A NEW HONORARY INSCRIPTION FROM KNIDOS

Abstract

This paper presents the honorary inscription by the inhabitants of Stadia and khora for Tiberius Claudius Euaratos, the son of Tiberius Claudius Politas. The inscription, dated to the 2nd half of the 1st century AD, provides some important details of the career of Tiberius Claudius Euaratos. The inscription mentions his service as a runner in a ritual at Kameia (karneadromos) the festival held for Apollon Karneios, his holding the office of damiourgia and his carrying out an embassy to Rome as a gift. The inscription also mentions the religious offices held by the honorand; priesthood of both Poseidon Tainarios and Poseidon Asphalios for life. The toponym Stadia, which is probably preserved in modem Datca, appears for the first time in inscriptions but is known from Pliny the Elder. The cults of Potidan (Poseidon) Tainarios and Potidan (Poseidon) Asphalios are also attested for the first time in inscriptions from Knidos. Tainarios is an epithet of Poseidon indigenous to Tainaron (Lakonia), where the god has a temple. Asphalios is an epithet of Poseidon widely referenced in inscriptions from many cities around the Mediterranean, including Sparta, where the god has a temple near the agora. Thus the inscription reflects the Doric character of Knidos in the 1st century AD, by mentioning Karneia and particularly by mentioning Potidan, the Doric form of Poseidon with the epithets Tainarios and Asphaleios.