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Notes on Governors of Roman Thrace BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, XLIV, 2018 Proceedings of the First International Roman and Late Antique Thrace Conference “Cities, Territories and Identities” (Plovdiv, 3rd – 7th October 2016) Notes on Governors of Roman Thrace Nicolay SHARANKOV Abstract: The paper presents new information on ten governors of the province of Thrace from the early second century AD to the Tetrarchic period. Examination of re- cently found inscriptions, revision of previous readings, and comparison of epigraphic and literary sources enable us to identify several unknown governors and to propose more precise chronology for others. Key words: Roman Thrace, provincial governors, Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Philip the Arab, Trebonianus Gallus, Tetrarchy. The following brief notes present some preliminary results of the au- thor’s research on the Roman officials in the province of Thrace. Most of the new information comes from inscriptions, but there are also a 1 BHO 1179; preserved in two manu- few literary sources which have been forgotten or overlooked. scripts, Sinaiticus Syriacus 30 (AD 778) and Vaticanus Syriacus 160 (10th c. AD); 1. [- - -] Agrippa, ca. AD 131-132 for an edition of the text (with a Latin The governor of Thrace Agrippa (Thomasson 1984, 163, # 22:17) was translation), see Assemanus 1748, 210- thought to have been attested only in a partially preserved inscrip- 226. 2 Note that the main deity of Roman tion from Abdera concerning the new borders of the city’s territory Philippopolis was Apollo Kendrissos. (IThrAeg 79, AD 131-132): [- - -] Ἀγρίππα πρεσβευτοῦ [Σεβαστοῦ | 3 For ἡγεμών as provincial governor, ἀντιστρατήγου]. cf. the common formula for introducing However, his name is probably present in a literary source as well the name of the governor in inscriptions – the life of an Early Christian martyr, Saint Theodota, who suffered ἡγεμονεύοντος τῆς Θρᾳκῶν ἐπαρχείας. 4 Since the Syriac text indicates the in Philippopolis under a governor named Agrippa. The life was origi- 1 year in a verbal format, the mistake rath- nally written in Greek, but survives only in a Syriac translation and is er originated in a Greek source, where it therefore largely unknown. Besides, some modern scholars mistaken- was written by using numeric notation: ly identified the city of the martyr with Philippi in Macedonia, being the letters denoting 400, 600 and 700 in misled by the Syriac translation of the name Φιλιππόπολις as pylypws Greek (Y, X, and Ψ) are somewhat simi- lar and can easily be confused. Possibly, mdynt᾽, ‘Philipos-city’, and having overlooked the quite unambiguous instead of ΥΜΒ (442), the year was in- (although somewhat pleonastic) variant p’lpwlys mdynt’, ‘Philipolis- correctly given as ΨΜΒ (742) in the city’, in one of the manuscripts. The governor – who organized a fes- source used for the Syriac translation, tival for Apollo2 on the sixth day of September – is mentioned several and indeed we see that year in the earlier times as ’grpws hgmwn’, i.e. Ἀγρίππας ἡγεμών3. The only problem in codex Sinaiticus. As for the year 642 ap- pearing in the later Vatican manuscript, this text is the year which is apparently wrong in both manuscripts one could hypothesize that a scribe real- – the Sinaiticus gives it as 742 (of the Seleucid era, i.e. AD 331), and ized the improbability of a persecution the Vaticanus as 642 (i.e. AD 431). However, a persecution against in the year 742 (AD 441) and decided to Christians in Thrace is certainly impossible in AD 331 or 431. But if change it to a more plausible date. we suppose that the mistake had affected only the hundreds (which 5 For further discussion on the year differ in the two manuscripts), then the year could be emendated to and the significance of this martyr’s 4 life for the history of Philippopolis, see 442 (AD 131) , which perfectly coincides with the evidence about the 5 Шаранков 2015. governor Agrippa provided by the inscription from Abdera . 98 Nicolay SHARANKOV 2. Cavarius Fronto, AD 135-136 Several inscriptions of AD 135-1366 had preserved the cognomen of this governor, who was involved in the reorganisation of the province by Emperor Hadrian, but his nomen remained unknown except for its final letters -rius. The name was tentatively restored as [Vale]rius, although many other restorations were equally possible, so this gov- ernor was usually referred to as Valerius Fronto (Thomasson 1984, 163, # 22:14; 2009, 63, # 22:014a). A recently published inscription from Nicopolis ad Istrum (fig. 1), about a temple of Theos Hypsistos, dedicated by a settler from Prusias ad Hypium (Шаранков 2014a), finally revealed the true name of the governor – Cavarius Fronto: Ἀγαθῆι τύχηι. | Ὑπὲρ τῆς αὐτοκράτορος Τρ̣α̣ϊ|ανοῦ Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος Σεβ(αστοῦ) | νείκης κα̣ὶ αἰ̣ωνίου διαμονῆς | κα̣ὶ Σαβείνης Σεβ(αστῆς) καὶ τοῦ σύνπαντος | αὐτῶν οἴκου ἱερᾶς τε συνκλήτου, | δήμ̣ου Ῥωμαίων, Κ̣α̣ουαρίου Φρόν|τωνος πρεσβ(ευτοῦ) Σεβ(αστοῦ) | ἀντιστρ(ατήγου) ἐπαρχεί|ας Θ̣ρᾳκῶν, βουλῆς δήμου Οὐλ|πίας Νεικοπόλεως πρὸς Ἴστρωι, | Ἰάσον (sic) Απφου Προυσιεὺς ἀπὸ | Ὑπίου τὸν ναὸν Θεοῦ Ὑψίστου | ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων κατεσκεύασεν. It is worth noting that the complete nomen could have been re- stored 60 years ago, if an inscription had received proper attention instead of being largely forgotten. It is a fragment found in Hisarya, which was published without any attempt at restoration7. Actually, it is part of a boundary stone which reads: [- - -] terṃ inụ [ṣ - - - | - - -]atus a Cava[riọ | Fro]ntone leg(ato) [Aug(usti)̣ | pr(o)] pr(aetore)̣ inter Au[gust-?