Igrr 1.1291 = Sb 5.8393
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PETER BRENNAN DIOCLETIAN AND ELEPHANTINE: A CLOSER LOOK AT POCOCKE’S PUZZLE (IGRR 1.1291 = SB 5.8393) aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 76 (1989) 193–205 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 193 DIOCLETIAN AND ELEPHANTINE: A CLOSER LOOK AT POCOCKE'S PUZZLE (IGRR 1.1291 = SB 5.8393) Two European travellers passed each other on the upper Nile in the busy winter of 1737/1738. Richard Pococke saw and copied a Greek inscription on a wall built round part of a temple on the southern end of the island of Elephantine. For that he deserves gratitude. His published transcription includes many errors and one intriguing riddle, only partly justified by his disclaimer that the inscription was in several parts defaced and that he copied it in a hurry, but there appears to be no other record of it.1 Friedrich Norden seems to have seen the inscription a month earlier, but did not bother to copy it.2 E.Jomard, with the French army expedition at the start of the nineteenth century could already find no trace of it, and it is unlikely to turn up. Unless and until it does, we are left with only Pococke's puzzling copy. J.Franz reproduced Pococke's transcription in CIG 3.4892, substituting some of the ten variant readings which Pococke had noted at the foot of his published copy (clearly as later reflections on his notes, not on site doubts) and a few gratuitous variants of his own. Franz also produced an edited text, but his low regard for Pococke's copy led him to several restorations which ignored, at times needlessly, both his actual letters and his generally meticulous indication of the number of unread letters. The despairing tone of his few comments may be largely responsible for the subsequent general neglect and the occasional abuse of this inscription. His text was followed in IGRR 1.1291 (reproduced as SB 5.8393) with a few minor editorial changes, some reflecting Pococke's copy more accurately, others not. A perceptive note pointed out the reversal of lines 21 and 22, but the significance and implications of this have never been pursued. A re-edition of the text and some brief comments have value, both positive and negative. A proper text may rescue from unmerited oblivion a document which sketches a useful, though cryptic, cameo of imperial actions, civilian-military relations and administrative arrangements in Egypt in the time of Diocletian. The inscription seems to have been noted in only two contexts. The unorthodox and exotic imperial titulature in the received text has 1 R.Pococke, A Description of the East and Some Other Countries (London, 1743), 1.278 (text), 117f. (description). 2 F.Norden, Travels in Egypt and Nubia (tr. P.Templeton, London, 1757), 100ff. with plate V. In the collaborative work Description d'Égypte (2nd ed. Paris, 1821), 1.182, E.Jomard says that he looked for it in vain. Nor is there any sign of it in D.V.Denon, Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte pendant les campagnes du Général Bonaparte (London, 1802), 1.206f. who turned over and questioned every rock on the island. 