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A charitable foundation of A.D. 237

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

W. H. Buckler
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Extract

A detailed report in English and a brief mention in Latin record the rediscovery in 1883 of the ‘charter’ of Orcistus by W. M. Ramsay and J. R. S. Sterrett. Not till 1886 was a complete copy secured, but in 1883 at Alikel, besides ascertaining where the original lay hidden, they found and copied, each in his own notebook, two other documents of which only the dating has been published. In his report Ramsay thus refers to them: ‘we occupied ourselves … partly in copying a long inscription of 98 lines in length, half of which was more or less legible.’ This inscription, comprising (A) a deed of gift, (B) a decree, both dated in 237, is here edited from the copies of 1883; no others are likely to exist, for the pedestal bearing the original text ‘had been destroyed in search of treasure after we left.’

Sir William Ramsay has kindly lent me those two notebooks; three pages from his and one from Sterrett's are reproduced below; for permission to use them, as well as for invaluable information and advice, I am indeed grateful.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , 1937 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1937

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References

1 Hermes, xxii. 1887, pp. 310–314Google Scholar. The failure of Mordtmann's search for the ‘charter’ is described in his diary; cf. Babinger, F., Anatolien (1925), p. 363Google Scholar.

2 By Mommsen, in his notes on CIL iii. 7000.

3 These books are exactly alike. Each measures 0·16 by 0·10 m. and consists of 41 leaves; the binding is glossy black ‘American’ cloth. In R.'s 25 leaves are inscribed and 16 blank; in S.'s 26 inscribed and 15 blank; the former contains copies of eight, and the latter of three inscriptions from Alikel besides those published here.

4 Hermes, loc. cit., p. 311; CIL iii. Supp., p. 1268Google Scholar, note on no. 7000, ii. 22; IGR iv. 549Google Scholar.

5 Hermes, loc. cit., p. 311.

6 Mentioned by Mommsen as ‘decretum ibidem repertum a Ramsayo factum die 27 Maii a. 237’; CIL iii. Supp., p. 1268Google Scholar.

7 Hermes, loc. cit., p. 313.

8 E.g. PIR 2 i. 24, 150, M. Aelius Aurelius Theo; ii. 183, 809, Ti. Claudius Aurelius Telemachus; PIR ii. 170, 125, L. Iulius Aurelius Sulpicius Uranius Antonius. ‘Varius’ precedes another nomen in PIR iii. 386, 188Google Scholar: C. Varius Iulius Proculus; it is found at Apamea: L. Varius Maximus; CIL iii. 7055Google Scholar. In B. 6 the name Οὐάριος is omitted. So likewise the name of Marcus Ulpius Apuleius Eurycles is shortened to Ulpius Eurycles (OGI 506; Forsch. in Eph. ii. 23Google Scholar); that of Gaius Iulius Quadratus Bassus to Iulius Bassus (Sber. Bayer. Ak. 1934, 3, p. 9Google Scholar); that of Gaius Antius Aulus Iulius Quadratus to Iulius Quadratus (OGI 544); other examples of abbreviated nomenclature in R. de Phil. xxxvii. 1913, pp. 308, 315Google Scholar.

9 ‘Civitati Nacolensium patriae meae amantissimae quamvis p[lu]rimum debeam, pro mediocritate tamen peculioli mei dari volo HS n. ea condicione, etc.

10 It is the accusative of duration; Kühner-Gerth, , Gram. ii. p. 314 BGoogle Scholar.

11 Forsch. in Eph. iii. p. 10Google Scholar.

12 CIL x. 5853. 12Google Scholar: crustuli p(ondo libra) I, mulsi hemina.

13 Forsch. in Eph. iii. p. 103Google Scholar.

14 Cf. IBM iii. p. 137Google Scholar.

15 A conceivable but improbable reading (19–20) is καθ' ἕκ[ασστον σείτου’[ἡμί] ∣[νᾳν”μίαν. In IG xii. 7, 515. 73 the choenix and half-choenix of corn are doled out; could not here the hemina (= quarter choenix) have been so? That instance is from the second century B.C., and from our period, over three centuries later, no similar case appears to be known. Our dole was therefore almost certainly the contemporary panis or crustulum; cf. CIL ix. 3954. 5 (Alba Fucens)Google Scholar; ix. 4215. 6 (Amiternum); x. 3699. 4 (Cumae, 251 A.D.); x. 5796. 8 (Vesulae); xiv. 119.9 (Ostia); xiv. 3581. 11 (Tibur).

16 Aegyptus xii. 1932, p. 130Google Scholar; cf. ibid. xiii. 1933, p. 253; Arch. f. Papfg. xi. 1933, p. 129Google Scholar. Sealing by witnesses also in Bruns, Font. 7, 119. 19 (ἐσφράγισαν, σφραγισταί) and 193.

17 Arch. f. Papfg. vi. 1920, p. 311, note 2Google Scholar.

18 CIG 3822 b. Cf. Keil-v. Premerstein, 2 Reise, no. 223; they suggest that the gerusia may be a relic of city status previously held and lost; cf. RE xi. 11 (Oertel)Google Scholar.

19 OGI 488: .

20 ibid., note 3: ‘ut (gerusia) senatui (βουλῇ) civitatis responderet.’

21 Cf. the grant of city status to Tymandus (Bruns, Font. 7 34 = Dessau, ILS 6090 = MAMA iv. 236)Google Scholar; ‘decurionum copiam’ (1. 14) and ‘ius coeundi in curiam’ are emphasised. The dedication to Marcus Aurelius, CIG 3822 b 2, is not by boule and demos, but by the Ὀρκιστηνοί; cf. MAMA v. 125, 208, 213.

22 E.g., Panamara, with its ‘quasistädtische Verfassung,’ had as chief magistrate a demarchos; RE Supp. iv. 966 (Swoboda)Google Scholar.

23 Cf. Thalheim, , Hermes xxxix. 1904, p. 610Google Scholar: ‘Neben die Hypothek treten zur Sicherheit immer noch Bürgen, für jedes Darlehn einer.’ Constant resort by a private investor to both methods of securing money lent is found in REG xix. 1906, p. 235 (Aphrodisias)Google Scholar.

24 On the formalities of registration, cf. Weiss, E., Gr. Privatr. pp. 412 f.Google Scholar

25 Much gratitude for valuable criticism I owe to W. M. Calder and A. Cameron, but my heaviest debt is to the grammatophylax who rescued the Orcistus ‘charter.’ Having preserved our texts also, he it is who in fact publishes them; his archeia, including notes and drafts of restoration, alone make publication possible. For what has thus been received special grace must be said, yet that is far from enough.