Date Presented:

March 25

摘要:

This paper studies the high priests found in inscriptions from Amastris concerning the Koinon of the Cities in Pontus (henceforth “the Koinon”), commonly recognized as an assembly of cities in coastal Paphlagonia (Marek 2003, Vitale 2012; contra Loriot 2006).  The Amastrian high priests (7 in total) comprise of three types: 1) ἀρχιερεὺς τοῦ Πόντοῦ, which can be securely associated with the Koinon; 2) ἀρχιερεύς, without specific designation as to what sort of imperial or local cult it was in charge; 3) ὁ τοῦ ἐπουρανίου Θεοῦ Σεβαστοῦ ἀρχ[ιερεὺς διὰ βίου, which also has the Latin equivalent Divi Aug. perpetuus sacerdos inscribed together as a bilingual text.  Should all three types titles be interpreted as the same office? Christian Marek (2003) assumed that they were: he included 2) and 3) under 1), without clarification. Xavier Loriot (2006) assumed differently: in his tabulation of dignitaries of Pontus, he omitted the office holders of 2) and 3), and he also did not state his rationale.  The discrepancy is significant because of dating. Time-reckoning markers on inscriptions of 2) and 3) help date the former to 62 CE, and the latter c. 50 CE, all considerably earlier than the earliest inscription in 1), which is Trajanic. The problem, on the other hand, is that Marek’s inclusion of 2) and 3) may be wrong: Frija (2012) demonstrated that when a high priesthood was not specified, they could be instead high priests of the municipal imperial cult.  This paper considers the possibility that 2) and 3) may have been local/municipal office(s), and could have been the precursor to the High Priesthood of Pontus. Particular emphasis will be on the bilingual text of 3), which contain the surprising attribution ἐπουρανίος, commonly associated with Zeus or Theos Hypsistos and without a Latin equivalent.