C. P. Jones

The Roman world of Dio Chrysostom

The Greek orator Dio Chrysostom is a colorful figure, and along with Plutarch one of the major sources of information about Greek civilization during the early Roman Empire. C.P. Jones offers here the first full-length portrait of Dio in English and, at the same time, a view of life in cities such as Alexandria, Tarsus, and Rhodes in the first centuries of our era. Skillfully combining literary and historical evidence, Mr. Jones describes Dios birthplace, education, and early career. He examines the civic speeches for what they reveal about Dios life and art, as well as the life, thought, and language of Greek cities in this period. From these and other works he reinterprets Dios attitude toward the emperors and Rome. The account is as lucid and pleasantly written as it is carefully documented.

Towards A Chronology of Plutarch's Works

The belief is widespread that the majority of Plutarchs works was written after the death of Domitian in 96, when the author was a comparatively old man. So far, however, the foundations for this belief have not been firmly laid. The latest study of Plutarchean chronology, that of Ziegler, omits much, and new evidence is constantly accruing. The following study is an attempt to make use of all the material now available that bears on the dating of Plutarchs works. It cannot be definitive: there may be omissions, certain problems (such as that of Plutarchs marriage and the number of his children) appear insoluble, and new data, particularly new inscriptions, that affect the question are sure to turn up.

Philostratus' Heroikos and its Setting in Reality *

This paper discusses the background in reality of the Heroikos (Dialogue concerning Heroes), which is ascribed to Philostratus of Athens, and is mainly devoted to the hero Protesilaos. After a summary of the work, the paper considers it from four aspects. The time of writing falls after 217 (the second victory at Olympia of the athlete Helix of Phoenicia); there may be a reference to events in Thessaly under the emperor Alexander Severus (222-235). If the author is the well-known Philostratus, then such a date also implies a dramatic date in the author?s own time. This is corroborated by two series of references which appear to run from the comparatively recent past to the present. One of these concerns bones of heroes, while the other concerns athletes to whom the hero Protesilaos had given advice in the form of oracles. The geographical setting of the dialogue is Elaious in the Thracian Chersonese. The evidence for the cult of Protesilaos on the territory of Elaious comes from literature, notably Herodotus, from coins of the time of Commodus, and from modern observations, notably a vivid account given by Heinrich Schliemann. While Philostratus? description of the cult-place at Elaious appears very accurate, his account of the Island of Achilles in the Pontus is less so. Finally, the paper considers the Heroikos in the context of contemporary belief about heroes and their powers. Another work probably by the same author, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, is adduced to assess the credulity of readers in Philostratus? time and later. Documents and literature of the imperial period show that even dead contemporaries could be regarded as heroes, who were still influential even from beyond the grave. The references to Protesilaos in literature (Pausanias, Lucian) strongly suggest that he was regarded as issuing oracles in the form of dreams, and this too accords with beliefs about heroes both in the Hellenistic period and in the Roman.

An Epigram on Apollonius of Tyana

An inscription of major importance, now in the New Museum of Adana, contains an epigram on Apollonius of Tyana. Almost simultaneously, a preliminary text has been provided by E. L. Bowie, and a full publication with discussion and photograph by G. Dagron and J. Marcillet- Jaubert. I offer here a text, translation, and commentary, and look for a historical and cultural setting. The inscription is cut on a single large block, now damaged on the left, which originally served as an architrave or lintel. The photograph (PLATE I b ) makes detailed comment on the palaeography superfluous: but it is worth noting the sign of punctuation (:) after ἐπώνυμος and of elision (∾) after τὸ δ᾿ ; the leaf filling the vacant space at the end of line 4; and generally the very affected script, notably the rho shaped like a shepherds crook, the complicated xi and the lyre-shaped omega . This strange lettering makes it more than usually hazardous to date the inscription from this feature alone. A date in the third or fourth century seems roughly right, and would accord with the content of the epigram.

