New Greek Inscriptions from the Strymon Valley (Province of Macedonia)

Author(s): Dimiter G. Angelov

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 143 (2003), pp. 138-142
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20191624 .
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 138

New Greek Inscriptions from the Strymon Valley

(Province of Macedonia)

In ancient as well as inmodern times the Strymon river provided the main road artery linking the city of
Serdica (modern Sofia) in the Roman province of Thrace to the city of Thessaloniki in the province of
Macedonia. The six Greek inscriptions published here, all dating to the Roman imperial period, have
come to light during the past several years on various locations along the middle Strymon river in the
vicinity, or within the city limits, of the modern Bulgarian town of Sandanski, which lies 130 km south
west of Sofia. All six inscriptions are kept today in the display area of the Archeological Museum of
Sandanksi.1

Inscriptions I and II were found in present-day locality of "Pushovetz", 15 km north of Sandanski

along the Strymon river between the villages of Gorna Gradeshnitza and Ilindentzi, within the territory
of the ancient community (possibly city) of Neine. In 1966Georgi Mihailov included twenty Greek in
scriptions from Neine in his corpus of Greek epigraphic found in Bulgaria.2 Mihailov was unmaterial
aware at the time of the ancient name of this settlement on the Strymon river. In 1980, Vasilka Gerasi
mova-Tomova published an inscription from a temple of Isis and Serapis, which brought the mystery to
an end and identified the name of the community as Neine (Neivr)).3 The date of this inscription (A.D.
78) and the date of another inscription found in the city (A.D. 173) set the history of Neine firmly
within imperial period.4 The urban status of the community
the Roman of Neine and the existence of
urban institutions remains an open question pending on the discovery of further epigraphic material.5
Inscriptions III and IV were found in the antique city located underneath the present-day town of
Sandanski. The history of this flourishing urban center stretches from the Hellenistic to the early Byz
antine the city perished during the destructive Avaro-Slavic
era, when invasions of the late sixth and
seventh centuries A.D.6 In 1966 Mihailov published twenty-three Greek inscriptions found in Sandanski

(G. Mihailov, IGBulg, nos. 2263-2284). Unfortunately, the name of the ancient city remains uncertain
due to lack of definitive evidence. The two inscriptions published here do not help solve this question.
Thus far scholars have put forth five different hypotheses about the name: Desudaba, Alexandropolis,
Garescos, and Zapara. On the basis of a careful topographical and epigraphic study,
Parthicopolis,
Fanula Papazoglou has made a most cogent case for the name Parthicopolis.7

1I like to thank Dr. Director of the Bulgarian Museum

National of History, for bringing these
should Ilya Prokopov,
and other to my attention. Dr. Vladimir Petkov, Director of
the Archeological Museum of Sandanski, kindly
inscriptions
offered me of the Professor P. Jones of Harvard University has assisted me with a
photographs inscriptions. Christopher
number of valuable comments and suggestions on reading and interpreting the inscriptions.
2
G. Mihailov, Inscriptiones Graecae in Bulgaria repertae, 4 vols (Sofia 1956-1966), here vol. 4, nos. 2240-2260.

(hereafter G. Mihailov, IGBulg). See also the earlier epigraphical editions of inscriptions by V. Velkov, "Edin antichen grad
v dolinata na sredna Struma", Izvestija na bulgarskija arheologicheski institut (Bulletin de VInstitut arch?ologique bulgare)
26 (1963) 141-156; idem, "Contributi epigrafici alla storia della provincia diMacedonia", Archeologia 14 (1964) 65-75.
3 V. "Zur Untersuchung einer antiken Stadt am mittleren Klio 62 19
Gerasimova-Tomova, Strymon (Struma)", (1980)
26. Cf. F. Papazoglou, Les villes deMac?doine ? l'?poque Romaine (Athens 1988) 376.
4 G.
Mihailov, IGBulg IV 2240 andV. Gerasimova-Tomova, Klio 62 (1980) 21.
5 F.
Papazoglou, loc. cit. (n. 3), puts into doubt hypotheseis about the urban status of Neine raised by Velizar Velkov,

Georgi Mihailov and Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova.

6 see T. Ivanov, D. Serafimova and N. Nikolov, v Sandanski 1960 g.",
On the antique city at Sandanski, "Razkopki prez
A. Dimi
Izvestija na bulgarskija arheologicheski institut (Bulletin de l'Institut arch?ologique bulgare) 31 (1969) 105-209;
trova, "Die fr?hbyzantinische Stadt Sandanski im Licht der arch?ologischen Forschungen", ?tudes balkaniques 4 (1979)
135-147; F. Papazoglou, op. cit.(n. 3) 371-375.
7G.
Mihailov, IGBulg IV pp. 243-245, listed five different theories on the name of the antique city of Sandanski as well
as the written sources supporting each theory. See the recent critical discussion by F. Papazoglou, op. cit. (n. 3) 372-373.
 New Greek Inscriptions from the Strymon Valley (Province of Macedonia) 139

Inscriptions V and VI have been discovered in

the modern village of Laskarevo, which in Roman
imperial times was the site of a small settlement. It
lies 5 km east of Sandanski. The two burial inscrip
tions should be added to the twelve already included
inMihailov's corpus (G. Mihailov, IGBulg IV 2288
2300).

I. and II. Inscriptions from Neine

(the region of Pushovetz)

Inscriptions I and II published here provide additional evidence

for the military importance of Neine. The Roman military gar
rison in Neine appears to have had the duty of securing the

road, which meanders north of Neine through the narrow defile

of theKresna pass (cf.G. Mihailow, IGBulg IV p. 172).

I. The fully preserved inscription is incised on a largemarble

plate 100-120 cm high and ca. 120 cm wide. The average

height of the letters is 3-3.5 cm. Part of the lower left corner is
missing. Under the area of the inscription there is a relief, most

probably depicting the family genius who is rested on vine

leaves turning into a garland and is surrounded on both sides

by two rosettes and two bull heads.

1 T(a?oc) O?a?ipioc riot>5r|c rcaXaicxpaificu]

tt|c ?oruTco
?cocovKai O?aXep?coMa??|i[cp]
Kai n(07r?ic?) Ai?i riou??vxi cxpaTic?xT]
d?o?c ?
4 av Kal T(aic?) Ouepyivi IIouS?vTi TiaAmcxpa
TicoTfl Tcaxpi Kal MoKac?Kco xf| pr|Tpl Kai
Ze?f|pa i? cup?icu Kai 'IovAico Ma^?pco ico
-ui?)Kai Za?Kai??vOfl xx\ ??etapp KaxcoxriK
8 ?ci KaxecKe?acev pvf|pr|c eveica
ETOYI B?P?
4 spatium before Kai 7 r|Kwritten in smaller letters 91,
sc. ce?acTou

The veteran Gaius Valerius Pudens created this for himself during his lifetime, for Valerius Maximus and the

soldier Publius Aelius Pudens, his sons, when they were alive and for the deceased, his father, the veteran

Gaius Verginius Pudens, his mother Mokasokos, his wife Severa, his son Julius Maximus and his sister Zai

kadenthe, for the sake of commemoration. In the year 162 of the Augustan era [i.e. A.D. 131].

The inscription family living in Neine. This is not the first time we hear
commemorates a military
about the presence of Roman soldiers In 1950, Dimiter Dechev
in Neine.
published a fragmentary vo
?
tive inscription in Latin on behalf of an anonymous Roman soldier something very rare for the Stry
mon region and for the province of Macedonia at large, where the official language in Roman imperial
times was Greek.8
The veteran Gaius Valerius Pudens (son of the veteran Gaius Verginius Pudens) has built for him
self and his family a tomb with a commemorative inscription on a large slab. At that time (A.D. 131),

