Commentary
This monument is the base of a statue voted by the boule and demos> of Akmoneia
and set up at the expense of two brothers, Zenodotos and Orestes, the sons of
Orestes. In line 7, one would have expected ἀναστησάντων; it is possible that
the mason accidentally omitted the first three letters of the word through
haplography (ἀνδριάντα ⟨ἀνα⟩στησάντων).
The honorand, Q. Claudius Pollio, son of Ti. Claudius Euxenos, is twice attested
at the neighbouring city of Hierapolis, in the Phrygian Pentapolis, although
this is the first text to give his full name and patronym. His is the sole
magistrate’s name to appear on the provincial bronze coinage of Hierapolis, in
the form ‘Claudius Pollio, asiarch’. Pollio minted five different issues at
Hierapolis, with obverse types depicting Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Faustina
ΙΙ, Herakles, and the personified demos of Hierapolis. The types for Marcus and
Verus (nos. 1-2) carry the reverse legend ἐπιμεληθέντος Κλ. Πωλλίωνος ἀσιάρχου
Ἱεροπολειτῶν; the other types (nos. 3-5) have an abbreviated version.
(1) M. Aurelius/Zeus: SNG Von Aulock 8386
(2) L. Verus/Zeus: BMC Phrygia 267, no. 14; Imhoof-Blumer, KM I 244, no. 4
(3) Faustina II/Cybele: BMC Phrygia 268, no. 15; BM 1921-4-12-96; Coll. Wadd. 6189;
KM I 244, no. 3
(4) Herakles/bucranium with crescent moon and stars: BMC Phrygia 265, no. 1; Coll.
Wadd. 6186; KM I 244, 1; Münzen u. Medaillen Deutschland Auction 16 (2005) 515
(5) Demos/Men: BMC Phrygia 265, no. 4; Coll. Wadd. 6187; KM I 244, no. 2
We may assume that all five types were minted on the same occasion, presumably
that of Pollio’s asiarchate, which thus ought to fall between AD 161 and 169
(Campanile 1994: 90). That his asiarchate is not mentioned on our inscription
from Akmoneia may, but not need, imply that the inscription predates the
coin-issues.
Pollio also appears in a hagiographical text of the late fourth or early fifth
century, the Life of Abercius, the fictionalised biography of a second-century
bishop of Hierapolis (Nissen 1912: 3-55; Thonemann, forthcoming). The historical
setting of the Life of Abercius is the period of the joint reign of Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius Verus. One of the leading characters in the Life is a
certain Euxeinianos Pollio, there described as ‘the greatest man in the city
[sc. Hierapolis], and possessing great influence, since he was respected and
highly honoured by the emperor’ (Εὐξεινιανοῦ τοῦ Πολλίωνος τοῦ μεγίστου ὄντος ἐν
τῇ πόλει καὶ δυναστεύοντος ὡς παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος γνωρίμου καὶ τιμιωτάτου
ὄντος: Vita Abercii 20). All three individuals – Q. Claudius Pollio, son of Ti.
Claudius Euxenos (inscription from Akmoneia); Claudius Pollio, asiarch (coinage
from Hierapolis); Hieropolitan magnate Euxeinianos Pollio (Life of Abercius) –
are evidently to be identified with one another (Franco 2005: 500-3;
Thonemann, forthcoming).
The form Euxeinianos in the Life of Abercius is simply a patronymic adjective or
signum representing ‘son of Euxe(i)nos’. This onomastic
phenomenon is fairly common in Roman Asia Minor (Lambertz 1914: 149-51). A
near-contemporary of Pollio at Apameia-Kelainai, in southern Phrygia, carried
the name Τιβέριος Κλαύδιος Τιβερίου Κλαυδίου Μιθριδάτου υἱὸς Κυρείνα Πείσων
Μιθριδατιανός (‘Ti. Claudius Piso, son of Ti. Claudius Mithridates, of the tribe
Quirina, also known as Mithridatianos’: MAMA VI 180; IGR IV 790); also at
Apameia, in the late third century AD, we hear of an individual by the name of
Μ. Αὐρ. Ἀντώνιος Τρυφωνιανὸς Ἀπολλινάριος,
son of Προκλιανὸς Τρύφων (IGR IV 784). It is
not difficult to assume that Q. Claudius Pollio, son of Ti. Claudius Euxenos,
was also commonly known as Euxe(i)nianos.
The name Euxenos is not especially common; it was, however, current in central
Phrygia during the Roman imperial period. A native of Eukarpia, also in the
Pentapolis, carried the name Πατροκλῆς Πατροκλέους τοῦ Εὐξένου πένπτου
Εὐκαρπεύς (MAMA XI 1954/13 [SEG 15, 810]: Emircik, territory of Eumeneia). The
name is twice attested at Eumeneia (Ramsay, Phrygia II 389, no. 239: Haydan,
territory of Eumeneia; MAMA IV 346: Işıklı). At Sebaste, we find a Euxenos son
of Apollonios (Ramsay, Phrygia II 600, no. 472: Selçikler). At Akmoneia itself,
a woman by the name of Euxenis is known (MAMA VI 301: Ahat), and an inscription
from Hocalar, south-east of Ahat (territory of Diokleia?), records the name of a
woman called Basilo, daughter of Euxenos (MAMA VI 358). Further to the north, in
the highlands north of Afyon, we find a Demas son of Euxenos (Haspels, Highlands
353, no. 141: Ilıca), and at Nakoleia, a Euxenides (MAMA V 272: Seyitgazi).
The spelling of the name Pollio in this text is paralleled in another inscription
from Akmoneia (MAMA XI 1955/99: Πωλίωνα) and
in a text from Brouzos in the Pentapolis (MAMA XI 1955/38 [IGR IV 681]:
Πωλίωνος, gen.). The coinage from Hierapolis has the more accurate spelling
Πωλλίωνος (gen.).