LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

546 IVO TOPALILOV
not many protoarchotas are known from philippopolis; in fact only five
of them are known to date with results summarized in table 2: [— — —]
δώρου Βειθυος, Τ(ίτος) Φλ(αβίος) Πρεισκιανός, Αὐρ(ηλίος) Ἀπολλωνίδος
Ἀπαλοδώρου, Μ(άρκος) Αὐρηλιος Εὐστόχιος Κέλερ Ἀσκληπιἀδου and
Πύρρος. What makes an impression is that all the protoarchotas, with one
exception, are known by inscriptions set up and discovered in philippopolis.
It appears that some of them were promoted to the highest position in the
provincial society of thrace – tracarches. These are Τ(ίτος) Φλ(άβιος)
Πρεισκιανὸς and Μ(άρκος) Αὐρηλιος Εὐστόχιος Κέλερ Ἀσκληπιἀδου; the
latter will be discussed in the section on the tracarches, below.
Τ(ίτος) Φλ(άβιος) Πρεισκιανὸς as we might judge by his praenomen
and gentilicium, has a Flavian romanization and used the roman tria
nomina system. 30 of special interest is the cognomen, which is the Greek
way of the composite latin name priscus ending with the suffix -ianus.
Not surprisingly Πρεισκιανὸς is a rarely attested name in the corpus of
Greek inscriptions and is found mainly in Asia Minor with one in thrace.
The inscriptions of Asia Minor reveal that the Πρεισκιανὸι had roman
names and therefore possessed roman citizenship. 31 We have to mention
that some of the bearers of this cognomen also belonged to the elite of the
provincial society. in our case with Τ(ίτος) Φλ(άβιος) Πρεισκιανὸς there are
two possibilities – 1) the name and citizenship were gained after successful
completion of military service, or 2) Τ(ίτος) Φλ(άβιος) Πρεισκιανὸς belonged
to the local thracian aristocracy romanized under the Flavii. the specifics
of the roman cognomen and the examples from the eastern provinces, the
romanization of a part of the thracian aristocracy under the Flavii as well
as the fact that he was [ἀπὸ] προγόνων θρακάρχης, are good arguments for
the second theses. As such, it is not surprising to find out that he was also
ἀρχιερέα καὶ πρῶτον ἄρχοντα, as some other inscriptions reveal. 32
the second known protoarchontos with an entirely roman name
is Πύρρος known by an inscription dated to the reign of Galienus. it is
undoubtedly that Πύρρος here is the variant of the latin rufus. 33 this
name gained wide acceptance among the Greeks, since it is connected with
30 In GerASIMoVA 2003, 200 a mistake is made and instead of Τ(ίτος) Φλ(άβιος)
Πρεισκιανὸς the name of Τι(βέριος) is sited which lead to other mistakes afterward.
31 see for instance Αὖλος Φαβρίκιος Πρεισκιανὸς Χαρμόσυνοῦ – Tralles 100; ionia –
Λ(ούκιος) Φ̣λά̣ουιος Λ(ουκίου) υἱὸς Πρεισκιανὸς – Erythrai 226, Ἰουλ(ίος) Πρεισκιανος,
father of Μαρκος Ἰούλιος Σοῦρας, τριβοῦνος λεγιῶνος – Ephesos 1242, [—] Μαρκιανοῦ
Πρεισκι[ανοῦ] – Ephesos 1595, Σάλβιος Πρεικιανὸς ὑμνῳδὸς Ἀσί[ας]- iMT Kyz dăg
1773; Pamphylia - Μ. Αὐρ. Πρεισκιανοῦ Ἀρτέμωνος – ivPerge 11:147, 89; 452, etc.
32 See IGBulg. V, 5408; See also BotuŠAroVA 1972, 161-163.
33 Вж. BEŠEVliEV 1965, 29.