A Deed of Foundation from the Territory of Ephesos

The ‘foundation’ in the juridical sense, ‘the establishing of an institution, together with an endowment or provision for its perpetual maintenance’, is a conspicuous phenomenon of the Hellenistic and imperial periods. Though ancient foundations vary widely in form, purpose, and organization, two kinds predominate. One, of which the fullest examples are Hellenistic, is funerary. The founder forms an association, or endows one already formed, for the cultivation of his and his familys memory by means of ceremonies conducted at the family tomb. The organization is essentially private, and those responsible for the conduct of the foundation are the members of the constituent association. An elaborate and perfectly preserved example is that of Epicteta of Thera, dated about 200 B.C. The other notable form is characteristic of the civic revival of the principate. Here the founder establishes an endowment of which the direct or indirect beneficiary is the city, or some subdivision of the citizenry such as the boule or gerousia . This foundation is essentially public, and the responsibility for administering it rests with the city officials. This type is illustrated by one of the longest of all known foundation-deeds, the dossier relative to the foundation of C. Vibius Salutaris dated to A.D. 104. As well as other kinds of foundation, such as those endowing libraries, salaries for schoolmasters, the maintenance of freeborn boys and girls (the alimenta ), there are also hybrids between the two principal types already described. Thus T. Flavius Praxias of Acmoneia provides both for a college of six of his freedmen, presumably intended as a funerary association similar to Epictetas, and for the boule and archontes of Acmoneia to see to the overall management of the foundation, including the protection of the freedmen.

Homer's Daughters

IT OFTEN HAPPENS IN SCHOLARSHIP that a correct view is supplanted by an incorrect one, and can only be reestablished by the consideration of old evidence or the production of new: recentiores non potiores. The present study concerns a monument from imperial Athens which has been subjected to a variety of interpretations; the original one, often though not entirely unheeded, can be now supported by evidence from Pamphylia.

The Younger Pliny and Jerome

DISCUSSING THE FATE of Plinys correspondence in the late Empire, Alan Cameron has observed that Jerome in letters of 395 and 398 shows a knowledge of letters of Pliny (CQ n.s. 15 [1965] 293-294 and also C. n.s. 17 [1967]). It can be added that another letter of Pliny is echoed in the preface of Jeromes De Viris Illustribus, published in 393 (for the date see F. Cavallera, Saint-,Jr6me [1922] 2.31):

The Historicity of the Neronian Persecution: A Response to Brent Shaw

Brent Shaw has recently argued that the Neronian persecution never occurred. In fact, there are no grounds for doubting Tacitus’ report of the persecution. Sources later than Tacitus (Melito, Dionysius of Alexandria) date the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul to the reign of Nero, but those reports have no bearing on the veracity of Tacitus’ account.

The Olympieion and the Hadrianeion at Ephesos

Ephesos was one of the great cities of the ancient world; in the period of the Roman empire, it was the capital of the province of Asia, and on one celebrated occasion its religious life came into sharp conflict with early Christianity ( Acts xix 23-41). From the earliest days of methodical excavation in Turkey, Ephesos has provided a magnet to travellers and archaeologists. Hence a problem that involves the cults and the topography of imperial Ephesos can claim more than an antiquarian interest.

An amulet from London and events surrounding the Antonine Plague

R. S. O. Tomlin has recently provided an excellent publication of an amulet found in the City of London in 1989. It is a long, narrow strip cut from a sheet of pewter, with 30 lines of Greek text, and the bearer was a certain Demetri(o)s. By a curious coincidence, two of the Greek inscriptions of Britain also involve a Demetrios, though a different one. They are inscribed on two bronze plates found in York about 1840. One reads , the other , and the bearer is presumably identical with a grammaticus from Tarsus of the same name, described as having come from Britain to Delphi in one of Plutarchs dialogues. This note mainly treats the second of two hexameter oracles incorporated in the text of the London amulet, but I begin by discussing the text as a whole.