SEG 69.89 Synnada honours Hadrian

Synnada honours Hadrian

SEG 69.89 Date: ca. 131/2 AD

Fragment a+b+c+d

[For Good Fortune, the . . . Synnadans, of the Athenians and] Spartans . . . . . . since [they have made clear (?) that], having founded a colony (apoikian), . . . the land, which . . . they hold [ . . . to] Attica . . . how many benefactions Hadrian has made [for peoples (ethnē)] and cities . . . (5)of Trajan Hadrian Augustus Olympios Panhellenios Zeus, the only . . . the city [decreed (?) that this be inscribed on the Acropolis] at Athens, inasmuch as, [having been privileged (?)] privately . . . . . . in order to make the benefactions (euergesias) apparent to all, . . . the influx of the torrents . . . . . . increase of the rivers to . . . (10) . . . he gratified for . . . . . . from impending dangers . . . . . . and we think also . . . . . . to our borders . . . . . . and he wrote to his procurator (epitropōi) . . . (15) . . . and that there should be another road . . . . . . whence many benefits to the city . . . . . . he thought that there should be a council (sunedron) among us . . . having decreed and he himself . . . . . . our citizens Claudius Attalos Andragathos (20) . . . and . . . Claudius Piso Tertullinus the - . . . we - both in the other things . . . . . . [on the (?)] borders of the city, both the harvests (karpous) and . . . . . . he has . . . , just as the estates (chōria) of private individuals . . . . . . [the king (?)] supplies to the city from his own estates . . . (25) . . . to those owning a house's great properties (kataskeuas) . . . . . . to the proper or family cult (oikeian thrēskeian) . . .

Fragment e

. . . to him with . . . being . . . has arrived, he granted, having visited, (30) . . . [the right to use] the old [laws] of the city . . . [affairs] in Asia being disturbed . . . he prevented (?) anyone changing . . . our prytanis . . . he established . . . , and the priesthood (35) . . . to be crown-bearer (stephanēphorein) forever and . . . decisions (dogmata), the greatest and the . . . to this degree of glory, [our] citizen . . . of Athenians and Spartans . . . for this, the city held that (40) . . . we pray to all gods [for Emperor Hadrian Augustus Olympios and] his whole house and [the Senate of the Romans (?). Erection of the] stele [was managed by] Claudius Attalos [Andragathos, the priest of the Harmony (homonoias) of the Greeks and of Zeus] Eleutherios and . . . [and Claudius Piso Tertullinus, the priest] of Zeus Pandemos (45) . . . of the city.

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Greek text

References:

SEG 69.89 (Translated text) (AIO)

IG II² 1075 (PHI)

IG II² 2291c (PHI)

SEG 18.59 (PHI)

SEG 30.89 (PHI)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (Other city, Synnada)

Original location: [Acropolis]

fr. a - Findspot: Acropolis, south slope (EM 9509)
fr. b - Findspot: Agora, base of Acropolis (Ag. I 1267)
fr. c - Findspot: Agora, base of Acropolis (Ag. I 155)
fr. d - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 9511)
fr. e - Findspot: Acropolis (EM 10431)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] Textual note: AIO follows the text of Follet and Peppas Delmousou, BCH 143, 2019, 778-94 (= SEG 69.89), but declines to restore at l. 30, where they have αἰτήσασι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις? "to the Athenians who had requested it" and Geagan had ἀξιώσασιν ἡμῖν? "to us when we asked for it" (TAPA 103, 1972, 158-160 = SEG 30.89), see n. 2 below.

This decree of Synnada is one of four inscriptions set up on the Athenian Acropolis by various communities to commemorate their admission to the Penhellenion following its creation in 131/2 AD (on the Panhellenion, see IG II³ 4, 215 with notes). The others are: SEG 69.88 (decree of Sardis), SEG 47.163 (decree of Thyateira), IG II² 1091 (decree of the Panhellenion for Magnesia on the Maiandros). The extremely fragmentary IG II² 1107 might be another. A similar monument, SEG 53.1090, was erected by Kibyra at Puteoli in Italy (see P. Lombardi in M. L. Lazzarini and P. Lombardi, L'Italia centro meridionale tra repubblica e primo impero, 2003, 11-31). These inscriptions tend to focus on the grounds on which the city had been admitted to the Panhellenion, namely kinship ties to the cities of Mainland Greece (ll. 1-4), ties of friendship with Rome that ideally went back to the second century BC (not mentioned in this inscription), and signs of special honour from Hadrian (ll. 8-35).

