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Oinoanda: The Agora

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

J. J. Coulton
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Extract

This study of the agora at Oinoanda is based on fieldwork done in 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1983 in the course of the survey of Oinoanda conducted by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara under the direction of A. S. Hall, and with the cooperation and assistance of the Directorate of Antiquities at Ankara. The topographical survey of the site, which underlies Figures 1 and 2, was undertaken by students of the Northeast London Polytechnic. Since our survey permit allowed no excavation, what follows is based on the visible remains, and some important points remain uncertain. Nevertheless, the extent of the remains and the absence of later interference with the site allow for a substantial reconstruction of the buildings concerned and their chronology.

The agora of Oinoanda occupies an open space c. 87 m. by 27 m. in a depression between three low hills near the middle of the city area. To the north a spur runs out from the Acropolis hill, to the east is a small hill on the summit of which are rock cuttings for a small temple, and to the southwest is a hill which now carries a late antique fort. Between these three hills run the main streets of the city; to the south a road which skirts the hollow containing the Early Christian church Mm 3 to link up with the southern colonnaded street; to the west a much shorter road to the West Gate; and to the northeast another colonnaded street which leads between the two bath-buildings Mk 1 and Ml 1 in the direction of the Esplanade.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 36 , December 1986 , pp. 61 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1986

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References

1 I am most grateful to Mr. Hall for his invitation to participate in the survey and for his support of my work both on and off the site, and particularly for his advice and assistance with the epigraphic aspects of this study. Successive representatives of the Turkish government, Bay Sırrı Özenir, Bay Osman Özbek, Bay Edip Özgür and Bay İbrahim Malkoç contributed enormously to the success of my work, and other members of the survey team, especially Mr. D. Howarth and Dr. E. Stenton, gave me inestimable assistance. Financial support in 1981 and 1983 was generously provided by the University of Oxford Craven Fund and in 1983 by Merton College, Oxford.

Inscriptions in the agora are normally cited by their Survey Inventory Numbers; a concordance of these numbers with previous publications is provided in Table 1 on p. 00.

Abbreviations additional to those specified for Anatolian Studies are listed at the end of the article.

2 For the location of the agora in relation to the city as a whole see Hall, A. S., AS 26 (1976) 191–7Google Scholar, fig. 1 and Coulton, J. J., PCPS N. S. 29 (1983) 3, fig. 1 (updated)Google Scholar. The Northeast Street does not lead to the gate in the Late Roman city wall, and it is also blocked by a building just beyond the bath building Ml 1. Both wall and building are late features, however, and the Northeast Street would originally have led directly from the agora to the south west corner of the Esplanade. Building Mk 1 was discussed by Ling, R. J., AS 21 (1981) 31–53Google Scholar; Building Ml 1 and its neighbours are currently under study by A. Farrington of the University of Western Australia.

3 For a possible date see below p. 89.

4 Compare the arches at the end of the porticoes west of the Rectangular Agora at Ephesos (Ephesos 3 (1923) 32–6Google Scholar) and of the stoa at Sillyon (Lanckoronski 1, 82).

5 Directly in front of this doorway the portico stylobate was cut down between the columns, so as to form two easier steps 0·17 m. high, with a tread of 0·29 m.

6 The same feature is more openly displayed in the Arch of Hadrian at Athens (Travlos, J., Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971) 253–7Google Scholar).

7 A partly metamorphosed limestone outcrops at various points round the edge of the Seki plain.

8 Survey inv. no. 1047 A, B.

9 Survey inv. no. 1047 C.

10 Survey inv. no. 1048 (= IGR 3, 483).

11 Survey inv. no. 1049.

12 A room off the southwest portico of the Agora at Thasos had a statue of Hadrian (Rolley, C., Salviat, F., BCH 87 (1963) 548–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar) and a similar room off the north portico of the Letoon at Xanthos has been tentatively identified as the Kaisareion mentioned in an inscription there (Balland, A., Xanthos 7 (1981) 28Google Scholar; ibid., 185 no. 67 line 5). A larger and more clearly separated room opening off a portico of the agora at Iasos is probably also for the Imperial cult. For the architectural forms used for the Imperial cult see Price, S. R. F., Ritual and Power; the Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (1984) 133–69, esp. 140–3Google Scholar.

13 Dinsmoor, W. B., The Architecture of Ancient Greece (1950) 45, 78, 81, 116Google Scholar.

14 Petersen-von Luschan, 151 and figs. 67, 69–72.

15 Ballu, A., Les Ruines de Timgad (1897) pl. 9Google Scholar.

16 Menedez-Pidal, J., Archivo Esp. de Arqueologia 43 (1970) 89–112Google Scholar. Compare also the façade of the prothyron to Diocletian's palace at Split, where the horizontal cornice of the Syrian pediment is also crowned by a carved moulding comparable to a sima, but not quite matching the sima of the raking cornice (Hebrard, E., Zeiller, J., Spalato, le palais de Dioclétian (1911) 110–11Google Scholar).

17 Survey inv. no. 1029 (= IGR 3, 484Google Scholar); first published by Heberdey and Kalinka (Heberdey-Kalinka, 51, no. 5), text revised by A. S. Hall (Hall, 163, no. 5).

18 So Heberdey-Kalinka, 51, followed by Cagnat, R., IGR 3, 484, n. 1Google Scholar, Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H., Greek-English Lexicon (1940)Google Scholar, s.v., Robert, L., Gladiateurs dans l'Orient grec2 (1971) 316, n. 5Google Scholar; Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque 1 (1968) 189Google Scholar (for bulls or cows?).

19 Among the references to bull sports collected by Robert (op. cit. (n. 18)), only no. 47, a verse epitaph from Tomi, uses bous or a word based on it rather than tauros, and there the demands of the metre may have had some effect. In addition a relief with a zebu from Laodikeia on the Lykos was probably identified by an inscription as bous agrios (Robert, L., Hellenica 7 (1949) 140, no. 326Google Scholar). Other compounds of bous have sometimes been connected with bull sports, but see L. Robert, op. cit. (n. 18) 319, n. 10.

20 Heberdey-Kalinka gave the source of the inscription as on a “Thorbogen” on the northeast side of the agora, but did not indicate the size of the arch or discuss the architectural context.

21 The Moon, being female, is clearly Selene rather than the Phrygian god Men. Comparable representations of the Sun and Moon often appear on Mithraic reliefs (e.g. Merkelbach, R., Mithras (1984)Google Scholar figs. 42, 54, 73, 132), but there is nothing specifically Mithraic about the Boukonisterion reliefs, and the animal slain by Mithras was a bull. For other evidence of the cult of the Sun and Moon in the Kibyratis see Robert, L., BCH 107 (1983) 568–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Weiser, W., Epigraphica Anatolica 4 (1984) 106Google Scholar.

22 For the sprinkling of sacrificial victims with barley or meal see Stengel, P., Die griechischen Kultusaltertümer3 (1920) 110Google Scholar; Latte, K., Römische Religionsgeschichte (1960) 387Google Scholar; Ogilvie, R. M., The Romans and their Gods in the Age of Augustus (1969) 48Google Scholar. The reference to bos cretatus in Juvenal 10. 66 is irrelevant, since it deals with a dishonest, not a normal, practice.

23 Radermacher, L., Wiener Studien 32 (1910) 203–4Google Scholar, strongly contested by Robert, L., Hellenica 3 (1946) 149–50Google Scholar. On βυκάνη see P. Chantraine, op. cit. (n. 18) 201.

24 Vitr. 5. 11.2. The epigraphic instances are collected and the function of the dust room discussed by Delorme, J., Gymnasion (1960) 276–9Google Scholar.

25 The elaiothesia is closely related to, but not the same as, the gymnasiarchy (see for example, J., and Robert, L., Bull. epig. 1968, 450Google Scholar).

26 Of the published agonistic inscriptions from Oinoanda four record victories at wrestling, seven at pankration, and none at other events; the corresponding figures for other Lycian cities are similar (see TAM 2. 1–3Google Scholar).

27 On the prefix in general, see P. Chantraine, op. cit. (n. 18), 187–8, noting the earliest instances of the intensive force in comedy.

28 For Laconian foundations in Asia Minor see Woodward, A. M. in Studies … D. M. Robinson 2 (1953) 868–83Google Scholar with Robert, L., BCH 107 (1983) 565–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the case of Kibyra see IGR 1, 418 and 3, 500Google Scholar. I. 7–13 with Robert, L., REG 85 (1972) 396, no. 139Google Scholar. Robert, (BCH 101 (1977) 128CrossRefGoogle Scholar) argues that such legends may go back to the Persian period, and a recently published Argive decree of the late fourth century B.C. accepts Argive syngeneia with Pisidian Termessos (Stroud, R. S., Hesperia 53 (1984) 193–216CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

29 For the tetrapolis, Strabo 14. 3. 9 (666). For recent discussions see, for example: Coulton, J. J., AS 32 (1982) 117–18, 131Google Scholar; White, A. N. Sherwin, Roman Foreign Policy in the East 168 B.C.–A.D. 1 (1984) 50–1Google Scholar; Gruen, E. S., The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome (1984) 731–3Google Scholar. In addition to the evidence cited below, note the joint citizenship recorded in Hall, A. S., AS 31 (1981) 53 (c)Google Scholar.

30 Survey inv. no. 1030–1.

31 IGR 3, 500Google Scholar. I and II. 35–8.

32 Hall, A. S., JHS 99 (1979) 160CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Hesychios s.v. βοῦα; see also P. Chantraine, op. cit. (n. 18), 188. The age group concerned, and the organisation of the boua are discussed by Chrimes, K. M. T., Ancient Sparta (1949) 86–99Google Scholar, reviewed by Woodward, A. M., Historia 1 (1950) 616–34Google Scholar, esp. 617–20. I am most grateful to A. Morpurgo Davies and D. Kelly for discussion of this possibility; they are not of course responsible for my conclusion.

34 For the ἀγἑλη at Sparta see Plutarch, , Lykourgos, 16. 4–7Google Scholar, and for Crete, Heraclides, , Pol., 15Google Scholar, Ephoros, 64, Strabo, 10. 16 (480) and Collitz, H., Griechische Dialektinschriften 2. 2 (1905) 4952Google Scholar. c. 12–13, d. 26, 5044. 18, 29, 5075, 25, 28, 5101. 18, 29. In addition to Crete and Sparta, ἀγἑλη and related terms occur also at Smyrna (Kaibel, G., Epigrammata Graeca (1878) 239Google Scholar. 2 in Doric dialect), at Miletos (ibid., 223. 8, also in Doric dialect, and Pekáry, T., Ist. Mitt. 15 (1965) 118–34, no. 15Google Scholar), at Chios (Robert, L., BCH 57 (1933) 519, line 13, with 525Google Scholar), and (more relevantly) at Xanthos (Balland, A., Xanthos 7 (1981) 42Google Scholar) and Idebessos/Akalissos in Lycia, (TAM 2. 3, 838)Google Scholar, and at Termessos, Pisidian (TAM 3. 1, 146)Google Scholar. The spread of the term seems to be mainly from the Hadrianic period onwards, and in Sparta most references to bouagor/s (see below n. 36) also belong to the second or early third centuries A.D.

35 Delorme, J., Gymnasion (1960) 180–1Google Scholar discusses the gymnasion tōn neōn at Pergamon, but argues against the existence of a separate gymnasion tōn paidōn there. However, separate gymnasiarchies for specific age groups are attested at Pergamon, (IGR 4, 293. 49)Google Scholar and also elsewhere, e.g. at Xanthos, (IGR 3, 605. 6)Google Scholar, Lapethous, (Cyprus) (IGR 3, 933. 14)Google Scholar, Attaleia, (IGR 3, 777. 1, 783. 1–2)Google Scholar.

36 See IG 5. 1Google Scholar, index s.v. βοαγόρ, βοαγός, βουαγόρ and βουαγός; Hesychios s.v. βουαγόρ.

37 Chrimes, op. cit. (n. 33), 84, translating bouagos as “leader of the bull calves” seems to suggest that the etymology is directly from bous, in which case bou-konisterion could be similarly derived. But it should be noted that bous as an animal is neither specifically young nor specifically male. The etymology of boua is uncertain (“Un rapport avec bous est plausible mais par quelle dérivation?”, P. Chantraine, op. cit. (n. 18) 188).

38 The information given here was kindly provided by A. S. Hall.

39 e.g. Boethius, A., Ward-Perkins, J. B., Etruscan and Roman Architecture (1970) 399–410, 583Google Scholar.

40 e.g. the Propylon east of the Aphrodite temenos at Aphrodisias, AntIonia 3 (1840) ch. 2, pl. 24Google Scholar. See also Crema, L., MonAnt 38 (1939–1940) 293Google Scholar, fig. 59; Crema recognizes the feature as Aphrodisian, as does Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 45Google Scholar.

4l Cavetto above ovolo and astragal: Patara, temple, crown only (AntIonia 3 (1840) ch. 3, pl. 5Google Scholar); Teos, temenos, crown only (AntIonia 1 (1821) ch. 1, pl. 3Google Scholar); Aphrodisias, propylon, outer order AntIonia 3 (1840) ch. 2, pl. 24Google Scholar); Oinoanda, porticoes of Mk 1 (Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 34, fig. 3 aGoogle Scholar). Cavetto above cyma reversa and astragal: Aphrodisias, propylon, inner order (AntIonia 3 (1840) ch. 2, pl. 26Google Scholar; Ephesos, East Gymnasium (AntIonia 2 (1797) ch. 6, pl. 42Google Scholar); Ephesos, Library of Celsus, lower order, crown only (without astragal) (Ephesos 5. 1 (1944) fig. 6Google Scholar); Miletos, Nymphaeum, middle and upper orders (Milet 1. 5 (1919) pl. 60–1Google Scholar).

