Philippi: A Roman Colony within its Regional Context

LES COMMUNAUTÉS DU NORD ÉGÉEN AU TEMPS DE L’HÉGÉMONIE ROMAINE ENTRE RUPTURES ET CONTINUITÉS Τα ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ είναι η σειρά μονογραφιών του Τομέα Ελληνικής και Ρωμαϊκής Αρχαιότητος του Ινστιτούτου Ιστορικών Ερευνών. ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ est la série monographique de la Section de l’Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de l’Institut de Recherches Historiques. Le présent ouvrage est issu d’un programme de recherche mené conjointement par l’Institut de Recherches Historiques – Section de Recherches de l’Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de la Fondation Hellénique de la Recherche Scientifique et par l’École française d’Athènes. © 2018, INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES HISTORIQUES FONDATION NATIONALE DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE 48, avenue Vassileos Constantinou, 116 35 Athènes - Grèce Tél. (+30) 210 7273554 Fax : (+30) 210 7273629 E-mail : iie@eie.gr Diffusion : https://history-bookstore.eie.gr/en ISBN 978-960-9538-67-1 LES COMMUNAUTÉS DU NORD ÉGÉEN AU TEMPS DE L’HÉGÉMONIE ROMAINE ENTRE RUPTURES ET CONTINUITÉS Éditeurs Julien Fournier Marie-Gabrielle G. Parissaki ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ 77 ΕΘΝΙΚΟ ΙΔΡΥΜΑ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ / ΙΝΣΤΙΤΟΥΤΟ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ FONDATION NATIONALE DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE / INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES HISTORIQUES ATHÈNES 2018 Tables des matières Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................ix Rudolf Haensch, Le « visage » du gouvernement romain dans la provincia Macedonia......................1 Peter Delev, The Romans in the Balkans and the Communities of the Thracian Interior. Actions and Reactions (2nd – 1st c. BC)....................................................................................19 Marie-Gabrielle G. Parissaki, Rome, le royaume-client thrace et les cités du littoral égéen à l’est du Nestos : vers la formation d’une nouvelle réalité...................................................29 Mustafa H. Sayar, The Roman Administration of Thracian Chersonese.............................................41 Eva Apostolou et Charikleia Papageorgiadou, La présence monétaire de Rhoemétalcès I en Grèce du nord et en Bulgarie................................................................................................51 Christos Gatzolis and Selene E. Psoma, Coinages Issued to Serve Roman Interests and the Case of Histiaia.....................................................................................................................63 Michel Amandry et Sophia Kremydi, La pénétration du denier en Macédoine et la circulation de la monnaie locale en bronze (iie siècle av. J.-C. – iie siècle apr. J.-C).............................79 Paul Ernst, Hellénisme et romanité dans le nord égéen sous la domination de Rome : pratiques culturelles, identités et rapports de pouvoir........................................................117 Athanase D. Rizakis et Ioannis Touratsoglou, Acculturation en contexte colonial : choix culturels et profils identitaires sur les monuments funéraires de Philippes, colonie romaine de Macédoine..............................................................................................129 Cédric Brélaz, Philippi: A Roman Colony within its Regional Context.................................................163 Julien Demaille, La population d’origine italienne de la colonie romaine de Dion (Piérie, Macédoine)..................................................................................................................183 Julien Fournier, Les citoyens romains à Thasos : origines, mobilité, intégration..............................201 Charlotte Blein, L’évolution de l’occupation et de l’organisation du territoire aux époques hellénistique et romaine en Macédoine : aperçu des régions de Bottiée, de Piérie et d’Éordée (ive siècle av. J.-C. – iiie siècle apr. J.-C.)..........................................................233 Mantha Zarmakoupi, Urban Space and Housing in Roman Macedonia: Thessalonike, Philippi, Amphipolis and Dion..............................................................................................263 Michel Sève, Comment estimer l’importance régionale de la colonie de Philippes à la lumière des données architecturales ?.................................................................................................299 Valentina Di Napoli, Buildings for Entertainment in Roman Macedonia: Between Continuity and Rupture with the Past.......................................................................................................321 Méryl Ducros, Organisation et importance des combats de gladiateurs dans les régions nord-égéennes : Macédoine, Thrace, Thasos........................................................................341 Marius Cristian Streinu, Gladiators and Imperial Cult in Roman Thrace.......................................357 Kalliopi G. Chatzinikolaou, Artemis/Diana/Bendis (?). Votive Reliefs from Macedonia. Aspects of its Romanization...................................................................................................363 Dilyana Boteva, Heros equitans and/or Thracian heros in the Aegean parts of Thrace and Macedonia.........................................................................................................................377 Theodosia Stefanidou-Tiveriou, Monumental Images of Late Antique Thessalonike: Imperial Statues on Columns.................................................................................................389 Indices.............................................................................................................................................................421 PHILIPPI A ROMAN COLONY WITHIN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT* Cédric Brélaz Résumé : Cette contribution s’efforce de mesurer l’impact, à l’échelle régionale, de la fondation d’une colonie romaine à Philippes en 42 av. J.-C. Elle examine les effets politiques, démographiques, sociaux et économiques qu’eut sur l’équilibre de la région comprise entre la vallée du Strymon et le fleuve Nestos l’établissement, par le pouvoir central romain, d’une communauté exogène en un point précis de la province de Macédoine. Elle retrace également les liens que les Philippiens – colons romains ou résidents étrangers – développèrent avec les cités voisines, comme Amphipolis, Serrès et Thasos, par le jeu des alliances familiales et les échanges économiques. En dernier lieu, elle s’attache à étudier la manière dont la colonie s’intégra progressivement dans son environnement provincial, ainsi que la nature des interactions culturelles qui s’opérèrent avec les cités environnantes. Cette étude entend montrer que l’importance de la colonie romaine de Philippes se limitait à la Macédoine orientale, mais que l’ensemble des relations qu’elle a pu tisser formait un réseau s’étendant de Thessalonique au Nord-Ouest de l’Asie Mineure. ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ: H παρούσα μελέτη επιχειρεί να αξιολογήσει το αντίκτυπο που είχε σε περιφερειακό επίπεδο η ίδρυση της ρωμαϊκής αποικίας των Φιλίππων το 42 π.Χ. Εξετάζεται η σημασία που είχε για την υπόλοιπη επαρχία η απόφαση της κεντρικής ρωμαϊκής διοίκησης να ιδρύσει μια εξωγενή κοινότητα στη συγκεκριμένη περιοχή της Μακεδονίας. Τίθεται το ερώτημα του βαθμού κατά το οποίο η ισορροπία της ευρύτερης περιοχής μεταξύ Στρυμόνα και Νέστου ποταμού επηρεάστηκε από την εγκατάσταση Ρωμαίων πολιτών όσον αφορά στην πολιτική δύναμη, τη δημογραφία, την κοινωνία και την οικονομία. Διερευνώνται, επίσης, οι σχέσεις που αναπτύχθηκαν μεταξύ Φιλιππησίων (αποίκων αλλά και αλλοδαπών κατοίκων) με γειτονικές πόλεις, όπως η Αμφίπολη, οι Σέρρες και η Θάσος, μέσω οικογενειακών δικτύων και οικονομικών ανταλλαγών. Τέλος, εξετάζεται η διαδικασία της σταδιακής ενσωμάτωσης της αποικίας στο περιβάλλον της επαρχίας και αναζητώνται οι πολιτισμικές αλληλεπιδράσεις μέσω των οποίων συνδέθηκε με τις γύρω πόλεις. Στη μελέτη υποστηρίζεται ότι η σημασία της ρωμαϊκής αποικίας των Φιλίππων περιοριζόταν στην Ανατολική Μακεδονία, αλλά πως το πλέγμα των σχέσεων που μπόρεσε να αναπτύξει εκτεινόταν από τη Θεσσαλονίκη μέχρι τη Βορειοδυτική Μικρά Ασία. Roman rule in Macedonia was characterized during the second half of the 1st century BC by the founding of several colonies. Apart from Dyrrachion, which was settled at the most eastern point of the province of Macedonia on the Adriatic Sea, we may mention for instance Pella and Dium in Central * This study was completed during my Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Research Fellowship in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. I would like to thank Maria-Gabriella Parissaki and Julien Fournier for their invitation to contribute to this volume, Dan Dana (Paris) and Patrice Hamon (Rouen) for sharing information with me, as well as the attendees of the Athens conference for their remarks and suggestions. Abbreviations: CIPh II.1 = C. Brélaz, Corpus des inscriptions grecques et latines de Philippes. Tome II. La colonie romaine. Partie 1. La vie publique de la colonie (Études Épigraphiques 6; Athens 2014). Pilhofer, Philippi II = P. Pilhofer, Philippi, Band II. Katalog der Inschriften von Philippi (2nd revised edition, Tübingen 2009, 1st edition 2000). Cédric Brélaz Macedonia, Cassandreia in Chalkidike and Philippi in Eastern Macedonia, all of them founded in the 40s. This relative concentration of settlements of Roman citizens in Macedonia can to some extent be compared to other networks of Roman colonies in the East, such as the colonies settled by Augustus in Pisidia (Central Anatolia) and the various colonies founded on the eastern shore of the Greek peninsula from the time of Caesar until the reign of Augustus (Dyrrachion, Byllis, Buthrotum, Photike, Dyme, Patras, and possibly also Nicopolis, which apparently was a double community –that is, a free city and a Roman colony at the same time)1. The creation of these colonies in Macedonia occurred more than one hundred years after the Roman province was first established in the region. In the meantime, Macedonia had been pacified and definitively integrated into the Empire. The decision by the Roman authorities to settle colonies in Macedonia provoked in each case deep changes at the local level: 1. The abolition and the replacement of the preexisting Greek city by a new political community: what had been thus far a portion of the provincial soil administered by a foreign city instantly became a part of the Roman state as a colony. 2. A massive influx of hundreds, and even thousands, of Roman citizens into the city’s territory within a very short period of time, in contrast with the episodic settlement of Italian businessmen around the Aegean basin during the second and first century BC. 3. The expropriation of the native owners from their lands and the redrawing of field boundaries according to the Roman centuriation system. 4. The introduction of Roman political institutions in place of the previous Greek ones and the use of Latin language for public and official purposes. This paper will assess the impact of the founding of a Roman colony at Philippi on the regional scale during the first three centuries or so after the initial settlement. It will look at the significance for the province of Macedonia of the settlement of an exogenous community which was established there by the decision of the Roman central authorities. It will also raise the issue of the extent to which the regional equilibrium in Eastern Macedonia was affected by the settlement of Roman citizens with regard to political power, demographics, society and economics. Finally, it will examine how the colony was progressively integrated into its provincial environment and through what kinds of contacts and interactions it was connected to the surrounding cities. This paper will argue that the importance of the Roman colony of Philippi was limited to Eastern Macedonia and that the wider region in which the colony was involved corresponded to an area reaching from Thessalonike to Northwestern Asia Minor. I. The Founding of the Colony of Philippi and the Administrative Reorganization of Eastern Macedonia The colony of Philippi was first settled in 42 BC by Marc Antony on the site of the homonymous Greek city, immediately after the battle which was fought beneath the walls of the town where the combined armies of Marc Antony and Octavian definitively defeated the resistance of the Republicans Brutus and Cassius. The colony was later reinforced, or rather founded again, by Octavian after Actium in 30 BC, when Marc Antony’s supporters were expelled from Italy in order to provide Octavian’s veterans with 1. G. Labarre, “Distribution spatiale et cohérence du réseau colonial en Pisidie à l’époque augustéenne”, in H. Bru, G. Labarre and G. Tirologos (eds.), Espaces et territoires des colonies romaines d’Orient (Besançon 2016) 45-69; A.D. Rizakis, “Les colonies romaines des côtes occidentales grecques. Populations et territoires”, DHA 22.1 (1996) 255-324; L. Ruscu, “Actia Nicopolis”, ZPE 157 (2006) 247-255. 164 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context Map 1: Map of the territory of the colony of Philippi and of the neighboring area. The dashed lines show the assumed extension of the territory of the colony. The circle in the vicinity of Serres indicates the approximate area covered by the assumed praefectura belonging to the colony (Map originally designed by G. Tirologos, ISTA, University of Franche-Comté) lands and were resettled in the provinces, for instance in the colonies of Dyrrachion and Philippi in Macedonia (Cass. Dio 51.4.6)2. As stated above, the founding of the colony automatically led to the formal disappearance of the preexisting political community. The former inhabitants were relegated to the rank of foreign residents (incolae) and the only persons enabled to benefit locally from civic rights from that time on were the Roman citizens who were settled in the colony (coloni). The Greek city was replaced by a new political entity which was now part of the Roman res publica. Since it was granted the ius Italicum, the colony of Philippi enjoyed a sort of extraterritoriality with respect to the rest of the province of Macedonia. This privileged status meant that the colony’s soil was formally assimilated to the land of Italy and that provincial governors would in principle not be allowed to interfere within the colony or to encroach upon local administration. The settlement of a large number of Roman citizens at Philippi also had deep implications for land management. The territory of the colony (or the pertica as it was named by Roman land surveyors) was not just superimposed on the former Greek city’s chora (see Map 1). In order to provide Roman colonists with land allotments, land ownership and land regulation in the area had to be extensively modified. In 2. P. Collart, Philippes, ville de Macédoine, depuis ses origines jusqu’à la fin de l’époque romaine (Paris 1937) 223-257; C. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, “Philippi”, in R.J. Lane Fox (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Ancient Macedon. Studies in the Archaeology and History of Macedon, 650 BC-300 AD (Leiden-Boston 2011) 437-452. 