent him into exile in Lycia, while his son Proculus was sentenced to death (for a recent study, see Mecella 2015). This fall from grace caused Tatianus’ name to be erased from many inscriptions (PPRET 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88). Many years later a (homonymous) descendant of Tatianus ordered a Greek inscription in verse to be engraved in honour of his ancestor Tatianus, the praetorian prefect, in the city of Aphrodisias (PPRET 91).

At lines 6-7 the expression τῇ συνήθει καθοσιώσει “with the customary devotion” does not refer to purification or public or pagan sacrifices (such as Nollé 1993, p. 331; U. Gehn in LSA 0267 and LSA 0876; Ogus 2018, p. 165). As in the inscriptions by Tatianus in Side and in Antinooupolis, καθοσίωσις (lat. devotio) means loyalty to the emperors (for ex. Eus., HE 09, 09a, 07; Eus., HE 10, 05, 18; Nov. Iust. 134, 13, 03; De Cerim. 01, 101 (92), p. 419 Reiske; ACO 02/01, 02, p. 60,39, Conc. Chalced. 451). The five inscriptions erected by Tatianus to the emperors reigning in the years 388/392 (PPRET 82, 83, 84, 85, 86) always uses this same peculiar formula.

Antonius Priscus, governor of Caria (PLRE I, p. 730), is known only from the series of the three inscriptions dedicated by Tatianus at Aphrodisias (PPRET 82, 83, 84). In the inscription in honour of Honorius his name is preserved, but in the two inscriptions in honour of Arcadius and Valentiniaus II in the same city of Aphrodisias his name has been erased. Priscus was probably a client of the powerful praetorian prefect. Tatianus ordered the governor of the province to supervise the creation of the monuments. It is interesting to note that the inscriptions in honour of the emperors made by the praetorian prefect Tatianus at Side (PPRET 85) and Antinoupolis (PPRET 86) were also made by the governors of the provinces of Pamphylia and Thebais: at Side the name of the governor was erased, at Antinoupolis it was not. This anomaly is without explanation.

Bibliography

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Grégoire H., Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d’Asie Mineure, Paris 1922.

Icks M., The inadequate heirs of Theodosius: ancestry, merit and divine blessing in the representation of Arcadius and Honorius, Millennium 11, 2014, 69-99.

McEvoy M.A., Child Emperor rule in the late Roman West, AD 367-455, Oxford 2013.

Mecella M., L’amministrazione di Taziano e Proculo e il destino dei Lici tra Teodosio e Arcadio, in Governare e riformare l’impero al momento della sua divisione: Oriente, Occidente, Illirico, Roma 2015, 51-83.

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Smith R.R.R., Statue life in the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias, AD 100-600: local context and historical meaning, in F.A. Bauer, C. Witschel (eds), Statuen und Statuensammlungen in der Spätantike - Funktion und Kontext (Spätantike, Frühes Christentum, Byzanz: Kunst im ersten Jahrtausend), Wiesbaden 2007, 203-236.

Smith, R.R.R., The long lives of Roman statues. Public monuments in late antique Aphrodisias, in Sculpture in Roman Asia Minor. Proceedings of the International Conference at Selçuk, 1st -3rd October 2013, Wien 2018, 331-352.

Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit