For Salvation's Sake: Provincial Loyalty, Personal Religion, and Epigraphic Production in the Roman and Late Antique Near East (Studies in Classics, Outstanding Dissertations, 3)

231 Pages·2004·2.03 MB·English

by  Jason Moralee

STUDIES IN CLASSICS
Edited by
Dirk Obbink
Oxford University
Andrew Dyck
The University of California,
Los Angeles
A ROUTLEDGE SERIES
STUDIES IN CLASSICS
DIRK OBBINK AND ANDREW DYCK, General Editors
SINGULAR DEDICATIONS
Founders and Innovators of Private Cults in Classical Greece
Andrea L.Purvis
EMPEDOCLES
An Interpretation
Simon Trépanier
APHRODITE AND EROS
The Development of Greek Erotic Mythology
Barbara Breitenberger
A LINGUISTIC COMMENTARY ON LIVIUS ANDRONICUS Ivy Livingston
RHETORIC IN CICERO’S PRO BALBO
An Interpretation
Kimberly Anne Barber
“FOR SALVATION’S SAKE”
Provincial Loyalty, Personal Religion, and Epigraphic Production in the
Roman and Late Antique Near East
Jason Moralee

ROUTLEDGE
New York & London
Published in 2004 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001
Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE
Copyright © 2004 by Routledge
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moralee, Jason, 1973– “For salvation’s sake”: provincial loyalty, personal religion, and epigraphic
production in the Roman and late antique Near East/Jason Moralee. p. cm.—(Studies in classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-203-48531-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-57896-1 (Adobe e-Reader Format)
ISBN 0-415-96778-3 (Print Edition) (hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Middle East-History—To 622.2. Middle East—History–622–1517. 3. Middle East—Politics and
government. 4. Middle East—Religion. 5. Salvation. 6. Inscriptions, Latin—Middle East. 7.
Inscriptions, Greek-Middle East. I. Title. II. Series. DS62.M58 2004 939′.405–dc22
Contents

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

SERIES EDITORS’ FOREWORD xii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii

CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1

CHAPTER TWO The Salutary Ideology 17

CHAPTER THREE The Reception of the Salutary Ideology in the Near East 30

CHAPTER FOUR The Demise and Transformation of the Salutary Ideology 47

CHAPTER FIVE Pagan, Christian, and Jewish Dedications for Personal 55

Salvation
CHAPTER SIX Localizing Provincial Loyalty and Personal Religion: 77

Three Case Studies
CONCLUSION 93

APPENDIX 98

NOTES 158

BIBLIOGRAPHY 191

INDEX 204
List of Figures

1. Personification of Salvation depicted with features reminiscent of 52
Salus Publica. Mosaic from the “Bath of Apolausis” near Antioch,
fifth century A.D.
2. Adadiabos depicted in the very moment of asking his god for the 81
salvation of himself, his children, and his household. Relief of
Aphlad Theos, from the Temple of Aphlad, Dura Europos, A.D. 54.
List of Tables

1. Dated Dedications for the Salvation of the Emperor by Emperor 5

and Region
2. Total Number of Inscriptions by Region 8
3. Dated Inscriptions by Region 8
4. The Religious Affiliation of the Dedicators of Inscriptions for the 9
Salvation of Emperors and for Personal Salvation, 100 B.C.-A.D.
800
5. Geographical Shift in Dedications for Personal Salvation 10
6. Dated Dedications for Salvation from the Near East 10
7. Dated Dedications for Salvation from Syria 11
8. Dated Dedications for Salvation from Lebanon 11
9. Dated Dedications for Salvation from Israel 11
10. Dated Dedications for Salvation from Jordan 12
11. Percentage of Roman, Greek, and Semitic Names by Region in the 33

Dedications for the Salvation of the Emperor
12. Percentage of Roman and Civil Occupations in the Dedications for 34

the Salvation of the Emperor
13. Gods Addressed in the Dedications for the Salvation of the 36

Emperor
14. Percentage of Roman, Greek, and Semitic Names by Region in the 58

Pagan Dedications for Personal Salvation
15. Gods Addressed in the Pagan Dedications for Personal Salvation 59
16. The Distribution of Christian Dedications for Personal Salvation 64
17. Percentage of Roman, Greek, Semitic, Biblical, and Anonymous 66
Names by Media in the Christian Dedications for Personal
Salvation
List of Abbreviations
AE L’année épigraphique
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AJPh American Journal of Philology
ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids, MI, 1971–86
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Berlin,
1972–
Baumann, Spätantike Stifter P.Baumann, Spätantike Stifter im Heiligen Land,
Wiesbaden, 1999
BMCR Bryn Mawr Classical Review
BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
CAH The Cambridge Ancient History, London, 1923–
CAHL Christian Archaeology in the Holy Land, Jerusalem, 1990
CCL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina
CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, Berlin, 1828–77
CIJ Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, Rome, 1936
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin, 1862–1959
CRAI Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des
inscriptions et belles-lettres
DACL Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, Paris,
1913–53
Dijkstra, Life and Loyalty K.Dijkstra, Life and Loyalty: A Study in the Socio-
Religious Culture of Syria and Mesopotamia in the
Graeco-Roman Period Based on Epigraphical Evidence,
Leiden, 1995
Di Segni L.Di Segni, Dated Greek Inscriptions from Palestine from
the Roman and Byzantine Periods, Ph.D. diss., Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, 1997
DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers
Dura Report The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Preliminary Report,
New Haven, 1928–
Gregg and Urman R.C.Gregg and D.Urman, Jews, Pagans, and Christians in
the Golan Heights, Atlanta, 1996
IGLS Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, Paris, 1929–
JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology