The Inscriptions of Aphrodisias: a history
The first study devoted to the history of the inscriptions of Aphrodisias was a small volume by J. M. R. Cormack (Cormack, 1955) written while he was preparing the inscriptions recorded by his teacher, William Calder, for publication (as MAMA 8). The relevance of such material was illuminated by the work of Louis Robert, in the discussion of visitors to Caria in La Carie, and to Aphrodisias in Hellenica 13, 109-16; the background to one group of texts was set out by J. M. Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome , Appendix II, 147-8. Since then, new material has emerged; what follows is an account of the current state of our knowledge.
In the Byzantine period, probably in the ninth century, at least two, possibly three epigrams inscribed at the site were included in the Greek Anthology (Anthologia Palatina 9.704, 16.35, and perhaps 7.690). They may may have been transcribed from the stone by a Byzantine copyist; but it is also possible that they circulated separately within the literary tradition.
1705-16
William Sherard (See DNB entry), while British Consul at Smyrna, visited the site on two occasions; his own and related notebooks are in the British Library, bound as BL Add. 10101-2. Understanding of his copies has been transformed by the work of Michael Crawford; see Crawford, 2002, and Crawford, 2003,
1705, 19 to 23 August
Sherard visited several sites, including Geira/Aphrodisias, accompanied by Rev. John Tisser, Mr. Cutts Lockwood, Mr. John Lethieullier and Dr. Antonio Picenini. Picenini kept a diary (BL Add. 6269, ff 38-49) and made copies (BL Add. 10102, ff. 12-53; Aphrodisias 13-36); he also transcribed the copies made by Tisser (10102, ff. 53-81, Aphrodisias 53-56v, 61v-68, 71-77). Sherard made some copies of his own (BL Add. 10101 ff 9-21, Aphrodisias 9-16v); he also transcribed the copies made by Picenini (ff. 22-67, Aphrodisias 24-48v). The resultant MS (BL Add. 10101, ff. 9-78v), is referred to by Boeckh as Cod. Ask 1. Picenini also gave a copy of the inscriptions he had copied to E. Spanheim, the Prussian Ambassador to London, and this is now in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (MS Spanhem. 11); this was also consulted by Boeckh in the preparation of Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.2
1716
Sherard went on an expedition around June 20 with Rev. Dr. S. Lisle ((See DNB entry); they did not visit Aphrodisias (BL Add. 10101 ff. 68r-78v). He set off on a second expedition, from 5-25 July, with Dr Lisle, , Mr. Vandervecht, and J.C., probably Jos. Clotterboke (10101, 119-131v, Cod. Ask. 3) as well as Bernard Mould (whose diary is BL Add. 65412); this took him to Aphrodisias on 6 July, and almost all the inscriptions copied on that expedition are from there (10101, 120-131).
1720+
Sherard prepared a set of fair copies for the Earl of Oxford, now BL Harley 7509, available online
Picenini's and Sherard's copies were used by E. Chishull (see DNB entry) in Antiquitates Asiaticae, 1728. Sherard's papers were consulted in London by Karl Müller on behalf of Boeckh, for the preparation of Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.2: see Boeckh and Müller (1883).