165 Cédric Brélaz particular, numerous native owners were expropriated in favor of Roman citizens, even if incolae were allowed to stay on the colony’s territory –after they were relocated to different plots. We thus understand that not only the very site of Philippi, the town and the immediate surroundings, was affected by the settlement of newcomers, but the entire region3. This is all the more true given that, in order to increase the colony’s resources, Roman authorities decided to modify the administrative structure of the whole of Eastern Macedonia from the Strymon river to the Nestos. The status of many local communities was then changed because of the settlement of the Roman colony at Philippi. Some Greek cities, which had been independent for centuries, were absorbed into the colony’s territory, like Neapolis (modern Kavala) which became the maritime gateway and harbor of Philippi and which, because of that, certainly was a point of major economic interest for the colony4. Even lands which were located far away from the core of the colony’s territory were in some specific cases assigned to Philippi by Roman power. This was the case for lands lying in the Strymon valley in the area surrounding Serres, east of the city. These lands were not geographically attached to the colony’s territory (whose western limits stood several dozen kilometers eastwards), but still belonged to the colony from a legal and administrative point of view. This praefectura or district –as Roman gromatic writers would have named it– might have originated from Antigonid royal estates which would have been turned into public land belonging to the Roman people (ager publicus) after the kingdom was abolished and later given to the colony5. Finally, one of the characteristics of Philippi compared to other Roman colonies in the East was the presence in its territory of dozens of local communities which were called vici in Latin. These villages or rural districts were mainly populated by Thracians (who had been the native population in the area before the Greeks started to settle there during the Archaic period) and enjoyed wider autonomy within the colony’s administrative organization. Native villages referred to as komai were already included in the territory of the Greek city of Philippi as early as the fourth century BC6. The official acknowledgment these Thracians were granted within the Roman colony of Philippi, however, requires a more specific explanation. This could have to do with the events which took place at the time of the battle of Philippi in 42 BC, just before the founding of the colony. Native rural communities in the area might have been given a special status as a reward for their political commitment on this occasion, if we allow that the Thracians settled in the plain of Philippi had somehow provided assistance to Marc Antony’s and Octavian’s side7. In the same way, it seems that Neapolis’ incorporation into the colony might be linked with the fact that the city, on the contrary, had 3. G. Tirologos, “Les recherches sur les cadastres romains du territoire colonial de Philippes (Macédoine orientale – Grèce : bilan et perspectives”, in A. Gonzales and J.-Y. Guillaumin (eds.), Autour des Libri coloniarum. Colonisation et colonies dans le monde romain (Besançon 2006) 131-149; A.D. Rizakis, “Expropriations et confiscations des terres dans le cadre de la colonisation romaine en Achaïe et en Macédoine”, MEFRA 127.2 (2015), electronic publication: http://mefra.revues.org/2879. 4. CIPh II.1, pp. 41-42. 5. A.D. Rizakis, “Le territoire colonial de Philippes : ses limites au Nord-Ouest”, in Gonzales and Guillaumin, Libri coloniarum [see n. 3] 123-130; idem, “Une praefectura dans le territoire colonial de Philippes : les nouvelles données”, in S. Demougin and J. Scheid (eds.), Colons et colonies dans le monde romain (Rome 2012) 87-105; CIPh II.1, App. 3, pp. 379-389. 6. C. Brélaz and G. Tirologos, “Essai de reconstitution du territoire de la colonie de Philippes : sources méthodes et interprétations”, in Bru, Labarre and Tirologos (eds.), Espaces et territoires [see n. 1] 119-189. 7. A.D. Rizakis, “Société, institutions, cultes”, in J. Fournier (ed.), Philippes, de la Préhistoire à Byzance. Études d’archéologie et d’histoire (BCH Suppl. 55; Athens 2016) 175-197. 166 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context been used as a harbor by the Republicans for their fleet and as such could have actively brought support to their army. A parallel for Neapolis’ punishment can be found in the city of Thasos which for a while lost its privileged status as a free city because it also served as a base for the Republicans in 42 BC8. The colony of Philippi shared borders with the Greek city of Amphipolis to the southwest, with several other independent local communities of the Strymon basin to the west and even with Thasos to the southeast, since this island city still possessed lands on the continent during the Imperial period, at least by the mouth of the Nestos. The colony’s eastern boundaries overlapped with the eastern limit of the province of Macedonia, and even with the external border of the Roman Empire itself until Thracia was eventually turned into a province in AD 469. Paul Collart assumed that the colony had therefore been settled on the via Egnatia for the purpose of defending the Empire’s limit and that the colony kept this strategic function during the Imperial period10. It is true that Thrace was unstable at that time (this explains why imperial legates were sometimes substituted for proconsuls as governors of Macedonia during the Julio-Claudian period) and that Macedonia was still playing a major strategic role due to its position between the western and eastern parts of the Empire, as is shown by the events which happened during the civil war between Caesar’s heirs and the Republicans which led to the battle of Philippi11. Yet, the view that the colony was involved in Roman military operations against the Thracian tribes rebelling during the first decades after its foundation is supported by no evidence. While it is perfectly possible that it was used at times as a logistics base by Roman troops, the colony of Philippi –like all of the other colonies which were settled in the Empire from the time of Caesar until the reign of Augustus– did not serve, however, as a stronghold or as a military camp. The veterans who had been settled in these colonies could of course take up arms again should the need arise to defend the Empire or the interests of the commander-in-chief (imperator) under whose orders they had previously served and who had granted them land allotments. But once the first generation had passed away, these colonies became local communities like the others, that is, they were populated by civilians and lacked the means which would enable them to deal with the security of the Empire and with law enforcement12. The concern of Marc Antony when he founded a colony on the battlefield of Philippi in 42 BC was first of all to find a solution to an internal issue to Rome, namely to solve the social and economic crisis related to the need to provide veterans with land, and this applied to all the other colonies settled in the Empire during the second half of the first century BC. II. Mobility to and from Philippi: Framing a Space between Italy and the Bosphorus The second part of this paper will focus on the various populations interacting with one another in the colony and on the relationships these populations had with the surrounding communities. It will more specifically examine the geographical mobility of both the individuals originating from Philippi and of 8. J. Fournier, “Entre Macédoine et Thrace : Thasos à l’époque de l’hégémonie romaine”, in M.-G. Parissaki (ed.), Thrakika Zetemata II. Aspects of the Roman Province of Thrace (Mελετήματα 69; Athens 2013) 11-63. 9. L.D. Loukopoulou, “Provinciae Macedoniae finis orientalis: the Εstablishment of the Eastern Frontier” in M.B. Hatzopoulos and L.D. Loukopoulou, Two Studies in Ancient Macedonian Topography (Μελετήματα 3; Athens 1987) 89-100. 10. Collart, Philippes [see n. 2] 510-523. 11. F. Papazoglou, “Quelques aspects de l’histoire de la province de Macédoine”, ANRW II.7.1 (1979) 302-369. 12. C. Brélaz, “Les colonies romaines et la sécurité publique en Asie Mineure”, in G. Salmeri, A. Raggi and A. Baroni (eds.), Colonie romane nel mondo greco (Rome 2004) 187-209. 167 Cédric Brélaz the people who, coming from outside, decided to settle in the colony. This will help us determine what the concept of the region meant in the case of Philippi. IIa. Philippi and Ethnicity We already referred to the massive influx of Latin-speaking Italians to Eastern Macedonia because of the founding of the colony, the first time just after the battle of 42 BC, when veterans of both the victorious and the defeated legions were settled by Marc Antony on the territory of the former Greek city of Philippi, then again in 30 BC by the decision of Octavian. Apart from these first two waves of immigrants, Roman veterans kept coming and settling in Philippi during the first and second century AD, long after the initial founding of the colony (see below). One must then assume that there were still land plots free in the territory of the colony at that time and that these lots could be assigned to soldiers who had served on the Danubian border and who had received their discharge. The exact figures of soldiers and civilians who migrated from Italy to settle in Philippi remain unknown. In this respect, we should be very cautious when using demographic projections relying on the extent of the rural territory of the colony or on the area of the town inside the walls13. Not only could the population density vary widely according to the area within the territory, but recent archaeological studies using geomagnetic technology have also shown that many blocks in the town were occupied by public buildings and could not have served as private dwellings14. The total number of Italians must have been, however, quite high in Philippi if we consider that the descendants of the first Italian colonists still held the main offices in the local administration in the late second century AD and that very few families of freedman or of foreign origin were integrated among the local elite. Such reluctance to admit incomers from a different social background into the local council tends to prove that Roman citizens were numerous enough in the colony not to need to search for new members for the purpose of maintaining the size of this institutional body15. Since Italians were given land plots also in remote parts of the colony’s territory, such as the Prosotsani valley and the Pieria valley at the foot of the Pangaion (not to mention the colonial praefectura close to Serres), the whole area between the Strymon basin and the right bank of the Nestos was affected by this demographic shift. In particular, the settlement of Roman citizens in Philippi led to a redistribution of the population in the countryside. The former citizens of the Greek city of Philippi, however, were not necessarily removed to the periphery of the pertica. There was no geographical segregation between the Roman colonists and the incolae. The territory of the colony was instead a complex grid made of lands belonging to individuals and communities of various statuses. Several Thracian 13. B. Levick, Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor (Oxford 1967) 43-45, 92-96, 161-162; P. Oakes, Philippians: From People to Letter (Cambridge 2000) 40-50. For methodological issues, see R. Willet, “Whirlwind of Numbers – Demographic Experiments for Roman Corinth”, Ancient Society 42 (2012) 127-158. 14. M. Boyd and S. Provost, “Application de la prospection géophysique à la topographie urbaine, I. Philippes, les quartiers Sud-Ouest; II. Philippes, les quartiers Ouest”, BCH 125 (2001) 453-521 and BCH 126 (2002) 431488 respectively. 15. C. Brélaz and A.D. Rizakis, “Le fonctionnement des institutions et le déroulement des carrières dans la colonie de Philippes”, CCG 14 (2003) 155-165; C. Brélaz, “Le faciès institutionnel, social et religieux d’une colonie romaine dans la province de Macédoine”, in Fournier, Philippes [see n. 7] 199-214. The social composition of the local elite will be examined in my monograph Philippes, colonie romaine d’Orient. Recherches d’histoire institutionnelle et sociale (BCH Suppl.; Athens forthcoming). 168 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context villages (vici), for instance, were located in the plain of Philippi in the vicinity of the city center. The major part of the foreign population living in the colony, especially in the countryside, were indeed Thracians, as is shown by their specific onomastics16. The Thracians sometimes used the language of the Italian colonists and raised inscriptions (dedications as well as epitaphs) in Latin. This very fact –which was uncommon among incolae of Eastern Roman colonies who typically used Greek for their inscriptions– suggests that Eastern Macedonia was not fully Hellenized in the Imperial period. The survival of Thracian culture, probably together with the Thracian language even if it was not written, can explain why the influence of Hellenism was not as strong and as early in Philippi as in most other Roman colonies settled in Greek-speaking provinces17. From the epigraphical evidence, we can infer that Greeks were less numerous than Thracians in Roman Philippi. This raises the issue of what had become of the Greek city’s former elite after the founding of the colony. Some individuals might admittedly have been granted Roman citizenship by Marc Antony or later by Octavian, but since there were few Antonii and Iulii among the upper-class families of the colony18, we should not assume that most of the leaders of Hellenistic Philippi were assimilated into the elite of the new political community, as was the case for instance in the colony of Buthrotum19. One explanation for the relatively small number of Greeks among prominent families in the colony could once again have to do with the events which took place in 42 BC. In the same way as Thasos and maybe also Neapolis were punished because of their support for the Republicans, a part of the Greek elite of Philippi might have been dismissed, and then banished or even put to death, by the victors for the same reason. Although the political attitude of the inhabitants of Philippi during the battle was not specified by any literary source, it is entirely possible that some of them decided to help the Republicans’ side since Brutus’ and Cassius’ positions were located in the immediate surroundings of the town. IIb. Moving to Philippi A close examination of the Roman gentilicia known in Philippi allows us to determine the regions of the Italian peninsula where the first colonists came from20. Some names attested for the local elite in the epigraphical record even later than the first century AD are rare and distinctive enough to be assigned to a specific region and to be considered gentilicia of descendants of the soldiers and civilians settled in the colony by Marc Antony or Octavian. This is the case, for instance, for the names Atiarius and Vetidius from Aquileia, Marronius and Galgestius from Northeastern Italy and Dalmatia, Burrenus 16. D. Dana, Onomasticon Thracicum. Répertoire des noms indigènes de Thrace, Macédoine orientale, Mésies, Dacie et Bithynie (Μελετήματα 70; Athens 2014). 17. C. Brélaz, “La langue des incolae sur le territoire de Philippes et les contacts linguistiques dans les colonies romaines d’Orient”, in F. Colin, O. Huck and S. Vanséveren (eds.), Intepretatio. Traduire l’altérité culturelle dans les civilisations de l’Antiquité (Paris 2015) 371-407. 18. See comments on CIPh II.1, nos. 5 and 113. 19. É. Deniaux, “Recherches sur la société de Buthrote, colonie romaine”, in P. Cabanes and J.-L. Lamboley (eds.), L’Illyrie méridionale et l’Épire dans l’Antiquité – IV (Paris 2004) 391-397. 20. This inquiry relies on the material gathered in CIPh II.1 which chiefly concerns the members of the civic elite. This information will need to be expanded and updated with the gentilicia mentioned in the inscriptions related to the inhabitants of the colony who do not belong to the elite, many of which are still unpublished. The Latin and Greek epitaphs of the colony will be included in the volume CIPh II.3, currently in preparation by C. Brélaz and C. Sarrazanas. 169 Cédric Brélaz from Modena, Aconius, Curretius and Uttiedius from Umbria, Insumennius and Scandilius from Etruria, and Varinius from Latium21. One can add to these gentilicia the cognomen Auruncinus which is characteristic of Campania22. Some epitaphs of veterans even explicitly mention what their original homeland was, such as Modena and Pisa23. In contrast, few gentilicia of members of the local elite in the colony were also found among the names of the Roman businessmen who spread over the Greek world from the beginning of the second century BC. Even if a newly published inscription has shown that Roman negotiatores were involved in the public life of the Greek city of Philippi as early as the end of the second/beginning of the first century BC24, Philippi, which had no harbor at that time, remained –as stated by Strabo25– a “small settlement” in Late Hellenistic times in comparison with Thessalonike, with Amphipolis and even with some commercial cities of the Chalkidike peninsula which attracted larger groups of Italian traders26. Unlike in other colonies such as Dium in Macedonia and above all Corinth27, Roman negotiatores coming from other parts of the Aegean area were not encouraged to share power with the colonists in Philippi. The colony did not serve as a center attracting the elite from the whole region or even from the rest of the province, as did Corinth where dignitaries from the major Peloponnesian cities were eager to settle and to hold offices because of the presence of the proconsul of Achaia’s headquarters in the town, and also because of the fame of the city itself which, even though it was now a Roman colony, had again become a key venue for the celebration of Hellenism, as is shown by the fact that the colony again took over the organization of the Isthmian games and even joined the Panhellenion28. The city of Thessalonike, since it was hosting the governor’s headquarters, and the city of Beroia as the meeting place of the provincial assembly (koinon) played such a role in Macedonia. The mere fact that Philippi was a Roman colony was not sufficient to convince Macedonian local elite who were looking for social promotion to settle there instead of in the great cities where they would be able to get in touch with members of the regional elite and with Roman officials who were responsible for the administration of the province. 21. See the comments on these names in CIPh II.1. 22. CIPh II.1, no. 126. 23. CIPh II.1, nos. 99, 101. 24. C. Brélaz, “Le Corpus des inscriptions grecques et latines de Philippes : apports récents et perspectives de recherche sur une colonie romaine d’Orient”, CRAI 2014, 1493-1501 (with the contribution of A.G. Zannis). 25. Strabo 7, fr. 17a (ed. S. Radt, Göttingen 2002). 26. A.D. Rizakis, “L’émigration romaine et la communauté marchande de Thessalonique: perspectives économiques et sociales”, in Chr. Müller and Cl. Hasenohr (eds.), Les Italiens dans le monde grec: IIe siècle av. J.-C. - Ier siècle ap. J.-C. Circulation, activités, intégration. Actes de la table ronde, ENS, Paris 14-16 mai 1998 (BCH Suppl. 41; Athens 2002) 109-132. 27. A.D. Rizakis, “Recrutement et formation des élites dans les colonies romaines de la province de Macédoine”, in M. Cébeillac-Gervasoni and L. Lamoine (eds.), Les élites et leurs facettes : les élites locales dans le monde hellénistique et romain. Actes du colloque international de Clermont-Ferrand, 24-26 novembre 2000 (Rome-ClermontFerrand 2003) 107-130; A.J.S. Spawforth, “Roman Corinth: the Formation of a Colonial Elite”, in A.D. Rizakis (ed.), Roman Onomastics in the Greek East. Social and Political Aspects. Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Roman Onomastics, Athens 7-9 September 1993 (Μελετήματα 21; Athens 1996) 167-182. 28. B.W. Millis, “The Social and Ethnic Origins of the Colonists in Early Roman Corinth”, in S.J. Friesen, D.N. Schowalter and J.C. Walters (eds.), Corinth in Context. Comparative Studies on Religion and Society (LeidenBoston 2010) 13-35; idem, “The Local Magistrates and Elite of Roman Corinth”, in S.J. Friesen, Sarah A. James and D.N. Schowalter (eds.), Corinth in Contrast. Studies in Inequality (Leiden-Boston 2014) 38-53. 170 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context We can, however, observe that foreigners came from various parts of the Greek world to settle in the colony, most of the time for the purpose of doing business. Among the cities mentioned as the homeland of these migrants, there were Thessalonike, Thasos, various cities of the Aegean shore of Thrace, of the Bosphorus strait area and of Bithynia, some of the major cities of Western Asia Minor, and even cities of the Near East (see Map 2)29. Probably one of the most important figures who settled in the colony (apart from C. Julius Maximus Mucianus, on whom see below) was C. Vibius Quartus, the famous owner of the huge funerary altar which was erected in the colony’s Eastern necropolis and which still stands there today30. This equestrian officer originated from Thessalonike, as is made clear by his tribe (Cornelia) and above all by the fact that the epitaph of what must have been his cenotaph was found there31. In this case, the reason why C. Vibius Quartus decided to be buried in the colony might be linked with one of the offices he had previously held in his career. He was indeed strategus strategia[e ---], that is one of the officials in charge of the administration of one of the regional districts in the newly created province of Thrace. Quartus’ involvement in the launch of the province of Thrace in AD 46, and maybe even before during the military operations which led to its creation, might explain how he became familiar with the area and why he chose to have such a remarkable tomb erected in the Roman colony of Philippi, in the immediate vicinity of Thrace. Finally, we should add to the people who moved to Philippi in the Imperial period the veterans who served in the Roman army in the Danubian provinces and, as mentioned above, who decided to settle in the colony after they got their discharge32. The settlement of these soldiers in the colony, however, does not prove that close connections between the colony and the Balkan provinces on the whole were typical. Discharged soldiers headed to Philippi because there were land plots left in the area and because this community, as a Roman colony, had a special relationship with the army and might have seemed an appropriate place to settle in. IIc. Moving from Philippi The settlement of hundreds of Roman citizens in the territory of Philippi led, as time went on, to the dissemination of Roman families outside the boundaries of the colony. The presence of families otherwise attested in Philippi can be observed also in cities such as Thessalonike (Graecinii, Oppii, Pontii, Turpilii), Amphipolis (Acculeii, Graecinii, Velleii, Tatinii), Serres (Turpilii, Varinii), and Thasos (Memmii, Naevii, Varinii)33. Apart from the cases in which the evidence for a name in Philippi dates back to the early stage of the colony or is supported by multiple instances, or in which the name in 29. Pilhofer, Philippi II, nos. 40 (Byzantium), 68 (Ainos), 73 and 319 (Prusias ad Hypium), 98 (Thessalonike), 129 (Nicaea), 302 (Lydian Philadelphia), 381a (Smyrna), 507 (Thasos); AnnÉpigr 2012, 1380 (Ephesus). Unpublished inscriptions which will be included in CIPh II.3 by C. Sarrazanas [see n. 20] also mention people coming from the Claudian colony of Akko-Ptolemais and from Caesarea Paneas. One can add Thyateira as the homeland of Lydia, the seller of purple who was met by Paul at Philippi (Ac 16.14). 30. CIPh II.1, no. 63. 31. A.D. Rizakis, “La carrière équestre de C. Vibius Quartus”, MEFRA 115 (2003) 535-548. 32. See, for instance, CIPh II.1, nos. 78, 95. 33. See the comments on these names in CIPh II.1, as well as the methodological remark in n. 20. On the contrary, Uttiedii are not attested in Abdera, as has been inferred from an inscription mentioning this gentilicium found in the surroundings of that city which should instead be attributed to the colony of Philippi: see M.-G. Parissaki, “Παρατηρήσεις σὲ δύο ἐπιγραφὲς ἀπὸ ‘τὰ περίχωρα τῶν Ἀβδήρων’”, Tekmeria 10 (2011) 91-101. 171 Cédric Brélaz Map 2: Map of the connections of the colony of Philippi with the outside. Names in regular type indicate the cities to which Philippians moved and in which they settled, or the cities and region with which Philippians had close connections. Names in italic type indicate the homeland cities of the foreign people who came to settle in Philippi. Names in bold italic indicate the cities for which both cases are applicable. Italy as the homeland of the colonists settled in Philippi, as well as the places where Roman soldiers who moved to the colony had previously served, are not taken into consideration here (Map originally designed by A. Houot) question is only scarcely diffused (suggesting that the name was introduced in the area by an individual who came directly from a specific part of Italy to settle in Philippi), we cannot be sure of the direction of the migration which took place. Thus, some gentilicia known in Philippi could well have been brought into the colony not by colonists, but by Roman citizens who were already settled in the Greek-speaking provinces and who afterwards joined the new community. On the other hand, several inscriptions explicitly mentioning the ethnic of the colony show that Philippians (Roman citizens as well as foreign incolae) settled in Serres, Thasos, Kalindoia and Thessalonike34. 34. Serres: CIPh II.1, App. 3, no. 3 (the man had previously been an aedile in the colony); Thasos: Pilhofer, Philippi II, no. 711a (incola: an Early Imperial –rather than Late Hellenistic– date is possible for this inscription according to Patrice Hamon, whom I thank for sharing this information with me); Kalindoia: P.O. Juhel and P. Nigdelis, Un Danois en Macédoine à la fin du 19e siècle. Karl Frederik Kinch et ses notes épigraphiques – Ένας Δανός στη Μακεδονία του τέλους του 19ου αιώνα. Ο Karl Frederik Kinch και οι επιγραφικές του σημειώσεις (Thessalonike 2015) 60-61, no. 14 (probably an incola); Thessalonike: Pilhofer, Philippi II, no. 715a (=SEG 56, 790; AnnÉpigr 2006, 1314: incolae). 172 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context Families moving from Philippi to Thessalonike were certainly attracted by the economic opportunities offered by the biggest city of the province and by the possibility of being closer to the proconsul of Macedonia and his staff. In this way, the colony’s local elite did not behave differently from other local elite of provincial Greek cities. For the rest, the cities to which Philippians usually moved corresponded to a small-scale region around Philippi which encapsulated most of the colonists’ family networks. This area consisting of the directly neighboring cities of Philippi (Serres, Amphipolis, Thasos) was the first circle of the colony’s connections with the outside world (see Map 2). A vivid illustration of the twoway mobility between the colony and the neighboring area, as well as of the regional range of some families’ activities, is provided by the famous early first century AD Thasian benefactor Varinius Rebilus. Varinius Rebilus was certainly a descendant of the homonymous Philippian family of the Varinii. The Thasian branch of the family, however, decided not to limit its activities to the island. Varinius Rebilus apparently maintained strong ties with his family’s original homeland (if we are right in explaining through Rebilus’ influence in the colony the fact that the rare cognomen Rebilus is attested in Philippi in two as yet unpublished inscriptions) and even developed connections further within the continent, as is made clear by an honorary decree issued for him by the city of Serres35. On the contrary, the relative scarcity of the epigraphical record in Aegean Thrace prevents us from examining further the links between the colony and that region. This is all the more true for the inner part of Thrace. It seems nevertheless that the Rhodopes mountain range actually formed a barrier which, if not impassable, contributed to the partition of two different spaces, the Thracian hinterland looking to the Balkan peninsula on the one hand and Southern Thrace/Eastern Macedonia inclining toward the Aegean shore on the other hand (but see below on C. Julius Maximus Mucianus). For the sake of completeness, we should also mention that numerous soldiers originating from Philippi served in the army far away from the colony, in various legionary camps located through the provinces of the Empire as well as in the city of Rome in the case of those who made a career in the armed forces of the capital like the praetorians36. In the same way as for the veterans who moved from the Danubian provinces to Philippi, as we said above, the distribution of Philippian soldiers throughout the Empire was random depending on their posting to a specific unit; this should not be seen as evidence that a link between that location and the colony of Philippi on the whole was typical37. In what follows, we will focus on three different examples showing the relationship that individuals coming from Philippi had with cities and areas outside the colony. Our first example regards C. Cassius Ve[---], a man originating from the colony who made an equestrian military career and who in addition held all the expected civil offices in the city of Thessalonike ([omnib(us)] honorib(us) Thessalonic(ae) functo)38. Although several families who came from the colony of Philippi apparently settled in Thessalonike, as we can infer from their names or their ethnic39, this is the only known example of a Philippian making a local career in the capital of the province. Following a suggestion by Athanassios Rizakis, we can allow that C. Cassius, as other Philippians, came to develop close connections with Thessalonike at the time when he acceded to the equestrian rank. Staying in the city 35.P. Nigdelis, “The Gens Varinia in Macedonia: On the Serrai Decree SEG LIV 617”, GRBS 49 (2009) 515-533. 36. CIPh II.1, App. 4, pp. 391-405. 37. This is also true for the Philippian soldier C. Julius Longinus who was settled in Sabina by emperor Vespasian’s will after he was discharged: CIPh II.1, App. 4, no. 13. 38. CIPh II.1, no. 51. 39. See n. 33-34. 173 Cédric Brélaz where the provincial governor had his headquarters increased the chances of meeting with influential people from his staff for those who aimed at gaining social promotion. In this respect, however, we should make clear that the inscriptions referring to several Philippian praefecti fabrum which were found in the Jewish cemetery of Thessalonike had initially been erected in the colony and were moved to Thessalonike only later in order to be reused as modern gravestones. This group of inscriptions, then, cannot be seen as a proof that all of these Philippian dignitaries entered the equestrian rank thanks to the proconsul’s support and that they were employed in Thessalonike among his staff40. Our second example is C. Julius Maximus Mucianus, who was incorporated into the Senate thanks to Antoninus Pius41 Although Mucianus had been assigned to the tribe of the colony of Philippi (Voltinia) and even if his surnames sounded very Roman, we should accept that he originated from Thrace and that he was even a descendant of the royal family. Mucianus was indeed the Romanized form of a native name coined from the root muca– which was very common among personal names of Thracian aristocrats. We can infer from Mucianus’ praenomen and gentilicium that his ancestors were granted Roman citizenship by Augustus, which was the case of the Thracian royal dynasty at that time. Mucianus and his relatives maintained close connections with their ancestral homeland: his brother C. Julius Teres, who also bore a typical Thracian cognomen and whose sons entered the Senate like their uncle (pater senatorum), became a president (thracarches) of the Thracian provincial assembly gathering at Philippopolis (incidentally, another city founded by the king Philip II of Macedon), and Mucianus himself, in addition to being a member of the local council in the colony of Philippi, was appointed a member of the local councils of several unspecified cities in that province (decurio Philippis et in provincia Thracia). Mucianus probably settled in Philippi because his family already had interests in Eastern Macedonia. He might have personally been eager to connect with the Roman environment provided by the colony. Mucianus’ rooting in both Thracia and Macedonia is a prime example of active two-way connectivity. Although it suggests that strong links could have existed between Philippians and the province of Thrace, this case remains an exception. Mucianus was the only known senator from Philippi – compared to the 14 senators coming from seven different families attested in the colony of Pisidian Antioch42. What is more, he was not a descendant of the original Italian colonists, but his promotion to the senatorial rank was precisely facilitated because he belonged to the old Thracian aristocracy. Our last example reveals another unusual career which developed at a (supra)regional level. The equestrian officer C. Antonius Rufus succeeded in becoming one of the major local dignitaries in four Roman colonies at the same time43. He was a priest of the imperial cult in Alexandria Troas, in Apri and in Philippi, and he completed his entire political career as a local official in Parium and in Philippi (and probably also in Apri) such that he was awarded the honorary title of princeps. The unparalleled range of influence of Rufus certainly made him one of the most important dignitaries in mid-first century Philippi. Since the tribe Voltinia was shared by both the Roman colonists of Philippi and of Apri, we 40. CIPh II.1, App. 2, pp. 375-378. 41. CIPh II.1, nos. 37-38. 42. H. Halfmann, “Die Senatoren aus den kleinasiatischen Provinzen des römischen Reiches vom 1. bis 3. Jahrhundert (Asia, Pontus-Bithynia, Lycia-Pamphilia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia)”, in Atti del Colloquio Internazionale AIEGL su Epigrafia e Ordine Senatorio, Roma, 14-20 maggio 1981 (Rome 1982) II 645-646; idem, “Italische Ursprünge bei Rittern und Senatoren aus Kleinasien”, in G. Urso (ed.), Tra Oriente e Occidente. Indigeni, Greci e Romani in Asia Minore (Pisa 2007) 165-187. 43. Pilhofer, Philippi II, nos. 700-703 = CIPh II.1, App. 4, no. 4. 174 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context cannot be sure that Rufus actually came from Philippi. The honorary inscription listing Rufus’ achievements was erected in Alexandria Troas and cannot be of any help in this respect. Yet, C. Antonius Rufus’ ancestors obviously gained Roman citizenship from Marc Antony, as is made clear by his gentilicium. Since a colony was first founded at Philippi by Marc Antony whereas the colony of Apri was created by the emperor Claudius, it is still more probable to consider Rufus a descendant of a Greek or Thracian family of Philippi which was awarded citizenship during the events which followed the battle of 42 BC. Rufus’ network ranged from Eastern Macedonia to Northwestern Asia Minor encompassing all the Roman colonies within this wide area. This space was arranged around the major communication channels at the time between the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor: first, the via Egnatia crossing the whole province of Macedonia from one end to the other (from the colony of Dyrrachion on the Adriatic Sea to the colony of Philippi) and then Aegean Thrace up to Byzantium; second, the sea route linking Eastern Macedonia and Thrace to Troas and Mysia through the Northern Aegean and the Hellespont. The colonies of Philippi and Apri were both linked through the Egnatian Way; sailing from Alexandria Troas to Neapolis (modern Kavala) in order to reach the via Egnatia to Philippi and then further to the west was a convenient option for anyone coming from Southern or Central Anatolia who sought to avoid part of the land journey. This route was followed in AD 49 by the Apostle Paul when he headed from Asia Minor to Macedonia (Ac 16.8-12); this explains why the first city ever visited by him in Europe was Philippi44. As is made clear by the subsequent journeys of Paul himself to Europe and by the Apostle’s ‘Epistle to the Philippians’, as well as by the letter sent to them by Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, in the first half of the second century, Philippi became from that time onwards a crucial hub for connectivity between early Christian communities of Asia Minor and of mainland Greece; moreover, Ignatius, bishop of Syrian Antioch, followed the same route as Paul’s from Troas to Philippi at the beginning of the second century when he was escorted by Roman soldiers to be brought to the imperial court in Rome45. Close connections between Macedonia and Northwestern Asia Minor have also been highlighted by Olli Salomies on the basis of onomastics, since many Roman names attested in Macedonia on the whole (and not only in the colonies settled in that province) are also to be found in the city of Cyzicus, which was an important commercial center46. This tends to confirm that there existed strong relationships and continuous exchanges between these two regions and that Roman citizens (whether or not they were settled in a colony) were part of it. We may notice, however, that Apamea, which was also located on the Propontis further east of Parium and Cyzicus47, was not mentioned 44. C. Brélaz, “Outside the City-Gate: Centre and Periphery in Paul’s Preaching in Philippi”, in D. Gill, P. Trebilco and S. Walton (eds.), Cities of God? Assessing Early Christian Engagement with the Ancient Urban Environment(s) (London forthcoming). 45. P. Lemerle, Philippes et la Macédoine orientale à l’époque chrétienne et byzantine. Recherches d’histoire et d’archéologie (BEFAR 158; Paris 1945) 60-68. Recent discussions of the text-critical issue and of the authenticity of Ignatius’ and Polycarp’s letters include A. Brent, Ignatius of Antioch. A Martyr Bishop and the Origin of Episcopacy (London-New York 2007); M.W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers (3rd revised edition, Grand Rapids, MI 2007; 1st edition 1992). 46. O. Salomies, “Contacts between Italy, Macedonia and Asia Minor during the Principate”, in Rizakis (ed.), Onomastics [see n. 27] 111-127; see also M. Sève et P. Schlosser, Cyzique, cité majeure et méconnue de la Propontide antique (Metz 2014). 