The other side of the inscribed pilaster fragment near the Library of Celsus (see gallery pages 35 and 36). On this side is part of a Greek inscription, dated to 585 AD, with instructions to the governor of Ephesus by Emperor Mauricius (Mauricius Tiberius; Greek, Μαυρίκιος; 539-602 AD; reigned 582-602 AD), the last emperor of the Justinian dynasty. Inscribed in an unusual, clumsy-looking Latin script below this are the date and the name of the emperor, which has been deliberately erased (see a close-up on the next page). A number of scholars have found the Latin part of the inscription difficult to decipher. It have even been supposed that the script is Aramaic or Armenian.
0 [— μηδό]-
[λ]ως συνχωρηθῆναι παρά
σου μέχρι μόνης ὀνομασί-
ας τοιοῦτόν τι φαντασθῆ-
ναι, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἡσυχίας ἅπαν-
τας ἄγειν· κ(αὶ) εἴ της παρὰ ταῦ-
τα διαγέγονεν, εἰ κὲ αἰ-
ν ὑστέρῳ διαγένηται,
τοῦτων συνλ<α>βέσθαι
ποινάς τε ἐπιθεῖνε αὐτῷ
τὰς τῶν παρανόμως βιούν-
των ἀξίας.
dat(um) III Idus Februar(ias) Co-
nstantinupo(li), imp(er)a(toris)
d(omini) n(ost)ri [Mauricii T] -
iberi pe(r)pe(tui) Aug(usti) ann(o) II I
et post cons(ulatum) eius(dem)
ann(o) I.
Inscription IEph 40.
See: Rudolf Heberdey (1864-1936), Vorläufiger Bericht über die Grabungen in Ephesus 1905/1906. In: Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Band 10, Beiblatt, pages 61-78. Alfred Hölder, Vienna, 1907. At Heidelberg University Digital Library. |
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