The Inscriptions of Patara. History and epigraphy of a major ancient harbour city

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Christof Schuler; Professor Dr. Klaus Zimmermann
• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 445116883

Since the late-Classical period, Patara was one of the leading cities of Lycia and the most important harbours at the southern coast of Asia Minor. Since 1988, the University of Antalya has been investigating the barely disturbed ancient ruins. At the excavation director Havva İşkan’s invitation, a team led by Ch. Schuler (Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik, Munich) and K. Zimmermann (Forschungsstelle Asia Minor, Münster) has been systematically cataloguing the city’s entire body of inscriptions for the first time since 2010. While a mere 96 inscriptions were known at the outset of our work, the number has now increased to ca. 720 texts. Patara is not only quantitively one of the most important find spot for ancient inscriptions in Turkey. The typology and the diversity of subject matters of the texts is likewise outstanding: the spectrum ranges from a funerary inscription from the Persian period to the two only known temple inventories of Lycia, extensive donor- and city councillor lists from late-Hellenistic and early-Imperial times as well as the so-called “Stadiasmus Patarensis” to a series of important building inscriptions from the 1st century CE, numerous honorary and dedicatory inscriptions related to the urban and provincial elite of the 2nd and 3rd century and a number of Christian texts (otherwise rare in Lycia), amongst which the funerary epigram for bishop Eudemos from the 4th century CE stands out.The next aim of the project and the subject of this application is the creation of a unified corpus of the entire material which is partly unedited, partly published in an array of different journals. The texts will be made available with a translation, a substantial commentary, analytical indices and a collection of literary and other epigraphic sources regarding Patara. An introduction into the city’s history, its institutions and cults, its urban development and epigraphic habit will serve to integrate the epigraphic data into a holistic picture and will form a well-founded basis for future research. The corpus will not only paint an entirely new picture of one of the most important cities of Lycia, but also shed new light on the history of Lycia, particularly of the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. Especially, the progressive integration of a region into the Roman empire, the establishment of a province and its local and regional ramifications can be better understood through the inscriptions of Patara than through the epigraphic material from any other Lycian and most other cities in Asia Minor. The importance of the inscriptions of Patara therefore far exceeds their local and regional context and extends to more general question of ancient history. The indicated systematic processing of the material forms the necessary requirement to fully utilize this potential. The value of planned corpus goes far beyond the possibilities of a mere collection through the analytical examination of the entire body of inscriptions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants