Main Site . Sebasteion
9. Dedication (of the Sebasteion?)
5 |
[[– – – – – –ca. 20 – – – – –]] [[– – – – – – ca. 20 – – – – –]] [[– – – – – – ca. 20 – – – – –]] Βουβωνέων ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆ– μος ἀφιέρωσεν διὰ Γαΐου Λι– κινίου Μουκιανοῦ πρεσ– βευτοῦ [[Νέρωνος]] Σεβαστοῦ ἀντιστρατήγου. |
[- - - - - - - - - - -] the council and the people of Boubon dedicated (the statue or the building) through Gaius Licinius Mucianus, provincial governor of the emperor [[Nero]].
Inscription on the pedestal at the north wall of the Sebasteion. The inscription occupies the lower part of blocks E 2 and 3.
Letters: 3.5-4 cm.
Jones 1979, no. 5 (pl. 76.1); SEG 27 (1977), no. 916; İnan 1993, pp. 218-219 (pl. XIII, E; XV; XVI.11).
L. 5 : ἀφιέρωσεν: on ἀφιεροῦν usually, though not exclusively, applied to a construction rather than a statue, see Jones 1979, p. 291.
Ll. 5-6 : C. Licinius Mucianus was a powerful statesman and military leader, and an acclaimed author of mirabilia. His reports from the "exotic" world of the eastern frontier provinces are often quoted by Pliny the Elder. On his governorship of Lycia see Thomasson 1984, p. 276, no. 30.4. The expression διὰ Γαΐου Λικινίου Μουκιανοῦ does not divulge the exact contribution of the provincial governor. Mucianus may have been the initiator of the honorary act described in the lost section, or he may have helped in one way or another in its realization; he may have led the dedication ceremony in person or through a representative, or he may have simply given his approval. In any case, to describe the dedication as having taken place "through" the governor would be to underline the absolute necessity of his consent as the representative of the emperor in the province. Whatever Mucianus' exact role had been, the local politicians in Boubon will have prefered to remove from the sanctuary a permanent reminder of that man's connection with, and service to, Nero. After his term as governor of Lycia, Mucianus governed the province of Syria and played a crucial role in the Flavians' accession to power in 69 CE. From Syria he made his way to Rome through Asia Minor to secure the throne for Vespasian. At that point the citizens of Boubon must have decided to eliminate Nero's statue and his name in the inscription, even if they had initially intended to preserve both, as they apparently did in the case of his dead wife.