Person:

Coleman, Kathleen

A letter of Hadrian to the magistrates, council, and people of Aphrodisias (SEG 50.1096) has been interpreted as evidence that nominees for the high priesthood became reluctant to assume the office, when the traditional liturgy of sponsoring gladiatorial shows was replaced by a financial contribution towards the building of an aqueduct. This article proposes that, instead, the nominees’ reluctance was caused by the burden of providing gladiators, and that the alternative of contributing to the aqueduct was intended as a more attractive option to boost the pool of available candidates.

On the basis of the episode in which Habrocomes puts in to Italy at Nuceria (καταίρει ... εϊς Νονκέριον τής 'Ιταλίας, Xen. Eph. 5.8.1), this article argues that Xenophon of Ephesus was writing between the late Flavian and early Antonine age, after it became known that the harbours at Pompeii and Stabiae had been destroyed in the eruption of AD 79 and before the rehabilitation of Stabiae became common knowledge.