Abstract:

The article summarises the results of a survey conducted in the city of Neisa in the mountains in central Lycia in 2009. An overview of Neisa's history and remains is followed by the presentation of eight new inscriptions with commentary. Coins from the 2nd c. BCE provide the earliest evidence of Neisa as an autonomous polis. The city had retained its polis status into the early Principate, as is shown by inscription no. 2. According to the Stadiasmus Patarensis, Neisa was a member of the Lycian League, at the latest around the time when the province was founded, and was linked to Xanthos, Choma and Phellos by road. Although epigraphic and archaeological evidence attests to a rise in Neisa's prosperity in the Antoninian period, the city had seen its heyday in the late second and early third centuries CE. The descendants of Diogenes II were the leading family of Neisa and, in the closing years of the 2nd c. CE, the first Neisans to receive Roman citizenship. The notitiae episcopatuum attest the existence of the city until the 12th c. CE as a subordinate diocese of Myra. The city's most important extant monuments are the Hellenistic city wall, which was extended in a later period, the theatre, three baths and some burial sites. The cobbled main street in the southern part of the urban area is particularly well preserved and probably doubled as stadium; it was also provided with stoa. Two new inscriptions from the early Principate furnish the first epigraphic evidence from the city's history: Inscription no. 1 hints at a sanctuary dedicated to Augustus, while inscription no. 2 mentions repair work in baths, financed by donations from the city's elite. Inscription no. 3 was set up in honour of Iulia Domna Augusta; nos. 4‒6 honour Diogenes II and his descendants. From no. 4 we learn the public offices held by Diogenes II, whose sons, Diogenes III and Dionysos I, were the first citizens of Neisa to attain the federal priesthood. Diogenes II had held the most important public offices in the city and was twice sent on a mission to Emperor Hadrian. His career climaxed when he obtained the post of hypophylax of the Lycian League, through which he also paved the way for his sons to become Lyciarchs. The person honoured in inscription no. 5 is identified with M. Aur. Dionysios II, a grandson of Diogenes II, who held the federal priesthood in the early 3rd c. CE. Inscription no. 6 honours a certain Aphphia, who was presumably the daughter of Diogenes III and served as priestess of the imperial cult. The last two inscriptions concern a woman called Aristonoe alias Lycia, daughter of Iason: no. 7 was erected for Aristonoe by her husband, Iason alias Erpias. The honorary inscription no. 8 was set up on decision of the Boule and Demos of Neisa, saying that Aristonoe together with her husband held the priesthood of the imperial cult and made donations to the city.

Keywords: