Abstract:

The posthumously erected honorary inscription, which today is housed in the Museum of Kocaeli/İzmit, acquaints us with a family of notables from the Bithynian metropolis of Nikomedeia. The monument, which once carried a statue of the deceased on top, was set up by Ulpia Athenais, the mother of Fl. Ulpius Demokritos, who had died at an early age. His premature death robbed the city of a potential leading member of the local elite, as is suggested by the list of public offices and other services performed by his father Fl. Ulpius Arrianos: He was priest, perhaps of the city goddess and/or the imperial cult, and distributed money amongst members of the city council and the people of Nikomedeia, perhaps in conjunction with his priesthood. He held the offices of first archon and censor in his home city and performed a parapompê which may have had to do with the passing of contingents of the Roman army through the city's territory during the Severan campaigns against the Parthians. The explicit mention of Arrianos' having paid for this parapompê out of his own pocket is unique amongst inscriptions mentioning a parapompê. In addition, the Roman imperial administration appointed him curatur rei publicae in Prusa ad Olympum. Both the form of the characters and the mention of the parapompê, which appears in inscriptions particularly from the closing years of the 2nd century CE, suggest that Fl. Ulpius Arrianos was active in the late Antonine/Severan period. The Ulpius Athenaios mentioned as agoranomos of the year 199 on a market weight from Nikomedeia is presumably a close relative, perhaps the father, of the dedicatress of this inscription.

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