42 Attaleia: Lanckoronski 1, fig. 9; at Termessos Lanckoronski 2, fig. 45, shows a cavetto, to which the Oinoanda mouldings often approximate closely when weathered; Aphrodisias: Mon Ant 38 (1939–1940) 299Google Scholar, fig. 58, and apparently TAD 25. 1 (1980) 29, fig. 19Google Scholar.

43 Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 34, 45Google Scholar. There is also an architrave-frieze (or door-head) block in the theatre with fluted frieze (Bernardi Ferrero 2 (1969) fig. 153, pl. 14 e). A fully enriched entablature is to be seen at Kemerarası (“Termessos Minor”) below Oinoanda.

44 Heilmeyer, pl. 35. 1, 2; pl. 36. 3, 4; cf. TAD 23. 1 (1976) 38, fig. 23Google Scholar.

45 So Naumann, R., Kantar, S., in Kleinasien und Byzanz (Ist Forsch 17, 1950) 109Google Scholar.

46 Arch of Hadrian, Attaleia: Lanckoronski 1, pl. 7, Heilmeyer, pl. 39. 3; temple of Zeus, Aizanoi: Naumann, R., Der Zeustempel zu Aizanoi (1979) 69, pl. 57Google Scholar; temple of Hadrian, Rome: Strong, R., PBSR 21 (1953) 123–6Google Scholar, pl. 31 a–b, Cozzo, L. et al. , Tempio di Adriano (1982) fig. 18–20, 24, 62Google Scholar. See also Leon, C., Der Bauornamentik des Traiansforums (1971) 270–3Google Scholar, pl. 95. 1, 3, 100. 2.

47 For the type see Coulton, J. J., The Architectural Development of the Greek Stoa (1977) 121–2Google Scholar.

48 Alzinger, W., Augusteische Architektur in Ephesos (1974) 92–4Google Scholar,. pl. 124–6. There are capitals of the same type in the porticoes of the Traianeum at Pergamon (Heilmeyer, pl. 27. 2), and others from Mylasa (Heilmeyer, pl. 39. 2) and Izmir (R. Naumann, S. Kantar (n. 45), pl. 27 a). The type is discussed by Börker, C., Blattkelchkapitelle (1965) 197–201Google Scholar.

49 Mylasa: Heilmeyer 87, pl. 24. 4; Ephesos: Bammer, A., JOAI 52 (1978–1980) 89, fig. 22Google Scholar; Antalya: Heilmeyer, pl. 39. 3; Oinoanda: above p. 74. In the west: Ward-Perkins, J. B., JRS 38 (1948) 67, n. 29Google Scholar.

50 Heilmeyer, pl. 49. 1, 2 cf. pl. 50. 2; imitated in the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Baths of Diocletian at Rome (Normand's Parallel of the Orders (6th ed., Cordingley, R. A., 1959) pl. 56, 57Google Scholar). The same motif in the theatre skene at Myra: Myra, pl. 23 a.

51 Ephesos: Heilmeyer, pl. 27. 3; Termessos: Lanckoronski 2, fig. 55, Bernardi Ferrero 2 (1969) 27, fig. 39. Less comparable are the S-spiral tendrils on the opisthodomos capitals of the temple at Aizanoi (Heilmeyer, pl. 36. 3, 4; Naumann, R., Der Zeustempel zu Aizanoi (1979) 20, pl. 52 b, cGoogle Scholar).

52 Aphrodisias: Heilmeyer, 98, 169, pl. 32. 1, 2; Smyrna: R. Naumann, S. Kantar, op. cit. (n. 45), 82, 109, pl. 24 a, 28 c; Myra: Myra, pl. 23 b; Side: Mansel, A. M., Die Ruinen von Side (1963) fig. 65CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rome: Heilmeyer, 170, pl. 35. 2.

53 e.g. Heilmeyer, pl. 29. 3, 30. 1–3, 48. 3, 52. 1–4. In its Augustan form (e.g. Heilmeyer, pl. 44. 2, 57. 1) the motif is less like that at Oinoanda. In Asia Minor: Heilmeyer, pl. 24. 3, 33. 2 (Ephesos).

54 Heilmeyer, pl. 34. 3.

55 This seems the implication of Lanckoronski 2, 96 (on Termessos); for Aizanoi see n. 51 above; only two variants at Myra are illustrated in Myra, pl. 23, but at least five variants are currently visible in the theatre.

56 The egg and dart and the bead and reel are comparable to those on the portico capitals, but there is considerable irregularity in the spacing of the units.

57 e.g. the temple and theatre skene at Patara (Texier 3, pl. 184. 1, 187); gate and tomb at Mylasa, (AntIonia 2 (1797) ch. 6, pl. 23, 27Google Scholar); propylon and theatre skene at Sagalassos (Lanckoronski 2, fig. 122, 131); and several buildings at Termessos (Lanckoronski 2, fig. 32, 45, 67, 76). Most other buildings at Oinoanda also have a cyma recta frieze; baths Mk 1 (Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 36, 45, fig. 3 bGoogle Scholar), the West Arch, the Boukonisterion façade, and the theatre skene (Bernardi Ferrero 2 (1969), pl. 14 g).

58 Av Perg 3. 1 (1906) 20–1, pl. 8Google Scholar; for the date see Callaghan, P., BICS 28 (1981) 115–21Google Scholar.

59 Profile: Ephesos 1 (1906) 152, fig. 86Google Scholar; date: Alzinger, W., Augusteische Architektur in Ephesos (1974) 38–40Google Scholar, Börker, C., Blattkelchkapitelle (1965) 171–2Google Scholar.

60 Miletos: Milet I. 7 (1924) 254–7, fig. 260–1Google Scholar; Laodikeia: des Gagniers, J. et al. , Laodicée du Lykos: la Nymphée (1969) 109–71Google Scholar; there are similar cornices in the theatres at Kibyra (Bernardi Ferrero 1 (1966), 23–4, fig. 29), Iasos (ibid., 3 (1970) 73, fig. 83), and Aizanoi (ibid., 182, fig. 216).

61 Av Perg 4 (1896) pl. 38. 4Google Scholar; cornices of this type at Oinoanda: West Arch (cf. above p. 73), mausoleum of Licinnia Flavilla, Baths Mk 1 (Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 35, fig. 3 bGoogle Scholar).

62 AntIonia 3 (1840) ch. 2, pl. 26Google Scholar, Texier 3, pl. 154, 156; for the date TAD 19. 1 (1970) 62Google Scholar.

63 Ephesos 5. 1 (1944) 9Google Scholar, fig. 10, 13; for an apparently similar profile on the Hydrekdocheion of Trajan see Bammer, A., JOAI 50 (1972–1975) 398Google Scholar. The relevance of this profile is shown by the occurrence of a similar form over the entrance to building Mm 5 at Oinoanda (above p. 74).

64 Lanckoronski 1, fig. 78 c, 79; Mansel, A. M., Die Ruinen von Side (1963) fig. 22CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Note also the Gymnasium at Sardis, Hanfmann, G. M. A., Letters from Sardis (1972) fig. 207CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65 Kibyra: above the stadium; Balboura: by the temple of Nemesis.

66 For the earthquake, Vit. Ant. 9. 1Google Scholar, Aristides (ed. Dindorf), Speech 43, Pausanias 8. 43. 4, and for its date, Heberdey, R., Opramoas (1897) 69–9Google Scholar.

67 Survey Inv. nos. 1030, 1031; for the date RE VA (1934) 77Google Scholar.

68 Survey Inv. nos. 1033, 1034, 1035. On the date of these games see Hall, 162. Five other inscriptions in the agora (Survey Inv. nos. 1037–8, 1044–6) celebrate victories at the same festival.

69 On the dating of “Aurelian” names see Heberdey, R., Termessische Studien (Denkschr. Akad. Wien 69 (1929)) 15–28Google Scholar and Follet, S., Athènes au IIe et au IIIe siècle (1976) 72–105Google Scholar; for recent discussion of the date of the constitutio Antoniniana, ibid., 64–72 (A.D. 212) and Rubin, Z., Latomus 34 (1975) 430–6 (A.D. 213)Google Scholar.

70 Survey Inv. no. 1032.

71 Above p. 64.

72 Survey Inv. no. 1051.

73 For suggestions see Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 41Google Scholar, Coulton, J. J., AS 32 (1982) 58–9Google Scholar; an important civic inscription from the Esplanade is published by Hall, A. S., Epigraphica Anatolica 4 (1984) 27–35Google Scholar.

74 Ling, R. J., AS 31 (1981) 41–3Google Scholar. None of the other buildings has yet been studied in detail, but the acanthus leaves of the capitals of Lm 1 (see above p. 74) suggest that they are of a slightly different date from the agora south and west porticoes.