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Mosaic Inscriptions from the Palaestra at Anemurium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

James Russell
James Russell
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Extract

Recent excavations conducted by Canadian teams at the site of Anemurium (Eski Anamur) on the coast of Rough Cilicia in southern Asia Minor have uncovered a number of substantial structures including an interesting group extending to the east of the largest baths of the city. This complex consists of several distinct areas clearly forming part of a unified plan (Fig. 1). Mosaic pavement of geometric design decorated much of the floor space of the building, which has now been identified as the palaestra of the adjoining Baths. The identification has been facilitated greatly by two inscribed mosaic panels that are worthy of special note.

The first was discovered in 1970 at the western extremity of a long narrow series of rectangular panels decorated in various geometric patterns. This formed the southern wing of a continuous corridor of mosaic, possibly roofed, that enclosed on three sides (north, east and south) the open-air courtyard of the palaestra. The western end of the area was closed by a wall separating it from a limestone-paved court beyond. Immediately in front of the inscribed panel an opening in the wall provided access to this court, probably one of several doorways communicating between the two areas. The doorway in question was subsequently blocked and the edge of the mosaic cut away on three sides to form a drainage system. This alteration was apparently associated with the isolation of the western end of the south range as a special chamber, perhaps a latrine. Considerable damage to the decorative border resulted from these modifications but, with the exception of a slight V-shaped break on the west side, the actual inscribed panel survives intact.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 24 , December 1974 , pp. 95 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1974

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References

1 Indicated as III 2 B in the site plan, Alföldi, E., Huber, G., Onurkan, S., A Survey of Coastal Cities in Western Cilicia (Ankara 1967), Plan IGoogle Scholar.

2 For details of palaestra, cf. my report of the 1971 season, TAD. XX (1973), 201–6Google Scholar.

3 E.g. μετεπέμψου for μετεπέμψω, cf. Mayser, E., Grammatik der Griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolemäerzeit I, 2 (Berlin 1938), 92Google Scholar.

4 They are discussed briefly by M. Haupt in the introduction to his edition of the Ἑρμηνεύματα (“Index Lectionum Hibernarum, 1871”, Opuscula II [repr. Hildesheim, 1967] 441–2Google Scholar).

5 Thesaurus Linguae Graecae VIII (London 1825), 428Google Scholar.

6 Haupt, op. cit., 448, line 4.

7 A stone bench added at a later date on the north side of the doorway may have served this function.

8 E.g. from Aizanoi, ἊἌνθος τοῖς παροδείταις χαίριν. λοῦσαι, πίε, ϕάγε, βείνησον. τούτων γὰρὧδε κάτω [οὐ]δὲ[ν] ἔχις, cf. Robert, L., Héllenica XIII (Paris 1965), 189Google Scholar. Two further instances may be cited, cf. Wilhelm, Ad., Beiträge zur griechischen Inschriftenkunde (Wien, 1909), 202Google Scholar from Rome (IG XIV 2002Google Scholar); 201, 320, from Thessalonika (AM XXI [1896,] 98–99Google Scholar, no. 3) I owe this reference to Professor C. P. Jones, University of Toronto.

9 Colloquium I, op. cit., 423.

10 See especially Levi, D., Antioch Mosaic Pavements I (Princeton 1947), Appendix 2, 627–9Google Scholar.

11 A complete list up to the year 1916 was compiled by Cagnat, R. (BAC, 1916, clxix)Google Scholar. The following are drawn from his list or have been discovered subsequently.

(a) Bene lava: Lambaesis (de Pachtère, F. G., Inventaire des Mosaiques de l'Afrique III, Afrique Proconsulaire, Numidie, Maurétanie [Paris 1911], 48Google Scholar, no. 196).

Timgad (Warot, S., Libyca VIII, 2 [1960], 167–72Google Scholar; Germain, S., Les Mosaiques de Timgad [Paris 1969], 116Google Scholar, no. 175).

Brescia (CIL V 4500Google Scholar; Guerrini, P., “I mosaici pavimentali bresciani del V–VI secolo d.c.,”Miscellanea di Studi Bresciani sull' alto medioevo [Brescia 1959], 34Google Scholar; Roberti, M. M., “Archeologia ed arte di Brescia Romana” in Storia di Brescia I part 4 [ed. degli Alfieri, G. T.], 271–3)Google Scholar.

(b) Bene laba (a variant found in Tripolitania):

Sabratha, in the frigidarium of the Theatre Baths (Reynolds, J. M. and Ward-Perkins, J. B., The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania [Rome and London 1952], 54Google Scholar, no. 170.

Oea, frigidarium of domestic baths (ibid., 70, no. 248).

(c) Benelavare: Lecourbe, baths (Cagnat, R., BAC, 1924, xixGoogle Scholar; Ann. Epigr., 1925, no. 46).

Sousse (Hadrumetum)–INVIDE INTRA LAVARE (Foucher, L., Thermes romains des environs d'Hadrumete; Notes et Documents N.S. I [1958], 19–20Google Scholar, Pls. VIa, VIIc).

Near Enfidaville (Tunisia), baths belonging to a Roman Villa, frigidarium (Foucher, L., “Note sur les signatures de Mosaistes”, Karthago IX [1958], 134–136Google Scholar, Pl. IIe.

(d) Bene laves: Khalfoun, near Sétif (CIL VIII 8424Google Scholar; BAC, 1916, clxviiiGoogle Scholar.

12 See note 9 (supra).

13 Salvom lavisse: Sabratha, frigidarium of Theatre Baths (Reynolds and Ward-Perkins, op. cit., 54 no. 171).

Khalfoun, near Sétif (CIL VIII 8424Google Scholar, SALVVIΛVISE).

Timgad (S. Warot, op. cit., 167–72; S. Germain, op. cit., 116, no. 175, SA[LVU(M)LAV]ISSE).

Lecourbe, (BAC, 1924, xixGoogle Scholar; Ann. Epigr., 1925, no. 46).

14 Salvu(m) lotu(m):

Timgad, baths of the Philadelphi, caldarium (S. Germain, op. cit., 77–9, no. 96).

Brescia (cf. note 11 supra).

15 See note 6 supra.

16 See note 9 supra.

17 The Mansoura Mosaics: Report of Curator of Ancient Monuments, Cyprus, for 1924 (Nicosia 1924), 1Google Scholar; Dikaios, P., A Guide to the Cyprus Museum (3d rev. ed.) (Nicosia 1961), 139Google Scholar; Mitford, T. B.Op. Arch. VI (1950), 46–7Google Scholar, fig. 26. A second mosaic from the same building at Mansoura, however, inscribed φηρία καλή (“good hunting”) is probably closer in sentiment than the first, despite the difference in theme (Mitford, ibid., 47–8, fig. 27).

18 AC XVI (1964), 300–311Google Scholar.

19 I am indebted to Mrs. Elisabeth Haywood (formerly Miss S. E. Ramsden) for information on this example. She discusses it in her unpublished doctoral dissertation for the Institute of Archaeology, University of London (Roman Mosaics in Greece–the Mainland and the Ionian Islands [1971], Vol I, 353–4Google Scholar).

20 E.g. Courtois, C., “Ruines romaines de Carthage”, Karthago V (1954), 196–200Google Scholar. For sandals with bene lava at Timgad, cf. Warot, note 11 supra.

21 Lézine, A., Architecture romaine d'Afrique (Tunis 1963), 15Google Scholar.

22 S. E. Ramsden, ibid; D. Levi, op. cit., I, 262–3, fig. 103; Vincent, H. and Abel, F. M., Jerusalem II, 3 (Paris 1912–1926), 598 ff.Google Scholar, fig. 247.

23 E.g. in the Odeon at Argos, BCH LXXVIII (1954), 170 fGoogle Scholar: LXXX (1956), 395; in the Basilica Hilariana on the Caelian Hill (H. Stuart Jones, Sculptures of the Palazzo dei Conservatori—Pl. 110). The motif appears also cut in stone on the threshold of the cella of certain temples in N. Africa e.g. the Temple of Saturn at Dougga and at Aïn Tounga.

24 Beazley, J. D., “Some Inscriptions on Vases III”, AJA XXXIX (1935), 480–81Google Scholar, fig.7. I owe this reference to Professor S. Immerwahr, University of N. Carolina.