Provenance and location

Ancient city: Antinoupolis
Modern city: El Sheikh ‘Abadah, district of Mallawi (Egypt)
Province: Thebais
Diocese: Aegyptus
Regional prefecture: Oriens
Provenance: Antinoupolis
Current location: Alexandria Museum, inv. 21783; displayed in the Museum garden
Ancient location: Unknown

Type and material of the support and text layout

Text category

Honorary inscription to the emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Arcadius, and Honorius

Greek text

Critical edition

This edition follows the text edited by Bernand 1984. 4/5: αυτουρ/γους Milne 1898
6: Φλ.: Wescher; OGIS 02, 0723; ILS 8809
6/7: ΕΥΤΟΛΜΙΟϚ / ΤΑΤΙΑΝΟϚ Wescher («Ce n'est méme qu'avec d'assez grands efforts que j'ai pu déchiffecr le nom du préfet du prétoire»)
7: Τατιανὸς: ILS 8809; OGIS 02, 0723
9: ἀφοσιώσει Wescher read this word as the future indicative active 3rd singular from ἀφοσιόω, which can be translated with “he will consecrate”; ἀφιερώσει Milne 1898; ἀφιέρωσε(ν) OGIS 02, 723 (Dittenberger); Κλαυδίου Wescher

Translations

English

“To the emperors of the Earth under the sun, triumphant, our masters Valentinian, Theodosius, Arcadius, the eternal Augusti, and Flavius Honorius, the most noble, Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, of clarissimus rank, prefect of the sacred praetorium, set this up with the customary devotion, when Flavius Septimius Eutropius was governor (of Thebais) of clarissimus rank.”

French

“Aux empereurs de la Terre sous le soleil, triomphateurs, nos seigneurs Valentinianus, Theodosius, Arcadius, Augustes perpétuels, et Flavius Honorius, le très noble, Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, clarissime préfet du prétoire sacré, a réalisé avec la dévotion habituelle, quand il était gouverneur clarissime Flavius Septimius Eutropius.”

Italian

“Agli imperatori della Terra sotto il sole, trionfanti, i nostri signori Valentinianus, Teodosius, Arcadius, perpetui Augusti, e Flavius Honorius, nobilissimo, il chiarissimo Flavius Eutolmius Tatianus, prefetto del sacro praetorio, realizzò con la consueta devozione, quando era governatore (di Tebaide) il chiarissimo Flavius Septimius Eutropius.”

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

The inscription was carved on a statue base as a dedication in honour of the emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Arcadius Augusti and Honorius nobilissimus (puer). The red granite moulded base was found in 1861 among the ruins of the ancient city of Antinoupolis (Thebais), today el Sheikh ‘Abadah in Egypt by G. Deville (1865, p. 485, nr. 238). The inscription for the emperors is on the back of a large statue base, whose front face retains an earlier dedication to the deified Antinous made in 130/140 AD (see Wescher 1866, pp. 150-153; Milne 1898, p. 194, nr. 16a = OGIS 02, 700 = Bernand 1984, pp. 57-62, nr. 2). Deville was not interested in the late antique inscription on the back of the base for Antinous, so the late inscription was published by Wescher in 1866. Initially, the monument was brought to the Cairo Museum (inv. nr. 9274, see Dittemberg in OGIS 02, 723) and then it was transferred to the Alexandria Museum (inv. nr. 21783), in 1925. Today, it is displayed in the Museum garden (Bernand 1984, p. 57; LSA 0876).

On the upper face of the base, holes had been cut for housing the feet of a bronze statue that would have been larger than life. The orientation of the feet towards the face containing the inscription for the deified Antinous suggests that the statue was not one of the late antique emperors mentioned in the late inscription, but Antinous himself. Remains of a colossal marble statue, found in Antinoupolis near the base, could possibly pertain to the dedication (Th. Kraus 1962, pp. 130-132; LSA 0876).

The monument in honour of the four emperors (listed in order of seniority as Augusti: Valentinianus II, Theodosius, Arcadius, and to the end Honorius, who was only nobilissimus puer / iuvenis) was erected in Antinoupolis by order of the Praetorian prefect Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus, during his prefecture, in 388/392 AD, and it was made by the governor of Thebais (on the two dignitaries and for a possible dating to 388/390 see below). The text has been deliberately erased on lines 6 and 7, where the awarder Tatianus was mentioned. Fortunately, Wescher (1866, p. 153) managed to read the name of Eutolmius Tatianus in what remained of the erased letters, while Mommsen (1866, p. 239) first recognised Tatianus as the praetorian prefect of the other Egyptian inscription, that of Canopus (PPRET 90).

Another inscription in Side (Pamphylia, PPRET 85) is dedicated to the same four emperors: it is a ‘twin’ inscription, identical to ours in Antinoupolis in Thebais. The praetorian prefect Tatianus also dedicated similar individual inscriptions to each of the four emperors in Aphrodisias (Caria) of which three have survived (PPRET 82 for Honorius, 83 for Arcadius, 84 for Valentinianus II). Tatianus seems to have won the collaboration of provincial governors and cities in different provinces of his prefecture in order to create a series of monuments to the emperors during his office (388-392 AD). 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 (see Robert 1948, p. 52). Aphrodisias was the capital of the province of Caria, while Antinoupolis was the capital of the province of Thebais (Keenan 2000, p. 617; Palme 2012; the city shares primacy with Hermoupolis, on the opposite bank of the Nile), and it remains uncertain whether Side in the second half of the 4^th Century was the capital of Pamphylia, but this primacy still seems to be reserved for Perge (see PPRET 85).

