A New Inscribed Assos Sarcophagus from Alexandreia Troas and The Collegium of Shipwrights

Year 2019, , 77 - 95, 15.11.2019

Tolga Özhan , Hüseyin Yaman

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.622040

Abstract

This paper
presents a new inscribed Assos-type sarcophagus found recently in a village
close to the ancient city of Alexandreia Troas. A characteristic feature of the
general decoration of Assos-type sarcophagi is the attention-grabbing shape of
the large central panel positioned on each of the long sides of the
sarcophagus. It is proposed that these large central panels may have been schematic
representations of rectangular or round funerary altars. Accordingly, the depiction of the funerary altar on
the sarcophagus is considered to be a new hybrid style of the practice in the
necropolis of Assos of erecting a funerary altar along with the sarcophagus.  With this sarcophagus inscription dating to
the third century AD, the presence of the professional association of
shipwrights, which is known to have existed in a number of important harbour
cities in the western part of the Roman Empire, is attested for the first time in
the ancient city of Alexandreia Troas and Asia Minor in general. The epithet ἱερώτατος
labelling the collegium suggests that the association may have gained a privileged
position in the ancient city. The anonymous owner of the sarcophagus must have
been associated with the collegium of shipwrights at Alexandreia Troas
and, presumably, he was a shipwright. 

Keywords

Alexandreia Troas, Assos sarcophagus, tabula, funerary altar, sarcophagus inscription, association, collegium, shipwright, naupegos

Aleksandreia Troas’tan Yazıtlı Yeni Bir Assos Lahdi ve Tersane İşçileri Derneği

Abstract

Makalede yakın zamanda Aleksandreia
Troas yakınlarındaki Kemallı Köyü’nde bulunmuş yazıtlı bir Assos lahdi
tanıtılmaktadır. Yazarlar, Assos lahitlerinin her iki uzun yüzünde bulunan ve
şekilleri itibariyle dikkat uyandıran geniş orta panelin aslında dikdörtgen
veya silindirik gömü sunaklarının lahitler üzerine işlenmiş şematik bir tasviri
olabileceğini ileri sürmektedir. Buna bağlı olarak, mezar sunaklarının lahit
üzerine betimlenmesinin Assos nekropolisinde lahitle birlikte bir gömü sunağı
dikme geleneğinin yeni bir melez biçemi olabileceği varsayılmaktadır. Roma İmparatorluğu’nun
batısında birkaç önemli liman şehrinde faaliyet gösterdiği bilinen tersane
işçileri derneğinin Aleksandria Troas ve Asia Minor’daki varlığı, MS 3. yüzyıla
tarihlenen bu yazıtla ilk defa epigrafik olarak belgelenmektedir. Derneği tanımlamak
için kullanılan ἱερώτατος epitheti bu derneğin kentte belli bir prestije sahip olduklarını
düşündürmektedir. Lahdi hazırlatan kişinin bu dernekle bir bağlantısının olması
muhtemeldir. Belki, o da bir tersane işçisiydi. Yazıtın tercümesi şöyledir: “[- - - ve] evlatlarım Sulpicius Aurelius [cognomen] ve Sulpicius Aurelius
Smintheus için [- - -] eğer biri (lahdi) açarsa ve (içerisine) başka bir ceset koyarsa
son derece kutsal tersane işçileri derneğine 500 denarii verecek”.

Keywords

Aleksandreia Troas, Assos lahdi, tabula, mezar sunağı, dernek, collegium, tersane işçisi, naupegos

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