̣ et - - -], ‘- - - boundary stone between Au--- and ---, (erected) by Cavarius Fronto, legatus Augusti pro praetore’ (Шаранков 2014a, 42-44, # 4). Some time after his office in Thrace, Cavarius Fronto was sent to Macedonia, where he is attested in a single inscription as consularis. Since it is not entirely preserved, the name was not correctly restored until recently (ΕΚΜ Βέροια 13 = Müller 2001, 417-446, # 1 = AE 2001, 1759; cf. Шаранков 2014a, 44, # 5): ... καθὼς Καυά|[ριος Φρόντ]ων ὑπατικὸς | [ἐπέκ]ρεινεν. 3. Q. Egnatius Proculus, AD 208 This governor (Thomasson 1984, 176, # 22:73; 2009, 67, # 22:045a) has been attested in three inscriptions. Two of them – a dedication to Apollo by the tavern-keepers in Philippopolis (IGBulg III.1 917; cf. Sharankov 2016, 314) and an invitation for venatio from Deultum (AE 2009, 1232 = Sharankov 2017, 48-49, # B2) – are fragments with- out date. The third one is from Cabyle – a building inscription for a temple of Dolichenus (АЕ 1999, 1374а = SEG 42, 646[a]; revised edition in Шаранков 2017, 208-213). This inscription contains a consular date, but it was not recognized in the first publication, which proposed only a vague date between AD 198 and AD 209 ac- cording to the imperial names (Septimius Severus and Caracalla as 6 IGBulg IV 2057, Pautalia; AE 1991, Augusti and Geta as Caesar). The new reading of the end of the text as 1403 = AE 1999, 1371, Cabyle; AE 1985, Imp(eratore) Anṭ(onino) III 〚 eṭ P(ublio) Se[p]ṭị|miọ Gẹta Ị[I]〛 [co(n)- 769 = AE 1991, 1404 = AE 1999, 1372, s(ulibus), a(nte) d(iem) --]I Kal(endas) Ferrari<a>s (!) provides an Cabyle. 7 Tsontchev 1958, 530, # 4, pl. X/4, who exact date in the second half of January AD 208. This confirms the gives the text as follows: - - - ER - - - | - - - suggestion of D. Boteva who assigned this governor to the period AD atus ACAV - - - | - - - ITONELEG - - - | 207-210 (Boteva 1998, 135-136). - - - r· inter a - - -. Notes on Governors of Roman Thrace 99 Fig. 1. Building inscription for a temple of Theos Hypsistos. Nicopolis ad Istrum, 135-136 AD (after Шаранков 2014a, 29, fig. 1/2) 4. [- - -] Severianus, AD 244 (?) 8 According to an inscription from Perinthus (IPerinthos 22), honouring A partially preserved inscription from Philippopolis (fig. 2) con- the son of P. Aelius Severianus (cf. Stein tains only the cognomen of a governor of Thrace Severianus (PIR2 S 1920, 39-40, # 40). However, this inscrip- 623; Thomasson 1984, 176, # 22:74): ... ἡγεμονεύοντος | [τῆς Θρᾳ]- tion does not mention him as governor κῶν ἐπαρχείας | [- - -ο]υ Σεουηριανοῦ, πρεσβευ|[τοῦ Σεβ(αστοῦ) ἀν]- of the province, and the cursus honorum would be highly problematic, as noted al- τιστρατήγου. G. Mihailov (IGBulg III.1 882 = V 5398) was inclined to ready by A. Stein (1920, 39) and E. Groag identify him with the consul suffectus and governor of Arabia from the (PIR2 A 260). B. Thomasson expressed reign of Septimius Severus P. Aelius Severianus, who was believed by serious doubts about P. Aelius Severianus some scholars to have been governor of Thrace as well8, and therefore as governor of Thrace (Thomasson 1984, dated the inscription to ca. AD 195. However, both the lettering and 170-171, # 22:46) and did not identify him with the governor Severianus of the the text undoubtedly point to a much later date, ca. AD 240-250, and Philippopolis inscription, whom he listed find closest parallels in inscriptions from the time of Emperor Philip among the legati incerti aevi (Thomasson the Arab9. If the inscription is indeed from the reign of Philip, I suppose 1984, 176, # 22:74). 9 (cf. Sharankov 2016, 312-313) that the governor Severianus could be Cf. the official inscriptions of this pe- identical with the emperor’s relative (κηδεστής) Severianus, apparent- riod like IGBulg III.1 1337, 1375, 1510, 1511, and especially the statue-bases for ly his father-in-law or brother-in-law, i.e. father or brother of Otacilia Philip the Arab, Philip the Younger and Severa, with probable full name (Marcius Otacilius?) Severianus Otacilia Severa erected under the gov- (PIR2 S 624; Körner 2002, 63-64, # 2.2.5, 354, # S37)10. According to ernors Vibius Gallus and Iulius Priscus the History of Zosimus, Severianus was put in charge of the armies (discussed below, ## 5 and 6).
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