Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers: The Afterlives of Temples and Their Texts in the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean

Description

What did people in the early Christian period think about the pagan inscriptions filling their late antique cities? Like public advertisements lining our streets today, these inscriptions were everywhere and communicated specific messages to literate late Roman viewers, often providing a very different view of the classical past than that being preached from early Christian church pulpits. In Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers, Anna M. Sitz provides a fresh perspective on the Christianization of the Roman empire from the fourth to the seventh century CE by analyzing a previously overlooked body of evidence: the many ancient, pagan inscriptions, written in Greek or other languages, which were reused, preserved, or even partially erased in this period. This volume brings together for the first time the literary and archaeological evidence for attitudes towards these ancient inscriptions in the eastern Mediterranean, from Greece to Asia Minor, Syria to Egypt. Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers illustrates how early Christians, late pagans, and Jews in the eastern Mediterranean interpreted older inscriptions in Greek and other languages through their own worldviews in order to build the late antique present. Cover Half-Title Series Page Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviated Epigraphic Corpora 1. Introduction: Afterlives of Inscriptions Epigraphic Reincarnation at Megara Manufactured Violence Inscribed Sanctuaries Literacy in Late Antiquity Chapter Outline The Fine Print 2. The Use of Real or Imagined Inscriptions in Late Antique Literature The “Arch of Alexander” and the Ends of the Earth Writing the Past from Inscriptions Agathias and the Remarkable Afterlife of Chairemon Kosmas Indikopleustes: Hellenistic History in Late Antique Ethiopia Prokopios’ Inscribed Ships Prophesying from Stone: Invented Oracles Epigraphic Omens at Chalcedon, Alexandria, and Carthage The Tübingen Theosophy: Converting Temples Plagiarizing for the Saints: The Life of Abercius Conclusion: The Literary Afterlives of Ancient Inscriptions 3. Preservation: Tolerating Temples and Their Texts Touring Temples Inscribed Text and Figural Imagery at Unconverted Temples Ephesos: Embodying Emperors on the Embolos Museumification at Priene’s Temple of Athena? Performative Bureaucracy at the Temple of Augustus and Roma at Mylasa A Fallen God at Magnesia on the Maeander Congregated Graffiti at Delphi Secular or Sacred? Imperial Documents on Temples of Uncertain Use The Res Gestae divi Augusti in Late Antique Ankara A Tale of Two Temples at Aizanoi: Zeus at Church Tolerance at Palmyra Priests, Talking Columns, and Unreadable Texts at Christianized Temples Diokaisareia-​Olba: A Careful Conversion “Archaeophilia” at Sardis’s Artemision Lagina: Early Christian Economics Everyday Hieroglyphs at Medinet Habu Reading Nonsense at Didyma Conclusion: Kings of the Past on Display 4. Spoliation: Integrating and Scrambling tions-​Inscrip (T)reading the Past: Epigraphic Spolia Underfoot Constructing Churches with Inscribed Text The Korykian Cave: Building with Inscriptions Scrambling Apollo Klarios at Sagalassos Gods and Angels in the Temple-​Church at Aphrodisias Uncertain Reuse at Baalbek Klaros: Exporting Spolia Epigraphic Spolia Elsewhere Not Only Christians: The Synagogue at Sardis The Temple of Zeus at Labraunda: Spolia in medias res Conclusion: Mixed Re-​Views of Old Texts in New Buildings 5. Erasure: [[Damnatio Memoriae]] or Conscious Uncoupling? Unnaming the Gods Violence against Statues Heads or Tails? Out of Sight, Out of Mind Ambiguous Afterlives Violence against Inscriptions Damnatio Memoriae Beyond Damnatio Memoriae Selective Erasures Identity Crisis at Aphrodisias Labraunda: A Rasura Out of Place A Tale of Two Temples at Aizanoi: Artemis in Absentia Roll of the Dice at Antioch ad Cragum Indiscriminate Erasure and Destruction Reverse Graffiti at the Korykian Cave Clifftop Temple Breaking the Past at Pisidian Antioch? Conclusion: Epigraphic Unnamings and a Fresh Start 6. Conclusion: Unepigraphic Readings Reading at the Temple of Augustus at Ankara Once More An Archaeology of Reading Spolia: Breaking the Monolith Word and Image: Inscriptions and Statues Land, Men, and Gods Epigraphy: A New Direction Bibliography Index