8 D. "Antichni ot oblastta na sredna Godishnik na narodnija v

Dechev, nadpisi Strouma", archeologicheski mouzej
Plovdiv (Annuaire de Mus?e nationale arch?ologique de Plovdiv) 2 (1950) 54, no. 6.
 140 D.G. Angelov

most of his relatives were

dead: his mother, father, sister, wife, and one of his three sons. Still living
were his two remaining sons, one of whom (the eldest ?) was also a soldier. He had taken the profession
of his father and grandfather. The inscription provides intriguing insights into the naming practices of a
local military family over the course of three generations.
The three soldiers in the family have Roman names which they must have received when they en
tered the Roman army: Gaius Valerius Pudens, Publius Aelius Pudens, and Gaius Verginius Pudens. All
three share the cognomen Pudens. Itmay seem that the cognomen was hereditary in the family. The
name is also attested elsewhere in the Strymon valley: it is found in a votive inscription from the city in
Pautalia (Kyustendil) in Thrace, ca. 90 km north of Sandanski along the Strymon river (G. Mihailov,
IGBulg, IV 2072. The three soldiers of the family have however taken different gentilicia, a fact that

points to the artificiality of the system.

The two brothers adhering to civil life, Valerius Maximus and Iulius Maximus, have also a joint
cognomen, which, however, is different from the cognomen of the military men. Probably their father
(Gaius Valerius Pudens) has given them traditional Roman gentilicia (Valerius and Iulius) and the cog
nomen Maximus. They lack praenomens.
Obviously, tria nomina were reserved for the military, but the
rest of the male family also employed Roman names and thus participated in the game. By using Roman
names, the family culturally identified itself with the Romans, professed its loyalty and, we assume, en
hanced its social status and prestige. Publius Aelius Pudens, one of the sons, was even called after the
ruling Emperor Hadrian. The social function of the male names of the family is corroborated by their
contrast to the female names. Two women of the family have traditional Thracian names. The mother is
called Mokasokos? a name of Thracian origin attested elsewhere in the Strymon valley;9 and the name
of Gaius Valerius Pudens' sister, Zaikadenthe, is also distinctively Thracian (D. Dechev, op. cit. [n. 9]
172). However, his wife bears the Roman name Severa.

II. The inscription is found on the triangular top part of a stone plaque, 77-91 cm high and ca. 66 cm wide. There are two

reliefs under the inscription. The

upper relief depicts a rider on horseback with his hands upraised, a small person on the left

and a snake in a tree on the right. The lower relief presents two women in a mourning posture in the company of another
woman.

1M?[pK(Ol] ?
Mowaxicui C\k

9
This female name appears in an inscription from the village of Boboshevo (the territory of Pautilia) along the Strymon
river. See G. Mihailov, IV 2228. On the composite nature of this Thracian name, see D. Dechev (Detschew), Die
IGBulg
thrakischen Sprachreste (Vienna 1957) 310, 312, 469-470; also V. Georgiev, Trakite i tehnijat ezik (Sofia 1977) 44, 93.
 New Greek Inscriptions from the Strymon Valley (Province of Macedonia) 141

?avcoi Tipcoi i7C7c(e?)C7ce?pr|c

4 "
MaKE?oviKfjc eitaoc Kal
_ MaKe8ov KATA???OH H
5 -?i?o- or -?i?o>

? a votive one ? a deceased

The inscription most probably mentions
(t?pcoc ) horseman bearing the
well-known Roman plebeian gentilicium Munatius and the cognomen Silvanus (Ci^?avoc), the latter
name being attested in a Greek inscription from the neighboring city of Nicopolis ad Nestum, also in the

province of Macedonia (along the Nestos river).10 He belonged to the Macedonian cohorts, and he is

probably the horseman represented in the upper register, mourned by the woman in the lower register. In
line 4 and 5 the names of donors
of the plaque may follow. The mention of a cohort in the province of
Macedonia (MaKeSoviKT] crce?pa) inNeine is significant, since it provides an answer to the query posed
by Mihailov in 1966 regarding an inscription with the text of the famous rescript of the emperor Gordian

(237-244) to the villagers of Scaptopara (modern Blagoevgrad), 35 km north of Neine along the Stry
mon valley. The community of Scaptopara had complained before the emperor about the oppressive

requisitions and demands for hospitality by soldiers and had pointed to its unpropitious location between
two military camps. In trying to identify the two military camps, Mihailov suggested the possibility of
Neine, but noted the lack of information about a cohort in the area. This inscription provides evidence

substantiating Mihailov's hypothesis.11

III. and IV. Inscriptions from the antique city at Sandanski (Parthicopolis ?)

HI. The fragmentary votive inscription inscription from the necropolis above the church of Ss. Cosmas and Dami?n in San

danski is incised on a stone 63 cm high and ca. 43 wide. The upper and the left parts are missing. The rectangular writing
area was carefully delineated with deep notches.

