The Late Milestones of Asia Minor

Year 2018, Volume: 16, 173 - 183, 15.11.2018

Sylvain Destephen

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.480120

Cited By: 1

Abstract

The
impressive corpus of milestones recently edited by the late David Henry French
and set online by the British Institute at Ankara provides an extensive and
in-depth knowledge of more than 1200 stones erected alongside the Roman roads
of Asia Minor from the late Republic to the Later Empire. Even if milestones
were the commonest epigraphic display of power in the Roman world, modern
activity tends to obliterate them, and consequently it was more than urgent to
collect the remains before they vanish. This paper studies the unbalanced
geographical and chronological distribution of milestones. They seem to be more
or less scattered throughout Asia Minor, but they are mainly concentrated in
the north-western part of the Anatolian plateau. Besides most of them were
built, inscribed or frequently reused in Late Antiquity, especially between the
late third century and the early fourth century, that is from Diocletian to
Constantine, both emperors overrepresented in this medium although they rarely
journeyed in Asia Minor. According to the study of late milestones found in the
region, it did exist a close relation between the advent of a ruler and the
multiplication of milestones, which had merely become dynastic monuments
erected by local communities in honour of a new emperor. For this reason, they
lost any practical purpose and completely disappeared from Asia Minor at the
beginning of the sixth century.

Keywords

milestones, Transanatolian highway, Tetrarchy, Constantine, Theodosian dynasty, Late Antiquity

Küçük Asya’nın Geç Dönem Miltaşları

Abstract

Merhum David Henry French tarafından yakın zamanda edisyonu
yapılan ve Ankara’daki İngiliz Enstitüsü tarafından online ortama konulan
etkileyici miltaşları corpus’u, geç Cumhuriyet’ten Geç İmparatorluk Dönemi’ne
kadar Roma yolları boyunca dikilmiş 1200’den fazla taşın derinlemesine ve
kapsamlı bir bilgisini sunmaktadır. Miltaşları, Roma dünyasının gücünün en sık
epigrafik görünümü olsa da, modern aktiviteler onları yok etme eğilimindedir ve
sonuç olarak onlar ortadan kaybolmadan bu kalıntıları toplamak her zamankinden
daha acil durumdur. Bu makale, miltaşlarının dengesiz coğrafik ve kronolojik
yayılımını incelemektedir. Bunlar, hemen hemen tüm Küçük Asya boyunca dağılmış
görünmektedir ve temel olarak Anadolu platosunun kuzey batı bölümüne
yoğunlaşmıştır. Ayrıca, birçoğu Geç Antik Çağ’da, özellikle de geç 3. yüzyıl
ile erken 4. yüzyıl arasında, yani Diocletianus’dan Constantinus’a kadar geçen
dönemde yapılmış, kazınmış ve sık sık yeniden kullanılmıştır. Bu iki imparator,
Küçük Asya’da nadiren seyahat etmesine rağmen bu yolla aşırı şekilde temsil
edilmişlerdir. Bölgede bulunan Geç Antik Dönem miltaşları hakkında yapılan
çalışmaya göre, bir yöneticinin gelişiyle miltaşlarının artması arasında yakın
bir ilişki mevcuttu. Bu miltaşları, yalnızca yeni bir imparatorun onuruna yerel
topluluklar tarafından dikilen hanedanlığına ait eserlerdi. Bu sebepten pratik
amacını kaybederek 6. yüzyılın başında tamamıyla Küçük Asya’dan kayboldular.

Keywords

miltaşları, Anadolu boyunca anayol, Tetrarşi, Constantinus, Theodosius Hanedanlığı, Geç Antik Dönem

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