Journal of Biblical Literature - Society of Biblical Literature

Friesen: Myth and Resistance in Revelation 13 299
Figure 12. Relief of Augustus the military victor, crowned by a nike.
Courtesy of the New York University Excavations at Aphrodisias.
moves closer to the altar and temple—the focal point for rituals in the precincts
—imperial mythology and local mythology converge in support of Roman conquest.
The inscriptions from the Sebasteion complex allow us to turn our attention
from how myth was used to the question of who used myth in these ways.
Since the style of this complex was local and not imported, 48 the benefactors
who built the complex would have been influential in the design. Inscriptions
indicate that two local families built and maintained the Sebasteion. The south
portico was undertaken by two brothers, Diogenes and Attalos, but Attalos died
before construction was finished and so his wife Attalis Apphion financed his
share of the project “on his behalf.” 49 Attalis was also mentioned as a benefactor
of the temple. 50 The inscription is heavily damaged, so we assume, but do not
48 Smith, “Imperial Reliefs,” 134–37; idem, “Simulacra Gentium,” 77; idem, “Myth and Allegory,”
100.
49 Reynolds, “New Evidence,” 317–18, #1. The fragmentary #2 also mentions her.
50 Reynolds, “Origins,” 79, #10.