1 Opramoas of Opramoas’ munificence, in particular his assistance to the cities after the earthquake, CHRISTINA KOKKINIA were given a prominent position on the entrance wall. The mausoleum’s epigraphic Opramoas was a Lycian magnate and civic program appears to have been designed to benefactor (second century CE) known celebrate his reaffirmed position and the through extensive inscriptions on the walls of Roman emperor’s endorsement of his activi- his mausoleum at Rhodiapolis (TAM II 905; ties, in the aftermath of tension between the Kokkinia 2000). He made donations to Lycian Roman authorities and the league on account cities both before and after a disastrous earth- of what appears to have been excessive honors quake struck the area, probably in 141 CE. After for Opramoas. the earthquake, his largesse concentrated As a young man, Opramoas held offices in on helping rebuild damaged structures in the his paternal city as well as minor offices in the cities. The list of his beneficiaries includes at federation and the important federal office least thirty communities. In thanks for his for tax collection, that of archiphylax, with munificence he received various honors from the assistance of his father, Apollonios, or pos- individual cities and the Lycian League, includ- sibly conjointly with him. He became high ing multiple citizenships. priest of the imperial cult ca. 134. The first Opramoas’ mausoleum was built as a small imperial letter to the league endorsing his prostyle temple (8 7 m in size) and was munificence, and mentioning the earthquake adorned on its front and two lateral sides for the first time, dates from 143. The latest with seventy inscribed documents, including documents on the mausoleum date probably imperial letters, honorary decrees by the from the middle of the 150s. An inscription Lycian federation, and letters of Roman gover- from XANTHOS probably lists benefactions of nors to individual cities and the league. Thirty- Opramoas to that city dating later than the two decrees and thirty-eight letters were last documents of the mausoleum (Balland arranged in twenty columns of one hundred 1981: 173–224; Kokkinia 2000: 233–5 against lines on average. The building once occupied a Coulton 1987). Other inscriptions mentioning central position in Rhodiapolis, on a small Opramoas are at TLOS (TAM II 578–9); Kyaneai square in front of the theater. It is now almost (IGRom. III 704, col. III, line 13); Myra entirely destroyed. Other than a few surviving (IGRom. III 726); PHASELIS (TAM II 1203 with inscribed blocks and fragments, knowledge of Blackman 1981); Dereko¨y(Wo¨rrle and the inscriptions is based on drawings and Wurster 1997); and Rhodiapolis (TAM II squeezes made by Austrian archaeologists in 907–8, 915–16). the nineteenth century. All documents were in Greek. The lettering appears to have been uniform. Though largely presenting the docu- SEE ALSO: Citizenship; Earthquakes; Epigraphy, ments in chronological order, the dossier was Greek; Lycia. set up with a clear focus on the imperial letters. The documents were therefore inscribed on the mausoleum either all at once or within a REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS limited period of time. Balland, A. (1981) Fouilles de Xanthos, vol. 7. Both letters and decrees praise Opramoas’ Paris. holding of offices, and enumerate his donations Blackman, D. (1981) “The inscriptions.” In to cities and to the league, and the many honors J. Schaefer, ed., Phaselis: Beitra¨ge zur Topographie bestowed on him in return. Letters of the und Geschichte der Stadt und ihrer Ha¨fen: 159–63. emperor ANTONINUS PIUS expressing recognition Tu¨bingen.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 4907–4908. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah18088 2

Coulton, J. (1987) “Opramoas and the anonymous Wo¨rrle, M. and Wurster, W. W. (1997) benefactor.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 107: 171–8. “Dereko¨y: eine befestigte Siedlung im Kokkinia, C. (2000) Die Opramoas-Inschrift von nordwestlichen Lykien und die Reform Rhodiapolis: Euergetismus und soziale Elite in ihres do¨rflichen Zeuskultes.” Chiron Lykien. Bonn. 27: 393–469.