194 P.Brennan found an uneasy place, or been ignored, in discussions of tetrarchic titulature.3 A closer look, however, at the peculiarities of Pococke's letter readings and line order shows that there is no warrant for anything other than an orthodox titulature, both in the titles recorded and in their order. The titles Hibericus and Parthicus can again be discarded from tetrarchic titulature. Secondly, ever since Pococke took ˜rou! (line 17) to mean "bounds", the text has been taken to mention directly either local municipal boundaries or the imperial boundaries set at the first cataract by Diocletian ((Proc., Bella 1.19.27ff.).4 The actual text does not, however, readily fit such a meaning, but it does fit the meaning "decisions", a meaning commonly attested in contemporary papyri (see my comments on line 18, but the unsatisfactory state of the text at this point allows some uncertainty).5 The local reorganisation resulting from the new frontier is surely part of the background of the events noted, but there is probably no specific allusion to territorial boundaries. Pococke's copy must be the basis of any text, but many of his peculiar readings here (as in other inscriptions copied by him) are most unlikely to represent the letters actually inscribed. There seems little point in preserving them in a reedited text. Thus, while retaining those letters of Pococke which are possible, though odd, variants, I have replaced Pococke's improbable letters with those expected. Letters which would be expected and which approximate closely in shape those read by Pococke have been indicated by a dot subscript (being treated as doubtfully read letters); expected letters which are far different in shape have been indicated by half square brackets (being treated as editorial corrections of scribal errors). It is obvious that, granted the defective nature of Pococke's copy, no credence can be given to a particular orthography, be it Pococke's or any other, and no linguistic argument should be based on it. Another departure from Pococke's copy which seemed necessary was to renumber lines 21ff in the order of my reconstruction of the original text, with Pococke's line numbers (which cannot reflect the original) given in brackets. To allow access to Pococke's actual order of lines and his readings in all cases, a facsimile of his published copy is appended. 1 $…¸!` d¢ $pr¸o!∞kÒn §!$t¸in $p¸er‹ $t¸«n p$r¸o$n¸o$m«¸n k`a‹ t«n éphg$oreum°n¸vn m$nÆmhn¸ p`[oiÆ]!a!y`a$i¸ 2 §n tª Ímet°r& deÆ!i t“ dia!hmot`ãtƒ {atv} kayol`i$k¸“ $p¸rÚ! $x¸ãrin f[r]ont¤!atai $…¸! oÈk ¶d`ei Í$m¸ç! 3 <k>$a¸‹ $p¸er‹ toÊtvn ¶noxl`›!yai: per‹ d¢ t«n ghd¤vn ëper ¶n` t∫ nÆ!ƒ e‰`nai §mnhmone$Ê!¸atai 3 P.Kneissl, Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser (Göttingen, 1969), 38ff.; A.Arnaldi, RIL 106 (1972), 37f. nn.36, 38; E.Volterra, Mélanges d'histoire ancienne offerts à W.Seston (Paris, 1974), 499; A.K.Bowman, BASP 15 (1978), 29; T.D.Barnes, The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Ma., 1982), 59 n.58, but see 17ff. for the standard titulature; more often the text is simply ignored. 