ROMAN PHRYGIA: Cities and their Coinage Andrea June Armstrong, PhD, University College London. Abstract of Thesis Roman Phrygia: Cities and their Coinage The principal focus of this thesis is the Upper Maeander Valley in Phrygia, which is now part of modern Turkey, and in particular three cities situated in that region, namely Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossae. The main source used is the coinage produced by these cities with the aim of determining how they viewed their place within the Roman Empire and how they reacted to the realities of Roman rule. Inscriptional, architectural and narrative sources are also used as well as comparative material from other Phrygian and Asian cities. In order to achieve its aim, the thesis is divided into two parts. Part One details the history of Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossae and explains the coinage system in use within the province of Asia on a regional and a civic level. The final chapter in the first part of the thesis introduces the theme of the interaction between city, region and empire which is developed more fully in Part Two. Part Two discusses the types used on the coins of the cities of the Upper Maeander Valley in the context of the cultural and religious circumstances of Rome and also in reaction to the organisational and political changes affecting the province of Asia as well as the Empire as a whole. The main conclusions of the thesis are that the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossae were very aware of Rome and of their own status, as well as that of their province, within the Roman Empire especially in the context of ongoing circumstances and developments within the Empire. As a whole, the thesis clearly highlights the ways in which city, region and empire interacted together and shows that studies of particular regions and their coinage deserve more attention than they have hitherto received. CONTENTS The Nature of the Problem p. 1 PART ONE: Introduction p. 15 CHAPTER ONE: The Cities of the Upper Maeander Valley p. 16 CHAPTER TWO: The Coinage System of Asia Minor p. 49 CHAPTER THREE: The Authority to Coin p. 82 CHAPTER FOUR: City, Region and Empire p. 118 PART TWO: Introduction p. 155 CHAPTER FIVE: The Cultural Pretensions of Laodicea p. 156 CHAPTER SIX: The Capitoline Triad p. 165 CHAPTER SEVEN: JEPA YNKAHTO p. 179 CHAPTER EIGHT: ØEA PQMH p. 220 CONCLUSION p. 250 CATALOGUE: Introduction p. 253 A LAODICEA: Coins with Imperial Portraits p. 254 B LAODICEA: Coins without Imperial Portraits p. 282 C LAODICEA: Homonoia Coins p. 294 D HIRAPOLIS: Coins with Imperial Portraits p. 301 E HIERAPOLIS: Coins without Imperial Portraits p. 322 F HIERAPOLIS: Homonoia Coins p. 338 G COLOSSAE: Coins with Imperial Portraits p. 349 H COLOSSAE: Coins without Imperial Portraits p. 354 I COLOSSAE: Homonoia Coins p. 358 APPENDIX I: The Emperors of the Roman Empire p. 359 APPENDIX II: Sources for the Upper Maeander Valley p. 360 APPENDIX III: The Romanization of the Cistophorus p. 362 APPENDIX IV: The Value Marks on the Coins of Chios p. 365 APPENDIX V: The Uses of EUIMEAHØEI p. 366 APPENDIX VI: Coin Legends of the Upper Maeander Valley p. 368 APPENDIX VII: Greeks of the Upper Maeander Valley p. 372 with Roman Citizenship APPENDIX VIII: JEPA YNKAHTO^ p. 373 Abbreviations and Bibliography p. 379 The Nature of the Problem The growth of Rome into the greatest power in the Mediterranean was perhaps the most important phenomenon of the Greco-Roman world. It is therefore not surprising that much of the study of the Roman Empire has centred on Rome and its political, social and economic growth and development. For example, after giving a very brief description of the rise of Rome, Appian, in the preface to his Roman History, says that such things were described by many writers, both Greek and Roman: Kclt IdôE iioL.ot 11V 'EA).i1vv ito)ot ÔE 'Ptav ouvypaipav. 1 Appian is among these writers as he starts his work by stating that it is his intention to write a Roman history, T1V 'Pucticiv i otop ay. It is clear that ancient authors freely admitted their interest in Rome and her empire as Polybius' comments also show. In the first book of his Histories, he asks what kind of man would not want to know how the Romans brought the Mediterranean world under their sole government and he cannot believe that anyone would regard any other event In history as greater than this.2 This is not to be wondered at or unusual since the lives of both these ancient authors were closely bound up with Rome. Polybius was an Arcadian born In Megalopolis around 208 B.C. In 167, after the defeat of Perseus of Macedon at Pydna, about one thousand Achaeans were shipped to Italy, Polybius among them. Freedom was eventually granted in 151 but by this time the Greek historian had already become acquainted with the influential Romans of the time, for example, Aemilius Paullus, with the result that he became tutor to Paullus' two sons. This heralded the beginning of his famous friendship with Publius Scipio Aemilianus. Polybius is reputed to have been present when Carthage was destroyed in 146 B.C. and to have joined the 1 Preface, 12. 