INSCRIPTIONS AND STATUES OF THE ROMAN IMPERIAL FAMILY AT THE THEATER OF TELMESSUS IN CARIA (SOUTH-WESTERN TURKEY)

Labarre G., LAFLI E.

EIRENE-STUDIA GRAECA ET LATINA, vol.60, 2024 (AHCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 60
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Journal Name: EIRENE-STUDIA GRAECA ET LATINA
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Periodicals Index Online, L'Année philologique, Linguistic Bibliography, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, DIALNET
  • Keywords: Greek inscriptions, theater, Graeco-Roman period, Telmessus, Greek epigraphy, classical archaeology, ancient Roman history
  • Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary report about three honorifically inscribed bases set up during the era of Trajan in the theatre of Telmessus in south-western Turkey by the Lycian koinon (i.e., league) for Trajan, Plotina, and Matidia and about some fragmentary statues that may belong to these inscribed monuments. Rescue excavations by the Museum of Fethiye were carried out in the theater of Telmessus between 1992 and 1995 which was built in the Late Hellenistic period. Three statue bases which were raised by the Lycian koinon in honour of Plotina, Trajan and Matidia are examined in this article, as are two female statues (Plotina and Matidia?) and two others representing an armored emperor (Trajan?). All of these finds are today exhibited in the garden of the Museum of Fethiye. The brief article discusses the architectural framework in which the bases and their statues were erected and questions the precise location where they were placed. As this paper is rather based on new epigraphic evidence from the theater of Telmessus, the study of the statuary and their context is brief and preliminary; the architectural context of the theatre is not illustrated at all.