4 Pococke (n.1), 278; CIG 3.4892; J.D.Thomas, ZPE 22 (1976), 276 n.106; Bowman (n.3), 29f. 5 P.Beatty Panop. 2.96,99; restored at 93,298; SB 5.7696,15; 12.11219,11223; earlier P.Thead. 15.20. Diocletian and Elephantine: A Closer Look at Pococke's Puzzle 195 4 ëper diå toË praipo!¤tou toË §n %oÆn˙ diatr¤bon$t¸o! ≤$m¸et°ra! $§rg¸a!$e¤¸a! b$¤˙ k¸at°- 5 xe!yai §dÆl`v!en, grãmmata prÚ! tÚn t∞! §parxe¤a! ≤g`oÊm$enon¸ doy∞[na]i [§keleÊ!amen] 6 ·na tØn édik¤an taÊthn parå tÚ ¶y`o$!¸ !unhy°ia! épo!tr°$c˙¸ ka‹ kvlÊ!$˙¸, ·na Íme›! 7 tØn §r`ga!e¤an t$«n¸ aÈt$«n ghd¤v¸n, À!per ±j`i≈!atai ¶xein a`.h`!`.[....18...] 8 [...19...] o`p`.!`e`p`i`d`e`i`i`v`h`i`o`u`n`v` eÈy°v! §nom¤!a`m`$en¸ i`n`e`!`o`!`e`a`!`e`i`n`e`r`o`!`!`u`i`i` 9 fi d`° ti! $§¸p`i`$m¸°ne<i> oÈ di!tã!omen: efi ka¤ tã mãli!ta t$«¸n $§k¸ t∞!` Ímet°ra! éj`i≈!ev! ≤ pa$rãlo¸[go!] 10 katã!ta!i! ≤nanti≈y`h tª toË kay`olokoË keleÊ!ei Ípenant¤on th$lik¸aÊth! §noxlÆ!ev! 11 pro$e¸noh!ãmeya Ím«n: ka‹ ˜mv! §pidØ §dhl≈!ate toÁ! ≤met°rou! polÆta! [....7...] 12 §k t∞! proeirhm°nh! §t¤a! m°xrei nËn §n tª tãj`e`i t«n kayo`lik«n tout°!tin efi! tØn [...] 13 m`h`l`i`!`i`h` §n dia!t°mati kat°xe!ye ka‹ !fÒdra ±j`i≈!ate ·na tØn d$v¸reån ≤m«n, efi! tØn 14 mnÆmhn §poiÆ!a!yai fi!xurå<n> Ím∞n ka‹ éker°an diafulaxy∞nai keleÊ!omen, grãmmata 15 prÚ! tÚn ≤m°teron <kayolikÚn> doË$n¸ai §keleÊ!amen <·>na tØn ≤met°ran dvreån 16 ∂n dØ pãlin efi! tÚ prÒ!vpon Ím•[n] §poi<h>!ãmeya, fi!`xurån diam°nein én°`xht`ai 17 plØn ˜mv! e‡ tine! §$j¸ Ím«n Íp¢r toÁ! ˜rou! toÁ! {o} ÍpÚ §moË toË DioklhtianoË Seba!toË 18 Ím•n [p]arad`oy°nta! xvr$¤!¸ai eÈ[e]rg«n $a¸firey›en tã{i}! §j` ¶you! !untele¤a{i}! Íp¢r aÈt«n 19 aÈtoÁ! tÚ flkanÚn poie›n pã!h! [....9....] p`!`!`u`p`o`p`a`m`a`a`f`r`!`...o`i`!`........x 20 t«n grammãtvn vacat •rmhne¤$a¸ 21 (22) AÈtokrãtvr Ka›!ar Ga¤o! AÈrÆlio! OÍal¢ri- 22 (21) $o¸! Dioklh`tianÚ! EÈ!hbØ! EÈtuxØ! Seb`a!$tÚ!¸ é$r¸xie$r¸eÁ$! m°g¸i!to`! 23 (24) GermanikÚ! m°g`i`!`to!. %armatikÚ<!> m$°g¸i!to! {to!} 24 (23) .ti` $P¸er<!>ikÚ! m°g`i`!`t`o!` $t¸Ú [b] B`r`itt$a¸ni$kÚ¸! $Kar¸pikÚ! 25 (26) ÉArmenikÚ! MhdikÚ! ÉAd`i`ab`anikÚ! dhmar[xik∞! §jou!¤a!] 26 (25) [AÈtokrãtvr Ïpat]o$!¸ p`atØr` pat`$r¤do!¸ <én>y`Êpa$to!¸ 27 ( ) [AÈtokrãtvr Ka›!ar Mãrko! AÈrÆlio! OÈal°rio! MajimianÚ!] 28 (27) EÈ!$ebØ! EÈtuxظ[! Seba!tÚ! é]$rx¸i$ere¸Á! m`°g`i`!t`o! GermanikÚ! 196 P.Brennan 29 ( ) [m°gi!to! %armatikÚ! m°gisto! Per!ikÚ! m°gi!to! BrittanikÚ! K-] 30 (28) arpik[Ú! ÉArmenikÚ! MhdikÚ! ÉAdiabenikÚ! dhmarxik∞!] 31 ( ) [§jou!e¤a! aÈtokrãtvr Ïpato! patØr patr¤do! ény-] 32 (29) Êpato! vacat <F>laÊio$! O¸Èal`°rio`!` Kvn!tãnt$io¸!` 33 (31) $G¸a$l°r¸i$o¸!` [OÈl°rio!] $M¸aj`imian`[Ú! Germaniko‹ Sarmat-] 34 (30) iko‹ Per!iko$‹¸ Britanniko{u}‹ $K¸ar$p¸iko$‹¸ ÉArmeniko$‹¸ É ÉAdiabeniko$‹¸ 35 (33) [m°gi!to]i o`fl $§pif¸a$n°!tatoi¸ [Ka¤!are!] 36 (32) l`°g`ou!`in ÉElefantin¤tai! ka‹ %ohn¤tai! to›! §n Yhba¤di 37 (35) $x¸a$¤re¸in ÍpÚ toË prvt$o!¸t$ã¸tou Íme›! !`u`m`h`m`o`m`a`t`o`u` [...13...] 38 (34) ≤men Íp¢r t«n §j ¶y[n]ou! <!>untele$¤vn¸ 2.