Main Site . Sebasteion
17. Dedication of a statue of Caracalla
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Αὐτοκράτορα Καίσαρα ͜Μᾶρκον Αὐρήλιον Σεουῆρον Ἀντωνεῖνον Εὐσεβῆ Εὐτυχ[ῆ] Σεβαστόν |
Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus
Inscription on an individual, rectangular, profiled statue base consisting of three blocks, partly in situ against the west wall of the Sebasteion (base D).
Height: 108 cm; (hight of base: 25 cm); length: 61 cm; depth: 60 cm; letters: 3-4 cm
Jones 1979, nos. 2 and 4; SEG 27 (1977), no. 922; İnan 1993, p. 229, no. 9 (pl. XIII, D; XIX.19; XX).
L. 3 : Caracalla assumed the name Severus in 211 (Kienast 1996, p. 162) and bore it to his death in 217.
A mistake of the first excavator brought confusion to the editio princeps of this text (Jones). The error was cleared during the later excavation and the inscription was re-edited by İnan. The first four lines of this dedication were carved on the upper part of the base, the last two on another stone forming the lower part. According to İnan's reconstruction, the statue of Caracalla as sole emperor stood facing the statues of Julia Domna and Caracalla as a youth on the east pedestal (cf. the two facing statues of Hadrian from different periods of his reign in the Sebasteion of Kestros; Bean and Mitford 1970, p. 160). The lower part of this base was found in its original position (İnan, op. cit., 217) and is still there today. The inscription, particularly that on the lower part of the base, is not well preserved. The letters appear to have been carved in a shallow and rather irregular manner. A torso now in the Edward H. Merrin Gallery in New York and the fragment of a head in the Norbert Schimmel collection, also in New York, both appear to belong to the statue of Caracalla, which would then be very similar in style, posture, and size (the torso is 2,21 cm high) to that of Septimius Severus (İnan, op. cit., 229 with pl. XXXV.44-46; Queyrel 2003, pp. 120-121, nos 13 and 14).