1750, 1-3 October
Robert 'Palmyra' Wood (see DNB entry) visited the site and copied some twenty texts; these copies were never published, but were almost all of texts which had been published elsewhere. The papers are now in the possession of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, have been digitised with the support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation: see a description of the project, and for the transcriptions, see Notebook 14: pages 48-58, and also loose pages 44-46: All the inscriptions page 44-45 and 46 as far as this mark + copyd at Geyra, most of them from stones in the wall at the east side of the town or lying at the foot of the same wall, except for one from a sarcophagus in the town design'd by Mr Bourra (which see) and two over the gates; I was a littlestraightened in timeor might have copied more'. (page 59, loose page 37)
1782
Domenico Sestini spent three days at Aphrodisias; his copies were published, Sestini, 1807 and used by Boeckh in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.2
?1805
Robert Walpole (see DNB entry) travelled in the East after graduating in 1803. He copied a text at Geira, which he included with his publication of texts transcribed by others, Walpole 1817 ; his transcription was used by Boeckh in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.2
1812
J-P. Gandy-Deering (see DNB entry), an architect employed by the Society of Dilettanti, visited Aphrodisias. His copies were published by William Leake (see DNB entry), Leake 1843, and republished by W. H. Waddington, LBW. We are very grateful to the late Madame Jeanne Robert for the gift of Deering's copies, which can now be consulted on the web at https://insaph.kcl.ac.uk/insaph/notebooks/deering/
1816
Otto von Richter (VIAF) visited the site; see the edition of his papers Ewers, 1822. His epigraphic copies were published by J.V. Francke, Francke, 1830, and used by Boeckh in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.2. See L.Robert, Hellenica 13, 113.
1820s
H.P. Borrell (See DNB entry), resident in Smyrna, obtained an inscription from Aphrodisias, a copy of which he sent to Boeckh: see Whitehead, 1999, 104-5
1830s
Raoul-Rochette (VIAF) obtained copies of inscriptions from Aphrodisias which he sent to Boeckh: see L. Robert, Hellenica 13, 131
1835
C.-F. M. Texier copied inscriptions, incidentally to his surveying and drawing of buildings at Aphrodisias, and published them: Texier, 1839
1835
A. Boeckh used copies by Picenini, Sherard, Sestini, von Richter, and others sent by D. Raoul-Rochette, Borrell, and some unnamed correspondents in publishing the inscriptions of Aphrodisias in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum volume II.2.
1840
Sir Charles Fellows (See DNB entry) visited Aphrodisias; his copies tend to be unreliable compared, for example, to those of Sherard. He published them very promptly, in Fellows, 1841; they were used in the addenda published in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum II.3. Of these a page is preserved among the papers of Samuel kept in the Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum (to whom I am grateful for access). Page 515 has been annotated (in pencil), 'The hand of Sir C. Fellows'. It contains the transcriptions of two texts headed 'Priene' (P.Le Bas, W.H.Waddington, Voyage archéologique 205, CIG, 2904), and then the heading 'Aphrodisias', followed by the transcriptions of 11.31 and 12.909.
1841
H. Loew, naturalist (see J. and L. Robert, La Carie 59) visited the site. His copies were edited and published by J. Franz, Franz, 1847, referred to in CIG IV in 1856, and and republished by W. H. Waddington, LBW, in 1870.
1842
J. K. Bailie (see DNB entry) visited the site. In an account of his visit, Bailie, 1843, 32, he states clearly that he copied 'only fifteen or twenty of these records'; it is not always obvious which, of the forty-one inscriptions which he subsequently published, Bailie, 1846, were from his own copies; for his unreliability, see L. Robert, Hellenica 13, 152-4. He also used copies supplied to him by H. P. Borrell; see Whitehead, 1999.
1843
A. Boeckh republished the inscriptions published by Fellows in Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum volume II.3
1843
Philippe Le Bas copied inscriptions, published in 1870 by W. H. Waddington, LBW .
1844, Summer
Edward Falkener (see DNB entry) copied inscriptions, which were published by W. Henzen, Henzen, 1852.
1850
W. H. Waddington copied inscriptions: the copies made by him and by Le Bas in 1843 were published by Waddington in 1870, LBW.
1856
E. Curtius and A. Kirchhoff published Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum IV, including material from Aphrodisias copied by Loew
1870
W. H. Waddington published inscriptions copied by himself in 1850, and Philippe Le Bas in 1843 as Le Bas and Waddington, LBW; he also republished inscriptions not included in CIG IV published by Bailie, Franz, Henzen and Leake.
1874
K. G. Anthopoulos recorded four texts formerly from Aphrodisias but by then at Pirlibey, and published them, Anthopoulos, 1875; it was presumably he who sent a squeeze of one of these texts to A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, who published it in 1880.
1874
G. Hirschfeld copied inscriptions; one was published by Cormack, Cormack, 1964. On Hirschfeld see J. and L. Robert, La Carie , 65.
1875
Auguste Choisy, an architect and engineer, copied inscriptions, which were published by Georges Perrot, Perrot, 1876
1884
W. M. Ramsay (see DNB entry) copied inscriptions, and published them: Ramsay, 1897
1884
J. R. S. Sterrett copied inscriptions, and published them: Sterrett, 1888.
1884, November
P. Paris and M. Holleaux copied inscriptions, and published them: Paris and Holleaux, 1885.
1887
G. Radet copied inscriptions, and published them: Radet, 1890, 236-8.
1887 Early summer
G. Doublet and G. Deschamps spent four hours at Aphrodisias copied inscriptions, and published them: Doublet and Deschamps, 1890; see G. Deschamps, Sur les routes de l'Asie (Paris, 1894), and J and L Robert, La Carie II, 66-7.
1888
K. Buresch copied inscriptions in the Maeander valley, including Aphrodisias: see Buresch, 1894
1889
O. Liermann republished a substantial group of inscriptions from the site: Liermann, 1889.
1891
A. Wilhelm transcribed at least one fragment from Aphrodisias at Smyrna; his notebooks are kept at the Kleinasiatische Kommission in Vienna. See Cormack, 1964.
1893
W. Kubitschek and W. Reichel spent sixteen days in early summer at Aphrodisias, and also recorded texts at Bingeç and Pirlibey. In November that year they presented sixteen of the c. 200 texts which they copied and or squeezed, Kubitschek and Reichel, 1893. Their records were consulted by Reinach in his preparation of the texts recorded by Gaudin. Some of their copies were used by L. Robert, Robert, Gladiateurs nos. 158, 159, 160, 161. J. M. R. Cormack published a further selection, Cormack, 1964. Cormack also used their notebooks in his preparation of MAMA 8. A further group of texts, copied at Bingeç/Plarasa, was published by Wolfgang Blümel: Blümel 2019. The notebooks (one by Reichel and two by Kubitschek) and squeezes are kept by the Kleinasiatische Kommission in Vienna, to whom we are most grateful for access and for high quality scans. Some other squeezes are in the archives of the Inscriptions Graecae in Berlin.
1897
J. G. C. Anderson travelled in Phrygia in summer 1897; he published the texts which he copied in the area later that year: Anderson, 1897.
1898
W. R. Paton (see DNB entry) visited the site with a grant from the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies; he published the texts which he copied in the area in an article Paton, 1900.
1904
P. Gaudin excavated at Aphrodisias; see Collignon (1904). Gaudin's squeezes are now in the possession of the Sorbonne, to whom we are very grateful for access and photographs.
1905
First Gaudin, and, after he was called away, G. Mendel excavated at Aphrodisias; see Mendel, 1906, and Collignon, 1906. Mendel published two inscriptions with his publication of statues found at Aphrodisias, Mendel, 1914, and passed several more on to H. Grégoire who published them as well as other, previously published, texts, in IGC (1922)
1906
T. Reinach published the materials recorded by Gaudin: Les matériaux que m'a fournis M. Gaudin consistent en estampages ou photographies de 221 textes épigraphiques. Les uns et les autres sont très bien exécutés et accompagnés d'indications sommaires, mais précises, sur la nature et l'emplacement de chaque monument; j'ai rarement vu un dossier épigraphique constitué avec autant de soin et de méthode. Reinach, 1906; Reinach also consulted the records of Kubitschek and Reichel.
1913
A. Boulanger excavated at Aphrodisias, principally in the area of the Hadrianic Baths; see Boulanger (1914). He left two notebooks; one, A, contains, pp 1-9, inscriptions copied and mostly already published, by Mendel; pp 39-47 transcriptions of 12 inscriptions from the Baths already published by Reinach; pp. 49-65 copies, by Boulanger, of 29 inscriptions discovered by Mendel in 1905; pp. 67-78 26 texts excavated in 1913, with the date of each find. B contains fair copies of the inscriptions found in 1905 and 1913, clearly prepared with a view to publication. The notebooks were passed to Louis Robert, and include some annotations by him. We are very grateful to the late Madame Jeanne Robert for the gift of these notebooks. One text was published from these by B. Haussoullier, Revue de Philologie 44 (1920) More texts were published from Boulanger's notebooks by Robert, 1939 and Épigrammes d'Aphrodisias in Hellenica IV, 127-135. Robert also cited others in: Robert, Études Anatoliennes, 542 n. 2; Robert, Hellenica I, 51; Robert, 1966, 394, n. 1, and 417.
1914
B. Laum republished several inscriptions from the site, Laum 1914
1925-26
A. Salač visited the site and copied texts, one of which he published: Salač, 1927
1934
W. M. Calder, with L. I. Higby and A. B. Birnie, recorded inscriptions at Aphrodisias as part of the Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua project. A second expedition, by W.H. Buckler and L. Robert, was planned for 1935, but was prevented by the political situation. One text was published by Calder Calder, 1935; one was sent to L. Robert by W. H. Buckler, and published in Robert, Gladiateurs, no. 156; another was published by Cormack, 1954. All the texts which the 1934 expedition copied were eventually published, after the deaths of Buckler and Calder, by J. M. R. Cormack in 1962
1937-8
An Italian expedition directed by G. Jacopi, excavated at Aphrodisias; Jacopi, 1940 includes the inscriptions they found.
1940
L. Robert published inscriptions in Robert, Gladiateurs, including unpublished material from copies by Kubitschek and Reichel, and from the MAMA expedition of 1934.
1943
M. Squarciapino republished a series of inscriptions of Aphrodisian sculptors from Aphrodisias and elsewhere: Squarciapino, 1943
1946 and 1947
J. and L. Robert copied inscriptions at Aphrodisias, which they published, together with some copied by Boulanger, in Hellenica IV
1954
J. and L. Robert published La Carie II: Le Plateau de Tabai, drawing extensively on Aphrodisian material.
1959
A. Giuliano examined sculptural and inscribed fragments found during construction works on a water supply: see Giuliano, 1960
1962
All the texts which the 1934 MAMA expedition had copied were published, after the deaths of Buckler and Calder, by J.M.R. Cormack; MAMA 8. For a full and critical analysis of this volume see Louis Robert, Hellenica 13, especially pages 109-238.
1962
Rudolf Noll published an inscription now in the Vienna Museum, in as being from Aphrodisias: Noll, 1962; it was in fact copied by Kubitschek in Bingeç.
1961-1990
Kenan Erim (see Wikipedia) of New York University began excavations at Aphrodisias
1964
J. M. R. Cormack transcribed copies made by Hirschfeld, and by Kubitschek and Reichel from the archives in Vienna, and published them: Cormack, 1964; this provoked a very full analysis by Robert, 1966
1966-1994
Joyce Reynolds (see Wikipedia) began to record inscriptions at Aphrodisias, working there until 1994
1971-1994
Charlotte Roueché (see Wikipedia) and, from 1972, Mossman Roueché began work with Joyce Reynolds in recording inscriptions at Aphrodisias, working there until 1994
1970s
Hermann Wankel (see Wikipedia) copied an inscription at Aphrodisias
1991-
R. R. R. Smith (see British Academy) of New York University, subsequently of Oxford University, took over direction of the excavations at Aphrodisias
1993
Ender Varınlıoğlu copied inscriptions at Bingeç: see Debord and Varınlıoğlu, 2011; we are very grateful to him for allowing us to present some unpublished texts
1995-
Angelos Chaniotis (see Wikipedia) assumed responsibility for recording inscriptions at Aphrodisias
2007
Reynolds, Roueché and Gabriel Bodard published the online corpus of inscriptions at Aphrodisias, including the majoprity of texts recorded up until 1994