Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

Honors by a Street for Damianos the Sophist (167 CE) Ephesos - Ionia


Ephesos (Ionia, Asia Minor — Pleiades map), 167 CE
IEph 3080 + correction to line 7 in Géza Alföldy and Helmut Halfmann, "Iunius Maximus und die Victoria Parthica," ZPE 35 (1979) 195–212, at 210n46 (based on examination of the photo) = FiE III 80 = PHI 249168 = AGRW ID# 9312


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Middle portion of a statue base of blue marble (95 x 48 x 48 cm). T. Flavius Damianos (or Damianus) was a sophist who played an important civic role at Ephesos (see PIR² F 253; Philostratus, Vita Soph. 2.23.605-606). A statue in priestly garb likely to be identified as Damianos was found at Ephesos and is currently in the archeological museum at Izmir (see photo below; cf. S. Dillon, "The Portraits of a Civic Benefactor of 2nd-c. Ephesos," JRA 9 [1996], 261-274). Damianos is mentioned in numerous inscriptions from Ephesos (e.g. IEph 672 [which also refers to his hosting the returning armies], 672A, 672B, 676a, 735, 811, 2100 [grave], 3029.26, 3051 [Damianus honors a procurator], 3081 [honors for his daughter]). Damianos's wife was Vedia Phaedrina, who was the daughter of M. Claudius P. Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabianus (IEph 2100, 3081), who built the so called Vedius gymnasium and was himself a benefactor of several associations (see IEph 171 and 2065 on this site; see also the notes to NewDocs IV 18). Our present inscription refers to the return of Roman soldiers after the victory against the Parthians (cf. IEph 672), on which see Alföldy and Halfmann 1979 (dealing with IEph 3080 and IEph 811).

The street-association (plateia) honored T. Flavius Damianos, their own benefactor, incomparable in every respect.  He has served as secretary in a brilliant manner; he has distributed 201200 (10000 x 20 + 1200) medimnoi (a Greek measure) of grain for thirteen whole months, during which months he hosted the armies returning from the victory against the Parthians; he has been leader of the festival during the great Ephesian contests in an extravagant manner; he arranged for the erection of a building (oikos) — the construction and every decoration — in the Varius baths in the same year; and, he brought in a surplus of 127816 (10000 x 12 + 7816) denarii in revenues during the same period as secretary for the city (polis).  C. Licinius Arteimetos Aurelianus, the temple-keeper (neopoios) of Artemis and secretary of the temples of Asia that are in Ephesos, supervised the setting up of the honor.

Translation by: Harland



Τ(ίτον) Φλ(άουιον) Δαμιανὸν | τὸν ἴδιον εὐεργέτην καὶ | ἐν πᾶσιν ἀσύνκριτον ἡ | πλατεῖα, γραμματεύσαντα || ἐπιφανῶς καὶ μετρήσαντα | μυριάδας μεδίμνων κʹ καὶ | ͵αϛʹ μησὶν γʹ {ιγʹ(Älfoldy and Halfmann)} ὅλοις, καὶ ὑπο|δεξάμενον ἐν τούτοις στρα|τόπεδα ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ Πάρθων || νείκης ὑποστρέφοντα, καὶ | πανηγυριαρχήσαντα κατὰ | τὸ αὐτὸ τῶν μεγάλων Ἐφεσή|ων ἐκτενῶς, καὶ ἔργον ὑποσχό|μενον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐνιαυτῷ οἶ||κον ἐν τῷ Οὐαρίῳ Βαλανείῳ | μετὰ οἰκοδομῆς καὶ παντὸς | κόσμου, καὶ μυριάδας ποιή|σαντα περισσείας ἐκ τῶν | προσόδων τῆς ἰδίας γραμ||ματείας τῇ πόλει ιβʹ ͵ζωιϛʹ· | ἐπιμεληθέντος τῆς ἀνασ|τάσεως τῆς τειμῆς Γ(αΐου) Λικινίου | Ἀρτειμήτου Αὐρηλιανοῦ νεω|ποιοῦ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ γραμμα||τέως τῆς Ἀσίας ναῶν τῶν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ.

Statue of Flavius Damianos in priestly garb found in the east gymnasium at Ephesos, now in the museum at Izmir.
© Philip A. Harland.

 

Item added: January 9, 2013
Item modified: December 7, 2015
ID number: 9312
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=9312

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