An Honorary Inscription Recording an Elite Woman from Nysa ad Maeandrum
LIBRI X (2024) 17-27
Received Date: 08.01.2024 | Acceptance Date: 23.02.2024
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10824787
Online Publication Date: 16.03.2024
Abstract: This article presents a new inscription discovered during the Nysa ad Maeandrum excavations in 2020. In this epigraphic document, Neikostrate, also known as Eutykhiane, a member of a noble family of Nysa ad Maendrum, is honoured by her hometown of Nysa for her virtue and nobility. Neikostrate, the daughter of Publius Aelius Iunius Marcianus, is mentioned as descended from archiereis and stephanephoroi. Although the inscription does not directly provide information on whether Neikostrate and the mentioned member of the family fulfilled any offices in the city, the expression of “ἀρχιερέων καὶ στεφανηφόρων ἐγγόνων” which referred to sacred and eponymous offices in the inscription will provide an effective view in the evaluation of the inscription and social status of the family. Subsequently, in consideration of the fact that Nysa ad Maendrum has remarkable epigraphical data concerning elite women, the limited information related to Neikostrate’s civic position is evaluated in the context of Nysaean noble women.
Keywords: Nysa ad Maeandrum, Neikostrate alias Eutychiane, Nysaean Noble Women, Arhiereia, Stephanephoria
Öz: Bu makale 2020 yılı Nysa ad Maeandrum kazı çalışmaları sırasında ele geçen yeni bir yazıtı ele almaktadır. Bu epigrafik belgede Nysa ad Maendrum kentinin soylu bir ailesinin ferdi olan ve Eutykhiane olarak da bilinen Neikostrate vatanı Nysa Kenti tarafından erdemi ve asaletinden ötürü onurlandırılmaktadır. Publius Aelius Iunius Marcianus’un kızı Neikostrate’nin, arkhiereia ve stephanephoria üstlenenlerin soyundan geldiği belirtilmektedir. Mevcut yazıt doğrudan Neikostrate’nin ve bahsi geçen aile üyelerinin kentte memuriyet üstlenip üslenmediğine yönelik bilgi aktarmamasına rağmen, yazıttaki dini ve eponym memuriyetlere atıf yapan “ἀρχιερέων καὶ στεφανηφόρων ἐγγόνων” ifadesi yazıtın ve ailesinin toplumsal konumunun değerlendirmesinde etken olacaktır. Bu durumu takiben, Nysa ad Maendrum kentinde soylu kadınlara ilişkin epigrafik olarak kayda değer belgelerin ele geçtiği göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, Neikostrate’nin sosyopolitik konumuna ilişkin sınırlı bilgiler Nysa ad Maendrum kentinin diğer soylu kadınları kapsamında değerlendirilecektir.
Anahtar sözcükler: Nysa ad Maeandrum, Neikostrate Namıdiğer Eutykhiane, Nysalı Soylu Kadınlar, Arkhiereia, Stephanephoria
AE L’Année épigraphique, Paris 1888 –.
Arslan M. 2007, Mithradates VI Eupator: Roma’nın Büyük Düşmanı. İstanbul.
BMC Lydia Head B. V. 1901, A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum: Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Lydia. London.
Bremen R. van 1996, The Limits of Participation: Women and Civic Life in the Greek East in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. Amsterdam.
Clerc M. A. 1887, “Inscriptions de la vallée du Méandre. Tralles, Nysa, Attuda, Laodicée et Colosses”. BCH 11, 346-354.
Cluzeau F. 2021, “Karia’da Kadınların Kamusal Rolünü Artıran Unsurlar”. Cedrus IX, 197-218.
Dmitriev S. 2005, City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. Oxford.
Ertuğrul F. & Malay H. 2010, “An Honorary Decree from Nysa”. EA 43, 31-42.
Ertuğrul F. 2008, “Some New Inscriptions from Tralleis and Aphrodisias”. EA 41, 87-90.
Fraser P. M. & Matthews E. 2018, A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names. United Kingdom.
Gauthier P. 1985, Les cités grecques et leurs bienfaiteurs (IVe-Ier siècle avant J.-C): contribution à l’histoire des institutions. (BCH Suppl. 12). Paris.
Gökalp Özdil N. & Akdoğu Arca E. N. 2022a, “An Overview of Nysa Based on Ancient Sources”. Eds. S. H. Öztaner, Nysa: A Dipolis on the Meander. İstanbul, 40-48.
Gökalp Özdil N. & Akdoğu Arca E. N. 2022b, “Nysa During the Roman Imperial Period”. Eds. S. H. Öztaner, Nysa: A Dipolis on the Meander. İstanbul, 62-75.
Gökalp Özdil N. & Akdoğu Arca E. N. 2022c, “Epigraphic Finds From The Colonadded Street / Street 1-Plateia”. Eds. S. H. Öztaner, Nysa: A Dipolis on the Meander. İstanbul, 130-144.
Gökalp Özdil N. 2018, “Yazıtlar Işığında Küçükasya’da Stephanephoria”. JHS 10/3, 197-205.
GRPC Lydia Kurth D. 2020, Greek and Roman Provincial Coins – Lydia. İstanbul.
Hammerstaedt J. & Smith F.M. 2008, “Diogenes of Oinoanda: The Discoveries of 2008 (Nf 142–167)”. EA 41, 1-37.
Kadıoğlu S., M. Kadıoğlu & Y. K. Kadıoğlu 2013, “Identifying of Buried Archaeological Remains with Ground Penetrating Radar, Polarized Microscope and Confocal Raman Spectroscopy Methods in Ancient City of Nysa, Aydın-Turkey”. Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 3569-3583.
Marek C. 1993, Stadt, Ära und Territorium in Pontus-Bithynia und Nord-Galatia. Tübingen.
Meyers R. 2012, “Reconsidering Opportunities for Female Benefactors in the Roman Empire: Julia Antonia Eurydice and the Gerontikon at Nysa”. L’Antiquité Classique 81, 145-159.
Oertel F. 1917, Die Liturgie: Studien zur ptolemäischen und kaiserlichen Verwaltung Ägyptens. Leipzig.
Öztaner S. H. 2022, “Colonnaded Street / Street 1- Plateia (East Side)”. Eds. S. H. Öztaner, Nysa: A Dipolis on the Meander. İstanbul, 110-129.
Öztaner S. H., E. N. Akdoğu Arca & N. Özdil Gökalp 2014, “Nysa ad Maeandrum’daki Yeni Bulgular Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme”. Eds. Ç. Aşkit, S. Kalaycıoğulları, R. Kayapınar, C. Üstünel Keyinci & R. Öztürk, In Memoriam Filiz Öktem. Ankara, 225-245.
Priene McCabe, D. F. 1987, Priene Inscriptions, Texts and List. Princeton.
Primo A. 2011, “The Client Kingdom of Pontus Between Mithridatism and Philoromanism”. Eds. T. Kaizer & M. Facella, Kingdoms and Principalities in the Roman Near East. Stuttgart, 159-179.
Ramsay W. M. 1941, The Social Basis of Roman Power in Asia Minor. Aberdeen.
Regling K. 1913b, “Überblick über die Münzen von Nysa”. Eds. W. von Diest, Nysa ad Maeandrum nach Forschungen und Aufnahmen in den Jahren 1907 und 1909. Berlin, 70-103.
Sherk R. K. 1993, “The Eponymous Officials of Greek Cities V”. ZPE 96, 267-295.
Sullivan R. D. 1980, “Dynasts From Pontus”. ANRW II/72, 913-930.
Thonemann P. J. 2004, “Polemo, Son of Polemo”. EA 37, 144-150.
Welles C. B. 1934, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period: A Study of Greek Epigraphy. Chicago.
Welwei K. W. 2001, “Stephanephorie”. DNP 11, 956.
Sargon BOYACI
PhD. Cand., Akdeniz University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures, Antalya. sargonboyaci@hotmail.com