Miranda de Martino 2017: victory list of the Sebasta in Naples

Miranda de Martino 2017: victory list of the Sebasta in Naples

82 CE

victory inscription

inscription

This fragment is badly damaged and even what can be plausibly reconstructed poses serious problems of interpretation. That the first contest in column I should be reconstructed as “st[adion] for [daug]hters [of counci(lors)]” is plausible enough because such a contest is known from the victory inscription of Seia Spes, although in order to fit the number of letters, the reconstruction in the present text requires assuming that the word bouleutai (senators or council members) was abbreviated. These bouleutai probably were members of the local city council of Naples.
The categories translated here as “senatorial maidens/boys” create additional difficulties: the term synkletikos (senatorial) most commonly refers to the Roman senate, but it seems unlikely that a sufficient number of Roman senators would have their daughters compete in Naples for there to be a separate category for them. It is possible that the word refers to members of the local council, but that does raise the question as to why two different labels (daughters of councilors/senatorial maidens) are used for the same group within one text. Another badly damaged fragment of a Neapolitan victory list (I.Napoli I 66) may contain further female victors but the remains are too fragmentary to be certain.

Col. I, ll.27–36:
In the st[adion] for [daug]hters [of counci(lors)]:
[- -] Justa [- -]
In the [...race] for senatori[al] [maiden]s:
[- -] Casta the p[- -]
In the [...race] for senator[ial] [boy]s:
[- -] Tacitus [- -]
In the [...race] for citiz[en] [boy]s(?):
[- -]rios K[- -]
In the [...race] for cit[izen] [maid](en)s:
[- -]E[- -]

Col. II, ll. 24–25
In the stadion for [m]aidens
[Fla]via Thalassia of Ephesos

translation by Alexander Meeus for the Cynisca project

Col. I, ll.27–36:
[βουλ(ευτῶν) θυγατ]έρας vac. στ[άδιον]
[- -] Ἰοῦστα [- -]
[παρθένου]ς συγκλητι̣[κὰς gara]
30 [- -] Κάστα ἡ π[- -]
[παῖδα]ς συ̣γκλητ̣[ικoὺς gara]
[- -] Τάκιτος [- -]
[παῖδα]ς (?) πολειτ[ικοὺς gara]
[- -]ριος Κ[- -]
35 [παρθέ]ν(ους) πολ[ειτικὰς gara].
[- -]Ε[- -]

Col. II, ll. 24–25
[π]α̣ρθένων στάδιον
25 [Φλαο]υία Θαλασσία Ἐφέσι̣α

E. Miranda De Martino, I Sebasta dell’82 d.C.: restauro delle lastre e aggiornamenti, Historika. Studi di storia greca e romana 7, 2017, 253–269.

Naples