2 , 5-6. 1 Roman commander at the siege of Numantia in Spain between 134 and 132. Appian, a native of Alexandria in Egypt who lived between c A.D. 95 and 165, says that he reached a high social position in his own city and that he pleaded cases before the emperors and was made procurator: 'Aitittavôç 'AAEavöpE5ç, ç th upôta i'jiccôv v t ltaTptöt, Kat ôtxcitç v 'Póp OuVayopEi5OGç itt TÔV ciotAv, iJ p t pE o4v 1ttTpO1tEV 1t(oav. 3 To be qualified for the latter status, he must have been a Roman citizen of equestrian rank. The lives of both Polybius and Appian were, in some way, shaped by Rome and it would be only natural that, under such circumstances, ancient authors would concentrate their energies on compiling Roman histories. The interest in Rome and her empire has continued in the work of modern authors, not least because of the Romanocentric nature of the ancient sources. Of course, the areas which made up the Empire have not been neglected in modern study. For instance, D. Magie, in his work Roman Rule in Asia Minor which was published in 1958, says that "the purpose of the book is to present what is known of the expansion of Rome's empire in Asia Minor and the lands adjacent on the East and of her rule over the Asiatic provinces in a study continued to the end of the third century after Christ." 4 S. Mitchell in his book, Anatolia, attempts a comprehensive study of a particular area, this time centring on Galatia and not Asia Minor in general like Magie. The work is divided into three sections dealing separately with the Celts, the Romans and finally the later Roman and Byzantine periods. Most recently, M. Sartre has returned to a general account of Asia Minor in his book which deals with the history of Asia from the time of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. until the Preface, 15. RRAM, p. vii. This work was published in 1993. 2 reign of the emperor Diocletian in the third century A.D.6 However, the emphasis seems to be on the actions of Rome and the effects these had on the cites which formed part of the Empire. Although Magie claims to present "what is known of the expansion of Rome's empire in Asia Minor", his book concentrates on what the ruling authorities did in the area for both the Republican and Imperial periods and not on the actions of the cities in response to the rule of Rome. This is even though the latter would also form part of the processes involved in the spread of the Roman Empire. The same can be said about Sartre who has produced a book which provides a good starting point for the study of the province as it deals with its organization, its civic and rural life which includes the cultural, religious and economic aspects. Mitchell touches upon the reactions of the cities as he points out that "as autonomy and independence from external rule became increasingly irrelevant during the late Hellenistic and early imperial periods, public buildings emerged as the dominant and essential characteristic of cities. Such buildings were, and are, the most conspicuous evidence for the material culture of civic life. The use of a cultural, rather than a political criterion to define a civic community was a characteristic of the Roman period." 7 However, the second part of Anatolia as a whole, which chronicles the impact of Roman rule, again has a Roman focus concentrating on, for the most part, the physical changes wrought on the urban and rural landscape by the Roman presence in the area. This is not to say that the view point of the periphery has been completely ignored. The vast corpus of L. Robert shows how both numismatic and epigraphical sources can be used to build up a picture of the life of 6 See L'Asie Mineure et J'Anatoiie d'Alexandre a Dioclétien which was published in 1995. 'I Anatolia, p.198. These aspects are examined in Chapter 12, pp. 198-226. 3 the Greek cities within the Roman Empire. This is aptly illustrated by the volume La Cane produced in collaboration with J. Robert and his work on the inscriptions of Laodicea included in Laodicée du Lycos.8 S.