Synnada (modern Şuhut) in Phrygia, was the capital of an assize district in the province of Asia most notable in the Imperial period for its marble quarry at Dorylaion. The city claimed kinship ties with both Athens and Sparta, which are referred to in ll. 1-2 and were actively advertised in the Hadrianic period, probably as part of the city’s bid for membership of the Panhellenion, by the city generally and its citizen Claudius Attalos Andragathos in particular (M. Nafissi, Ostraka 4, 1995, 119-36, see n. 4). The link with Athens was based on the mythic foundation of the city by Akamas, the son of Theseus and namesake of the Athenian tribe of Akamantis (Herodian, De prosod. cathol. 3.1 = 379; Steph. Byz., Eth. sv. Synnada) and reinforced by the presence there of the tomb of Alkibiades (Athen. Deip. 13.34) and the establishment of the Hadrianeia Panathenaia festival there in 129 AD. A dedication erected by Andragathos at Sparta on behalf of the Synnadans identifies one Thynnaros as the Spartan founder (IG V 1, 452 = SEG 45.280). On contemporary coins, the Synnadans call themselves “Dorians” and “Ionians” and depict both heroes (e.g., RPC IV.2 2205, 2986). [2] Much of the text is a catalogue of benefactions Synnada had received from Hadrian (ll. 8-35), unfortunately fragmentary. It seems that he wrote to the governor at Synnada's request ordering the construction of a new road, because snowmelt meant that the old one was dangerous for part of the year (ll. 8-15), and perhaps also resolved some issue with Synnada's borders (l. 13, cf. SEG 47.163, ll. 21, 30-31). He supplied Synnada with something from the Imperial estates (grain or the land itself?), to the relief of local landowners (ll. 22-25), and has perhaps permitted cult honours for his family (l. 26). At ll. 29-31, he visits a city and grants the inhabitants the right to use their old laws. Jones sees this as a reference to Hadrian's revision of the law code of Athens (cf. IG II² 1100), but it seems more logical for Synnada to be referring to their own laws [CdL] (Hadrian may have visited the city twice: A. R. Birley, Restless Emperor, 1997, 170 and 223). During some disorder in Asia, which is not otherwise attested, Hadrian prevented revolutions (ll. 32-33). He has probably established a new temple (of himself?) and a priesthood to go with it (ll. 34-35). Finally, he has provided an endowment that will fund the post of crown-bearer (stephanephoros), the chief magistracy of Synnada, in perpetuity (ll. 35; cf. IG II² 1102 for a similar benefaction at Athens). [3] The "council (synedrion) among us" is most likely the new Panhellenion, in which case "us" would be "the Greeks" and the decreeing body might be the Roman Senate, which seems to have passed a decree assenting to its establishment at Hadrian's prompting (cf. SEG 47.163, ll. 13-19). [4] Claudius Attalos Andragathos and Claudius Piso Tertullinus were leading citizens of Synnada who funded the erection of this inscription and had been especially involved in the city's admission to the Panhellenion (ll. 41-45, perhaps as Synnada's inaugural delegates to the Panhellenion, cf. SEG 69.88, ll. 12-14). Both of them served as mint magistrate at Synnada (e.g. RPC IV.2 2206-2207), but otherwise divided their efforts. Andragathos resided in Greece for many years, where he held the priesthood of the harmony (Homonoia) of the Greeks and Zeus Eleuthereus at Plataia, a major focus of Panhellenism revitalised by Hadrian alongside the Panhellenion (see D. J. Geagan, TAPA 103, 1972, 153-57). In Athens, he received Athenian citizenship and was assigned to the deme of Sphettos (in Akamantis, the tribe of Synnada’s Athenian founder), managed the association of the Dionysiac artists at Athens as priest of "the Dancer" (Oliver, Greek Constitutions 98-104), was Athenian archon in 140/1 AD, and later perhaps hoplite general (S. Byrne, Roman Citizens, 508). At Sparta, he oversaw the erection of the dedication to Synnada’s Spartan founder Thynnaros mentioned in n. 1. These activities date to the 130s and 140s AD; it is uncertain whether they led to or resulted from his involvement in the Panhellenion. Tertullinus remained in Asia, where he served as priest of Zeus Pandemos ("of the whole People," the chief god of Synnada) and as Asiarch, the annual high priest of the provincial imperial cult. The Athenians erected an honorific inscription for the family at Synnada (MAMA VI 374). On the family, see H. Müller, Chiron 10, 1980, 460-468; H. Bru, La Phrygie Parorée, 2017, 217-221. Similar clauses naming the citizens responsible for erecting the stele appear in SEG 69.88, ll. 12-14 and SEG 47.163 ll. 37-44.

Added: 21 Jan 2024
Updated: 14 Apr 2025
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