Inscription relating to building works in Nakida (Niğde) made by the praet. prefect Modestus
source date: 370/377 AD
edition published: 2020-05-08
availability: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Ἐπὶ Δομετίου Μοδέστου τοῦ λαμπροτάτου ἐπάρχου τῶν πρετωρίων καὶ τοῦτο ἔργον ἀπὸ θεμελίων ἐκτίσθη.

Edition based on Rott 1908, p. 379, nr. 102.

“When Domitius Modestus, of clarissimus rank, was praetorian prefect, this work was built from the ground.”

“Lorsque Domitius Modestus était le clarissime préfet du prétoire, cet ouvrage a été construit de toutes pièces.”

“Quando il chiarissimo Domitius Modestus era prefetto del pretorio, quest’opera fu costruita dalle fondamenta.”

Built into the Church of St. John in the city of Niğde (Turkey), the inscription was seen in 1906 by H. Rott. The text was published in his book on the Christian “Monuments of Asia Minor,” with a commentary by W. Weber (Rott 1908, p. 379, nr. 102). H. Grégoire, who had seen the inscription in 1907, confirmed the reading of Rott (Grégoire 1909, p. 131, nt. 1). The new edition of the text provided in 2000 by J. Nollé (IK 55, Tyana, 01, 26) reproduces the text copied and published by Rott. No information survives on the support of the inscription, nor on its current location. While other inscriptions found in Niğde can be attributed to a rural settlement that existed there in the imperial period, it is likely that our document was carried into the city from the neighbouring town of Kemerhisar, the ancient Tyana, one of the main centres of Cappadocia and capital of Cappadocia Secunda after the splitting of the province in 372 AD (Grégoire 1909, p. 131; cf. Berges-Nollé 2000, p. 198; on the division of Cappadocia see below). The text celebrates the construction of a building "from the ground" during the praetorian prefecture of Domitius Modestus.

Modestus attained the praetorian prefecture of the East under the emperor Valens. This talented administrator, probably from the province of Arabia and trained in law, began his career in the last years of the reign of Constantius II (PLRE I, Modestus 2, pp. 605-608; Dagron 1974, pp. 242-244, pp. 246-247). Perhaps assessor of the praetorian prefect of the Illyricum Anatolius (Lib., ep. 582-583 with Dagron 1974, p. 242; cf. Bradbury 2000, p. 177; contra PLRE I, Domitius 1, pp. 263-264, followed by Laniado 2018, p. 418; on Vindaeonius Anatolius see PPRET 47), he was then promoted to the office of comes Orientis, a position that he held from 358 AD to 362 AD. Many letters of Libanius addressed to Modestus in this period show both the intense activity of the comes in the administration and his great mobility across the provinces of the eastern diocese (Seeck 1906, pp. 213-218; Petit 1994, pp. 165-172, nr. 200; Bradbury 2004, pp. 255-257). A Christian under Constantius, he apostatised under Julian, who promoted Modestus to the urban prefecture of Constantinople in the Summer of 362 AD; he was discharged from this position at the beginning of the reign of Valentinian and Valens in favour of Iovinus (Dagron 1974, pp. 242-245). But after some years (and another conversion to the Arian positions of the new ruler Valens), he was called to service, again as urban prefect of Constantinople. It was during this mandate that he completed the construction of an important reservoir that he had begun during his first prefecture (MGH AA 09, Chron. Min. 01, p. 241 = Cons. Const. s.a. 369; cf. Not. Urb. Const. 12, 12: cisterna Modestiaca; see Mango 1995, pp. 13-15). At the end of the Gothic war in 370 AD, the emperor Valens promoted Modestus to the position of praetorian prefect of the East: he kept this office until the end of 377 AD (Dagron 1974, pp. 246-247, revising the chronology of PLRE I, p. 606 for the beginning of the praetorian prefecture; cf. Errington 2000, pp. 902-904; Brauch 2002, pp. 64-65; Schmidt-Hofner 2008, pp. 552-553; Modestus is still attested in service on November 2nd 377 AD: CI 11, 62, 05; possibly replaced by Aburgius in 378 AD: see PLRE I, p. 5). This very long tenure, in itself a testimony to the abilities of Modestus as an administrator, is not unusual for the latter part of the reign of Valens, when all the higher posts of the administration were continuously held by a small group of trusted officials (see Lenski 2002, pp. 62-63). Indeed, the prominence of Modestus is attested by the honour of the consulate that was bestowed upon him in 372 AD. Considering that Valens had never conferred the consulate on a civilian officer before, this was an honour indeed (he was consul prior, with Fl. Arinthaeus: CLRE, pp. 5, 278-279). Modestus is the addressee of the majority of the legislation issued of Valens in this period (list of the constitutions in PLRE I, p. 607; for the chronology cf. Schmidt-Hofner 2008; Modestus also fixed standards for weights and measures in the eastern prefecture: see Corcoran 1995, pp. 377-384; for weights and measures fixed by the Eastern praetorian prefect Tatianus, see PPRET 88). According to Ammianus, the prefect increased his power in jurisdiction by dissuading the emperor from personally examining the legal cases (Amm. 30, 04, 01-02, with Tränkle 2008, pp. 505-508; cf. den Boeft et alii 2015, pp. 61-62); Modestus, who had already presided over the trials of Scytopolis under Constantius II, also presided over the trials of withcraft and treason in Antiochia in 372 AD (Amm. 19, 12, 06; Amm. 29, 01, 11-12; see Matthews 1989, pp. 217-226; Lenski 2002, pp. 223-232).

The Christian writers give ample evidence of the role played by Modestus in the efforts of the emperor to impose conformity on the Christianity of the eastern empire (Lenski 2002, pp. 234-263). In these sources we also find a connection between the activity of the prefect and the province of Cappadocia, where in 370 AD Modestus unsuccessfully tried to persuade Basil of Caesarea to join the Homoian Church supported by the emperor (De Salvo 1983, pp. 137-153; Van Dam 1986, pp. 53-76; Rousseau 1998, pp. 351-353; on the letters of Basil addressed to the prefect see Bernardi 1992, pp. 7-19; Pouchet 1992, pp. 319-325, 610-613; Gascou 1997, pp. 189-204; the journeys of the comitatus through Cappadocia in 370 AD are discussed in Destephen 2016, pp. 327-332). Although our text has nothing to do with the religious conflict, from the epistolary of the same bishop we know that at this time the region was split into two parts and that Tyana, the city from which the inscription likely comes, was made the capital of the new province of Cappadocia Secunda (the division came probably into force from September 372 AD: see Jones 1971, pp. 182-190; Kopeček 1974, pp. 320-327; Van Dam 2002, pp. 28-36; Metivier 2005, pp. 41-43). This transformation resulted in the need to provide the city with new structures for the requirements of the administration. The building to which our inscription was attached, might have been created in this context, under the responsibility of the praetorian prefecture. The text emphasizes that the construction was built "from the ground," i.e., that it was a new structure (ἀπὸ θεμελίων; on the occurrence of this formula and of the Latin version a fundamentis in the epigraphy of the period, see Lenski 2002, pp. 375-379, 393-401, with an overview on the building activity under Valentinian and Valens) and the words καὶ τοῦτο ἔργον seems to imply that this was not the only work undertaken in the area under the prefecture of Domitius Modestus (cf. Berges-Nollé 2000, p. 203).

Rott 1908, p. 379, nr. 102 IK 55, Tyana, 01, 26

PH 287469 TM 928582

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