Abstract:

In this contribution are presented five new inscriptions copied during a visit to the village of Gölyazı (Apollonia ad Rhyndacum) belonging to Nilüfer county of Bursa in 2011 under the supervision of Enver Sağır, the Director of the Bursa Archaeological Museum. Four of the inscriptions introduced here (nos. 2–5) are today in a small depot in the garden of the Conference Hall of the Municipality of Gölyazı, while one (no. 1a-b) is inside the municipal building itself. The verbal reports from the authorities related that these inscriptions were gathered from the ancient city and from its territory. However, unfortunately no precise data can be given concerning the exact find spots of these inscriptions. The first inscription dating from the end of 2nd century A.D. (to the years of 189-190) is carved on a tabula ansata, on the front side of a sarcophagus. Only six lines survive because the upper part of the chest is missing. The sarcophagus was turned down and re-used presumably as a basin of a fountain at a later time. On this side is another inscription carved and must apparently date to the Byzantine Period both from the lettering style employed and mentioning of a spatharios called Theodotos. In the second inscription carved on a limestone statue base, a priest of Zeus called Publius Marcius Firmianus erected a statue of Hera for his native land and Sabina and most probably to Hadrian himself, whose name and titles must have been carved on the broken part of the stone. Since it provides a date ( τῷ θσʹ ἔτει ) in lines 6 and 7 and, it is well known that the Sullan Era was used in the city of Apollonia, it can be dated at the first glance to the years of 124/125 A.D. Yet, in the article it is emphasized that this dating is problematic due to the fact that there are a few letter traces ( ΥΜΠΙ . Ω ) on the missing part of inscription, which could lead us to complete that line necessarily as Ὀλ ] υμ π ίῷ , one of the titles of the emperor. Since Hadrian accepted the title only after 129 A.D., it makes this dating impossible. Taking this into account, a new suggestion concerning the dating of the inscription is made in the article. The third inscription dated to the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Tiberius I (578–682 A.D.) or Tiberius II (A.D. 698–705) is the funerary stele of Theophilos (?) who dealt with some local building activities and died of a sickness. The other inscriptions are fragmentary and can be dated to end of the 3nd century A.D. (no. 5) and to the Byzantine Period (no. 4) from the style of lettering employed.

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