Journal of Biblical Literature - Society of Biblical Literature

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Journal of Biblical Literature
tions from the propylon of the bouleuterion allowed Tuchelt to identify the
structure in the courtyard as an imperial cult altar. 28
Figure 1. Plan of the bouleuterion at Miletos. This plan does not show the altar in the
middle of the courtyard. Courtesy of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin.
Figure 2. Reconstruction of the altar, viewed from the bouleuterion. The propylon is in
the background. Courtesy of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin.
28 Excavators discovered the foundations (9.5 m wide by 7.25 m deep) and some fragments of
the superstructure beginning in 1899. These could not have been for the altar of the bouleµ since a
bouleuterion normally had its altar inside the meetinghouse for rituals that were a part of the council’s
governmental activities (Tuchelt, “Buleuterion,” 129). Early excavators thought that this might
have been a monumental tomb for a wealthy benefactor of the Roman imperial period (Hubert
Knackfuss et al., Das Rathaus von Milet [Milet 1.2; Berlin: G. Reimer, 1908], 78–79). Tuchelt, however,
showed that this was unlikely. Inscriptions from the Miletos bouleuterion propylon support
the imperial cult altar identification, mentioning benefactors of a local imperial cult (Milet
1.2:84–87, #7). Peter Hermann (“Milet unter Augustus: C. Iulius Epikrates und die Anfänge des
Kaiserkults,” IstMitt 44 [1994]: 229–34) considered the tomb theory still tenable, but he discussed