Some New Inscriptions from the Museum of Bursa

Abstract

In this contribution are presented two new milestones and five grave steleai recorded during our epigraphic research in the depot and the garden of Bursa Archaeology Museum. It is difficult to establish where these milestones were erected, as the museum authorities are unable to provide precise information concerning their provenances. One of the milestones belongs to the reign of Diocletian-Maximian (293-305 A.D.) and gives a distance of 5 miles. The name of the Emperor Maximian was erased from the inscription following the damnatio memoriae after his death. The latter milestone dates from the reign of Philip the Arab (244-249 A.D.) and records the same distance of miles. Of the 5 funerary stones introduced, one is in Latin and one is bilingual, while the others carry Greek inscriptions. Two of the stelai (Nos. 4–5) date to the Late Hellenistic – Early Roman period while the other three (Nos. 3, 6–7) date from the Roman Imperial Age and are noteworthy from the onomastic point of view as they document two new Thracian personal names corresponding to the demographic structure of the region where the stelai were found.