Journal of Biblical Literature - Society of Biblical Literature

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Journal of Biblical Literature
know for sure, that Diogenes also financed the temple along with Attalis. 51
Sometime later, Tiberius Claudius Diogenes (son of Diogenes and nephew of
Attalus and Attalis) paid for repairs of the south portico, probably after earthquake
damage. 52
The other two buildings of the Sebasteion—the propylon and the north
portico—were built by another family. The primary benefactors named in the
inscription are Eusebes, his wife Apphias, and his brother Menander. These
buildings also required restoration after an earthquake, and other inscriptions
inform us that the remodeling was financed by Apphias, her daughter Tata, and
Tata’s sons Eusebes and Menander. 53
These families would not have designed the reliefs that adorned the
Sebasteion, but they would have approved the design, and so we can say at least
that the deployment of myth in the precincts represented their interests and
their general perspective on Roman rule. Four observations help fill out our
picture of this class of people who promoted the worship of the emperors in
Asia in the first century. First, we note that they were wealthy municipal benefactors
over the course of at least three generations. This means that we are
dealing with the small percentage of people at the top of the city’s social hierarchy.
Second, the two families appear to have been related to each other, so we
see the importance of extended family ties among the elite. 54 Third, the official
titles of Attalis Apphion remind us that many of the same people who financed
imperial cult projects also served in religious offices. Fourth, it is significant
that the second-generation Diogenes obtained Roman citizenship. We do not
know specifically how this came about, but it is indicative of the rising status of
the municipal elite and their growing collaboration with Rome.
A group of inscriptions from Ephesos provides a larger sample of data
regarding those in Asia who promoted imperial cults. The group of thirteen
inscriptions commemorated the dedication of a provincial temple in Ephesos
for the worship of the Flavian emperors in 89/90 C.E. during the reign of Domitian.
The texts come from bases of statues that were once displayed in the
precincts of the temple of the Sebastoi. 55 Among other things, the inscriptions
51 A third inscription tells us that Attalis was a high priestess and a priestess. The text does not
give details, but since the stone was a statue base in her honor and was found in the Sebasteion
precincts, at least one of these priesthoods, and quite possibly both of them, served the gods Sebastoi.
An Aphrodisian from this same time period whose name suggests that he was related to Attalis’s
family—a certain Menander son of Diogenes son of Zeno—was a high priest of Claudius and
Dionysos (MAMA 8.447, cited in Reynolds, “New Evidence,” 320).
52 Reynolds, “New Evidence,” 317–18, #1.
53 The inscriptions are described in Smith, “Imperial Reliefs,” 90.
54 Reynolds, “New Evidence,” 319–22.
55 Steven J. Friesen, Twice Neokoros: Ephesos, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial
Family (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 116; Leiden: Brill, 1993), 29–40.