Abstract:

This article presents four new inscriptions from the Karian city of Idyma. The inscriptions were found during the surveys and excavations on the site between the years 2019 and 2022. Two of the inscriptions (nos 1 and 2) are from an artificial terrace on the southern slope of Küçük Asar hill, which may have been an important part of the urban centre of Idyma in the Hellenistic period. The inscription no. 1 belongs to an al-tar of Arsinoe II Philadelphos. It shows that Idyma was under Ptolemaic control in the early 260s BC. The epidosis list no. 2 provides direct evidence that the city was part of the Rhodian Peraia in 175 BC. It is dated by the Rhodian eponymous priest and the board of prytaneis of Idyma. The subscription aimed to finance a palaistra. Among the fifteen subscribers whose names are preserved there are also the Rhodian governor in charge of the city (epistates) and two Rhodian military officials (hegemones). The fragmentary inscriptions nos 3 and no. 4 were excavated in the ruins of the medieval castle at İnişdibi. The inscription no. 3 is a dedication of the κοινὸν τῶν ἐρανι[σ|τῶν Δω]ριῶν? for Artemi[doros]. The association was possibly named after its founder (Doros?). The designation of this private association as κοινὸν τῶν ἐρανιστῶν indicates Rhodian influence. The last inscription is very fragmentary. It probably contains a decree of the city in honour of an unknown Rhodian.