Honours for Commodus
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: CE 185-192
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

[...], 1, whence [...], 1962.366 [...] 1963.140, [...] 20.727, (whence [...] 324487); reprinted [...], 216-228, pl. 77, 78, 79.

Αὐτοκράτορα Καίσαρα Λούκιον Αἴλιον Αὐρήλιον Κόμμοδον Εὐσεβῆ , Εὐτυχῆ Σεβαστὸν Σαρματικὸν Γερμανικὸν μέγιστον Βρεταννικὸν τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ εὐεργέταν ἁ πόλις ἁ Κυρανάων ἁ ματρόπολις τᾶς Ἑξαπόλιος ἀφιερώσαντος Λουκίω Σεμπρωνίω [...] ιγ [...] τῶ κρατίστω ἀνθυπάτω ἐπ’ ἀγαθῷ

Apparatus

[^a1: at 4: [...]ιγ[...] [omitted by Goodchild (so Robert, SEG)]]

Translation

Emperor Caesar Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, pious, fortunate, Augustus, victor in Sarmatia, great victor in Germany, victor in Britain, their saviour and benefactor: the city of the Cyrenaeans, the metropolis of the Hexapolis erected his image; L(ucius) Sempronius [. ? . ]the most excellent proconsul consecrated it, for good fortune.

Commentary

Between 185, when Commodus became Felix, and his death at the end of 192.

The use of the accusative case should indicate that the cult statue was of the emperor in divine form, perhaps as Herakles (fragments of a colored Herakles were found in the neighbourhood, although not certainly from this temple.

In line 1 there is evidence of a half-hearted attempt at erasure, clearly abandoned before it had got very far, possibly after Severus had reinstated the memory of Commodus; rather incongruously, the erased letters were not re-inscribed, but they were simply painted and the whole text was in fact plastered over. Special merits of Commodus in Cyrene are unknown.

Line 3: The title Metropolis for Cyrene is common in the second half of the second century. This description of the Cyrenaican cities as Hexapolis is the only clearly dated instance. The sixth city must be the Hadrianic foundation of Hadrianopolis which must presumably have been reasonably prosperous at this time.

Line 4: The proconsul is not otherwise known.

Line 5: The large space before the end of the line may have been filled by e.g. τῷ κυρίῷ.