Description: Eleven white marble
cornice blocks which form the front of the present stage.
Text: i: Inscribed along the upper fascia of the blocks, running in a single line from a point c. 1 m. to the right of the north
end of the stage, to the south end.ii: Below i is a protruding moulding, and below that two fasciae, on the upper of which
(0.07 high) this text is cut. The letters are very lightly cut, with red paint still to be seen in some of them. Those that
survive are below the centre of the stage, on the fifth, sixth and seventh blocks from the north end; since all the blocks
are in place, it seems likely that the rest of the text, including the gaps in this fragment, was painted, and either not
incised at all, or cut so shallowly that it can no longer be detected.
Letters: i: 0.07; unusually shallow; leaf for stop. ii: 0.055-0.06; very simple.
Date: i: 139-161 C.E. . ii: Fourth century. (reign, lettering)
Findspot: Aphrodisias:
Theatre, in situ on the front of the stage
Original location: Theatre, stage
Last recorded location: Findspot (2001)
Interpretive
i
⟦Θεᾶι Ἀφροδείτηι⟧ καὶ Αὐτο | κράτορι Καίσαρι Τ⟦ίτῳ Αἰλίῳ Ἁδριανῷ⟧ Ἀ | ντωνείνῳ Σεβαστῷ Εὐσεβεῖ καὶ | Μάρκῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Οὐήρῳ
Καίσαρι καὶ τ | ῷ σύμπαντι οἴκῳ τῶν Σεβαστῶν καὶ τῇ γλυκυτάτ | ῃ πατρίδι ((leaf)) Τι(βέριος) Κλ(αύδιος) Ζῆλος | ἀρχιερεὺς
καὶ ἱερεὺς διὰ βίου θεᾶς ⟦Ἀφροδείτης⟧ τοὺς κ | είονας καὶ τὸν κατ' αὐτῶν κόσμον κ | αὶ τὴν σκούτλωσιν τοῦ τοίχου καὶ το |
ῦ ἐδάφους ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων κατεσσκεύ | ασεν καὶ ἀνέθηκεν ((leaf)) ii
[---εὐ]εργεϲίηϲ [c. 4] Ἀνδροκλέ[ο]υ[ϲ] Ν̣[.]ΕΙ[---]
Diplomatic
i
⟦ΘΕΑΙΑΦΡΟΔΕΙΤΗΙ⟧ΚΑΙΑΥΤΟ | ΚΡΑΤΟΡΙΚΑΙΣΑΡΙΤ⟦ΙΤΩΑΙΛΙΩΑΔΡΙΑΝΩ⟧Α | ΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΩΣΕΒΑΣΤΩΕΥΣΕΒΕΙΚΑΙ | ΜΑΡΚΩΑΥΡΗΛΙΩΟΥΗΡΩΚΑΙΣΑΡΙΚΑΙΤ | ΩΣΥΜΠΑΝΤΙΟΙΚΩΤΩΝΣΕΒΑΣΤΩΝΚΑΙΤΗΓΛΥΚΥΤΑΤ
| ΗΠΑΤΡΙΔΙ ❦ ΤΙΚΛΖΗΛΟΣ | ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΥΣΚΑΙΙΕΡΕΥΣΔΙΑΒΙΟΥΘΕΑΣ⟦ΑΦΡΟΔΕΙΤΗΣ⟧ΤΟΥΣΚ | ΕΙΟΝΑΣΚΑΙΤΟΝΚΑΤΑΥΤΩΝΚΟΣΜΟΝΚ | ΑΙΤΗΝΣΚΟΥΤΛΩΣΙΝΤΟΥΤΟΙΧΟΥΚΑΙΤΟ
| ΥΕΔΑΦΟΥΣΕΚΤΩΝΙΔΙΩΝΚΑΤΕΣΣΚΕΥ | ΑΣΕΝΚΑΙΑΝΕΘΗΚΕΝ ❦ ii
[---..]ΕΡΓΕϹΙΗϹ[····]ΑΝΔΡΟΚΛΕ[.]Υ[.].[·]ΕΙ[---]
English translation
Translation source: IAph2007
(i): To the goddess Aphrodite, to Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Verus Caesar
and the whole household of the Augusti and his very dear country, Ti(berius) Cl(audius) Zelos, high priest and priest for
life of the goddess Aphrodite, prepared and put up the columns and the entablature above them and the veneering of the wall
and of the floor at his own expense.
(ii): [---] benefaction [c. 4] (scil. of?) Androkles(?) [.] EI [---]
English translation
Translation source: Reynolds, 1991
(i): For the goddess Aphrodite, for Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Verus
Caesar and the whole household of the Augusti and to his very dear country, Tib. Cl(audius) Zelos, high priest, priest for
life of the goddess Aphrodite, prepared and dedicated the columns and the entablature above them and the veneering of the
wall and of the floor at his own expense.
French translation
Translation source: AE
(i): A la déesse Aphrodite et à l'empereur César Titus Aelius Hadrien Antonin Auguste Pieux et a Marcus Aurelius Verus César
et a toute la maison des Augustes et à sa très chère patrie, Tiberius Claudius Zélos, grand prêtre et prêtre à vie de la déesse
Aphrodite, a fait construire et a consacré les colonnes et l'entablement au-dessus d'elles et le placage du mur et du sol
a ses frais.
Bibliography
Transcription: New York University expedition 67.536
Publication: i: Macdonald, 1976 1, whence SEG 26.1220, Robert, Bulletin Épigraphique 1977.459 (l. 1), McCabe, PHI, 1996 115, erasure cited Jones, 1981 126; Reynolds, 1991 B.1, whence AE 1991.1522; ii: Roueché, ALA 34, whence McCabe, PHI, 1996 715, Merkelbach and Stauber, 1998 02/09/94, ALA 2004 34; i and ii: IAph2007 8.85.