The inscription celebrates four rulers, but it was engraved under the statue of one of the four rulers (Gehn in LSA 0876). Moreover, in the late empire single dedications to several emperors from the period 383-393 AD are usually reproduced below the individual statues of each one (LSA 0519; LSA 0528; LSA 0529; LSA 1275; LSA 1659; LSA 2729); this practice is attested from the Tetrarchic age (Eck 2006) and during the late Empire (see Porena 2021). So at Side (PPRET 85) and at Antinoupolis we have to imagine a series of four bases with a statue, one for each emperor, Valentinianus II and his colleagues belonging to the Theodosian family.

At the beginning of the inscription is the formula τῆς ὑφ' ἡλίῳ γῆς which precedes the term αὐτοκράτωρ /-ορες (a phrase which also appears in inscriptions of Tatianus for Arcadius, PPRET 83, and for Valentinianus II, PPRET 84, at Aphrodisias, and very probably in the first line of the inscription of Tatianus for the four emperors from Side PPRET 85). The formula is of course different in the case of Tatianus' inscription at Aphrodisias for Honorius who was not emperor (see PPRET 82). The formula τῆς ὑφ' ἡλίῳ γῆς seems to be isolated (on γῆς και θαλάσσης δεσπότης , see Ritti 2002-2003; for orbis in imperial titulature, see Borhy 1999; the emperor Julian as dominus totius orbis is in PPRET 50). The titling τροπεούχους δεσπότας ἡμῶν τοὺς αἰωνίους Αὐγούστους (in Latin: domini nostri triumfatores perpetui Augusti) is very common (see Chastagnol 1988, pp. 21-23; Rösch 1978, pp. 34, 39, 46; recently Kajava 2011; Benoist 2016; on Αὔγουστος see Salway 2007). Concering Honorius, referred to on line 6 as merely ἐπιφανέστατον, see PPRET 82).

At lines 6-7 the name of the praetorian prefect Tatianus was erased, but the name is partially legible. As we have said, the inscription from Antinoupolis was erected by order of the Praetorian prefect Fl. Eutolmius Tatianus, during his prefecture in 388/392 AD, and it was made by the governor of Thebais (below). After an important career, which began in 358 AD, Eutolmius Tatianus became praetorian prefect of the East from 388 to 392 AD, residing in Constantinople during the protracted stay of the emperor Theodosius I 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 (see Mecella 2015). This fall from grace caused Tatianus’ name to be erased from many inscriptions (PPRET 82, 83, 84, 85, 88), a cancelling that can also be seen on our statue base for one of the emperors. 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 8-9 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 Aphrodisias and in Antinoupolis, 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.

At lines 9-11 the name of the governor of Thebais, Fl. Septimius Eutropius, is preserved. In the ‘twin’ inscription from Side (PPRET 85) it is noticeable that the name of the governor of Pamphylia has been deeply erased; he is unknown and he was probably a client of Tatianus. It is interesting that in all the inscriptions mounted by Tatianus in honour of the emperors, the name of the governor who was in office when the monument or series of monuments was put up is always placed at the end (it seems likely that the governor was the supervisor of the construction of the monuments). Not all the inscribed names survived. Antonius Priscus, governor of Caria (PLRE I, p. 730), is mentioned at the end of the series of the three inscriptions dedicated by the prefect Tatianus at Aphrodisias. In the same city of Aphrodisias on the inscription in honour of Honorius (PPRET 82) his name is preserved, but in the two inscriptions in honour of Arcadius (PPRET 83) and Valentinianus II (PPRET 84) his name has been erased. This anomaly is without explanation. The inscription from Antinoupolis was set up during the mandate of the governor of the Thebais, Flavius Septimius Eutropius (PLRE I, p. 318). Rémondon (1965, pp. 22-23) first identified Eutropius as the praeses Thebaidis and appropriately dated the inscription to 388/390 AD, preferring the year 389 AD. Eutropius is recorded as governor of Thebais in a papyrus datable to December 26^th 389 AD (P. Lips. 01, 38, r 1, 5-6) and generally in 389 AD (P.Kell. 01, 26, now Gascou 2013). The previous governor of Thebais is Eutolmius Arsenius (PLRE I, p. 111), who was in office on June 14^th 388 AD (P. Lips. 01, 63); the following governor is Asclepiades Hesychius (PLRE I, p. 429), in office on September 20^th 390 AD and still in 391 AD (P. Lips. 01, 14; 01, 38; 01, 66). It is possible that the 'twin' inscription of Side (PPRET 85) was also put up in the years 388/390, at the beginning of the praetorian prefecture of Tatianus. It is not certain that this chronology is attributable to the dedications from Aphrodisias (PPRET 82, 83, 84).

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Praetorian prefects and epigraphic habit