Two New Inscriptions from the Claudian Period at Perge

Abstract

This article introduces two Greek inscriptions discovered in the city of Perge. They are related to the Roman Emperor Claudius who ruled from AD 41 to 54. The inscriptions regarding Claudius indicate that the construction activities adopted by the emperor as a general policy were also implemented in the city of Perge. The first inscription includes the dedications for the Emperor Claudius and the Demos by the gymnasiarch Tiberius Iulius Gemellus and his father Tiberius Iulius Anteros who was reported as a freedman of emperors. This inscription is important in that it is the only inscription to date that provides information on citizenship and emancipation obtained during the Tiberian period. Moreover, it introduces two new figures to Perge’s prosopography. The privileges obtained during the Tiberian period probably continued into the Claudian period, and the father and son extend their thanks to the emperor as well as the people of Perge by building a structure. It can be asserted that they are related to a structure located on the west street due to its findspot. The other inscription, dated to AD 48, mentions the emperor’s name in the nominativus casus. It is important in that it refers directly to a structure built by the emperor or to a letter written by him.