1 TCOT?K?Zc?[ ]
ico??etapco Kal Ap
[xe]|jLi?c?pa Kac?oi)
4 [x]tiHTixp?>
H-- 9-P-T0\)Kal

?T--T

1 ?a\)T(p? xe in ligature 4 centered 5 in

dented 6 centered

Somebody erected this memorative in

scription for somebody (possibly himself),

his brother name may have been
(whose
Zco'i^oc, Zcoc?pic, Z(?>7TUpoc, or Z apoc)12
and his mother Artemidora, daughter of Cas
sius. The inscription is dated to the year
the year 198 of the Actian and the year 314 of the Macedonian era, fully in accordance with the double

system of chronology used in the province of Macedonia. These two dates correspond to A.D.

10G.
Mihailov, IGBulg IV 2337. For the use of the cognomen Silvanus in Latin inscriptions from the province of Moe
sia (northern see M. Minkova, The Personal Names of the Latinb Inscriptions in Bulgaria (Frankfurt am Main
Bulgaria),
2000) 254.
11 cf. the comments A
G. Mihailov, IGBulg IV 2326, 24-25: Ke?xai u?cov ?i>o txpaxoTi??cov; of G. Mihailov, p. 212.
Roman military camp north of Scaptopara is attested in the community of Germania, and the military settlement in Neine

appears to have been camp south of Scaptopara, to which the peasants referred in their petition.
12The names Zoilos and Zosaris are attested. For ZcoiXoc, see G. Mihailov, IV for
locally IGBulg 1925, 2315, 2076;

Zcocapic, IV 2337; for Zcorcupoc, I 324, 401,452; for Zcoauoc, IGBulg III 1790, 1593.
 142 D.G. Angelov

166/167.13 In the middle

Strymon valley, this double system of dating is attested in two inscriptions
from Neine (quoted in n. 4). Our inscription is the first case of its use in the antique city at Sandanski.
IV. The votive inscription on a stone plaque at "Vasil Levski" St. in Sandanski is partly broken in the upper part. The plaque
is ca. 43 cm high and ca. 41 cm wide; height of letters - ca. 2 cm. A part of a laurelwreath is visible, below which lies the
area of the inscription.

ITuv?KTl
n?ppou oi ?bek
cpo?
The female name
ITuv?Kri is unknown from inscriptions in the Strymon valley published by Mi
hailov, and Iwas also unable to find it in other Greek inscriptions. She is the daughter of Pyrrhos, a very
common Thracian name (D. Dechev, op. cit., p. 387 [n. 9]). Iwas unable to find other examples of the
usage of this name in Greek inscriptions.

V and VI. Two Inscriptions from the village of Laskarevo

V. The funerary inscription is on a stone plaque 81 cm high and ca. 75 cm wide. Four heads, two in each row, are depicted

below the area of the inscription. The female and male heads in the upper row seem to belong to the parents.14

A\)pf|(Xioc) riupoutaxc xok yo

v?ci pvf|pr|c x?pw
1p and r| in ligature

stone plaque was placed by Aurelius

The Pyroulas for his parents. The name Pyroulas is common in

epigraphic monuments of the area..

Pyroulas (for the name see Inscr. V) dedicated the inscription to his wife and a male relative.

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Dimiter G. Angelov

13See M. Tod, "TheMacedonian Era", The Annual

of the British School at Athens 23 (1918-1919) 207-217; ibid., 24
(1919-1920; 1920-1921) 54-67. Cf. F. Papazoglou, "Notes d'?pigraphie et de topographie mac?doniennes", BCH 87 (1963)
517-526.
14G.
Mihailov, IGBulg IV 2078, 2230, 2252, 2257, 2278, 2261, 2286, 2298, 2312, 2356 Cf. D. Dechev, op. cit. (n. 9)
386.
15 The names IV
name of this relative appears to be related to the Thracian Bacxaiceitaxt (see G. Mihailov, IGBulg
2350) or BacxoKeitaxc (see G. Mihailov, IGBulg III 1488, 1690).