A New Inscription of the Epoch of Severus Alexander from Tyras
Ivantchik Askold I., Son N. А.
The authors publish an inscription of the epoch of Severus Alexander (222-235) recently discovered in Tyras (now in a private collection). The inscription can be reconstructed almost completely and translated as follows: «[To the Good] Fortune. (The statue) [of Emperor] Caesar Marcus Aurelius [Severus Alexa]nder Felix [Pius Augustus] - Marcus Aurelius Artemon Hi[strian (?),..., H]eraclean, Ty[rian... m]ember of the council, (erected) in accordance with the resolution [of Most Sacred Council and most] glorious [peo]ple». As numerous analogies show, M. Aurelius Artemon mentioned in the inscription was not only a citizen of a number of Pontic cities (Histria, which, probably, was his native place, Heraclea, Tyras and two other cities in lacunas), but also a member of their councils. In most Greek cities of the imperial epoch members of councils were appointed for life, and the councils became very much like local senates. Membership could often, if not always, be inherited or granted to foreigners together with citizenship. This practice, widespread in the Greek world in the imperial epoch, had not been attested before in the North Pontic Area, and in the West Pontic Area was attested for military officers of high rank. M. Aurelius Artemon obviously did not belong to the latter and was a representative of Greek provincial elite.