47. A. Blanco-Pérez, “Apamea and the Integration of a Roman Colony in Western Asia Minor”, in Saskia T. Roselaar (ed.), Processes of Cultural Change and Integration in the Roman World (Leiden-Boston 2015) 136-153; 175 Cédric Brélaz among the Roman colonies where Rufus distinguished himself as a member of the local elite. But this does not alter the fact that Rufus’ influence was considerable and extended far beyond Macedonia. We observe that administrative limits were not an obstacle for individuals to create and foster connections, since Rufus was involved in four Roman colonies situated in three different provinces (Macedonia, Thracia and Asia)48. III. Cultural Interactions in the Thraco-Macedonian Area The last section of this paper will briefly address the issue of the cultural interactions and of the mutual influences between the colony of Philippi and its environment. This will be an attempt to assess the impact that the founding of a Roman colony in Eastern Macedonia had on the region with regard to various fields –such as language, cults, customs, political institutions, economics, material culture– and conversely to determine if and to what extent the colony itself was affected by its surroundings. As far as the language contact is concerned, we referred above to the willingness of the Thracian incolae to use the language brought to Philippi by the Italian colonists. This certainly contributed to limiting the influence of the Greek language in the colony. In comparison with the situation in most Roman colonies of the Greek-speaking provinces, especially in Corinth as well as in the so-called Pisidian minor colonies49, Latin survived for a very long time in Philippi and was even maintained for official purposes until the third century AD. Latin was also probably continuously invigorated in Philippi thanks to its position on the Egnatian Way, which enabled the colony to keep closer connections with Italy and the Latin-speaking part of the Empire than, for instance, the Roman colonies settled in Central Anatolia50. Apart from very few loan words or expressions (such as the term δηλάτωρ directly transliterated from the Latin, as well as other formulas expressing funerary fines, which were also used in epitaphs in Thasos and in Serres)51, the prominent role of Latin in Philippi did not lead to the Latinization of Eastern Macedonia and of the neighboring areas. Greek was the common language of all the surrounding cities and populations, as well as of most incolae –both Thracians and Greeks– inside the territory of the colony. As time went on, the descendants of the original Italian colonists themselves came to speak Greek due to the pressure of the Greek-speaking environment of Eastern Macedonia and Aegean Thrace, and Greek started to be used by the colony in official contexts from the middle of the third century AD52. With the exception of a few official dedications to emperors using Latin because it was the language of the administration of the new capital settled in Constantinople53, we can assume É. Guerber, “La colonie d’Apamée-Myrléa : ‘un îlot de romanité en pays grec’ ?”, in C. Brélaz (ed.), L’héritage grec des colonies romaines d’Orient : interactions culturelles dans les provinces hellénophones de l’empire romain (Paris 2016). 48. For instances in the western provinces, see R. Frei-Stolba, “Réflexions sur les relations entre le vicus de Genaua et la colonia Iulis Equestris”, in C. Deroux (ed.), Corolla Epigraphica. Hommages au professeur Yves Burnand (Brussels 2011) I 134-147. 49. Levick, Roman Colonies [see n. 13] 130-162. 50. Collart, Philippes [see n. 2] 519. 51. CIPh II.1, pp. 70-74; C. Brélaz, “Inscriptions de Macédoine orientale dans la correspondance entre Fauvel et Barbié du Bocage”, Dacia 58 (2014) 263-265. 52. CIPh II.1, nos. 47, 64, 129. 53. CIPh II.1, nos. 28-31. See D. Feissel, “Les inscriptions latines dans l’Orient protobyzantin”, in R. Harreither et al. (ed.), Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kongresses für christliche Archäologie. Wien 19.-26.9.1999. Frühes Christentum zwischen Rom und Konstantinopel (Vienna-Vatican City 2006) I 99-129. 176 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context that the colony of Philippi had been almost entirely and definitively Hellenized with regard to language by the middle of the fourth century AD. This situation of limited mutual influence we have been describing thus far regarding language contact in the colony until the third century AD is also reflected by the fact that political institutions were very little affected by the Greek environment of the colony. Unlike many Roman colonies in the East in which a lot of public offices and priesthoods following the Greek pattern were introduced (such as the office of argyrotamias, of agonothetes in Corinth or of gymnasiarchus and of grammateus in Pisidian Antioch)54, only one public office was added in Philippi to the initial set of typically Roman institutions which were established in the colony after its founding through by-laws issued in Rome: this was the office of irenarcha, of “commander of the peace”, which was borrowed from the Greek cities of Asia Minor where this official was responsible for public security and law enforcement55. Another borrowing in the colony from Greek political practice was the honorary title filius coloniae56, the Latin equivalent of the Greek phrasing υἱὸς τῆς πόλεως which was usually granted in Greek cities to members of the local elite who showed constant commitment to their homeland’s good through benefactions57. On the contrary, we can see no example of Roman institutions being introduced in any of the Greek cities surrounding the colony. As was the case in the whole Greek-speaking half of the Empire (and this was a major difference compared to what occurred in the West), Roman municipal institutions did not spread into local communities which were very eager to keep their own political traditions patterned after the Greek model, as we can see in Thasos where lists of the names of the holders of the main local offices from the creation of the city were engraved on the walls of the public buildings on the agora during the Imperial period58. Evidence for deeper interactions between the colony and its cultural environment can be found in the field of religious practice and worship. Deities of every single origin mirroring the three main ethnic groups living in the colony –Thracian, Greek and Roman– were worshipped in Philippi, and all possible combinations between the kind of deity worshipped and the ethnicity of the worshipper (e.g. a Thracian incola worshipping Jupiter in Latin or a Roman citizen worshipping a native god in Greek)59 are attested in the colony60. The cult of distinctively Italic gods, such as Silvanus or Vertumnus, which was brought to Philippi by the colonists, also spread among foreigners and natives61. On the other hand, the 54. A.D. Rizakis and F. Camia, “Magistrati municipali e svolgimento delle carriere nelle colonie romane della provincia d’Acaia”, in Cl. Berrendonner, M. Cébeillac-Gervasoni and L. Lamoine (eds.), Le Quotidien municipal dans l’Occident romain (Clermont-Ferrand 2008) 234-239; Levick, Roman Colonies [see n. 13] 72-74. 55. CIPh II.1, nos. 60, 133-134, 175. See C. Brélaz, La securité publique en Asie Mineure sous le Principat (Ier-IIIème s. ap. J.-C.). Institutions municipales et institutions impériales dans l’Orient romain (Basel 2005) 90-122. 56. CIPh II.1, nos. 60, 151 (?). 57. F. Canali De Rossi, Filius publicus. ΥΙΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ e titoli affini in iscrizioni greche di età imperiale (Rome 2007); N. Giannakopoulos, “Remarks on the Honorary Titles υἱὸς βουλῆς, υἱὸς δήμου and υἱὸς πόλεως in Roman Asia Minor”, in A.D. Rizakis and F. Camia (eds.), Pathways to Power. Civic Elites in the Eastern Part of the Roman Empire (Athens 2008) 251-268. 58. J. Fournier, P. Hamon and N. Trippé, “Cent ans d’épigraphie à Thasos (1911-2011)”, REG 124 (2011) 217-226. 59. Pilhofer, Philippi II, nos. 514, 619. 60. C. Brélaz, “Thracian, Greek or Roman? Ethnic and Social Identities of Worshippers (and Gods) in Roman Philippi”, in S.J. Friesen et al. (ed.), Philippi. From Colonia Augusta to Communitas Christiana. Religion and Society in Transition (Leiden-Boston forthcoming). 61. Pilhofer, Philippi II, nos. 163, 515. 177 Cédric Brélaz colony officially fostered the cult of the Hero Aulonites, the main Thracian deity in the whole of Eastern Macedonia whose sanctuary was located in the Philippian territory and was even visited by officials of the colony and by Roman soldiers passing by62. The Hero was even acknowledged as a tutelary god in Philippi, as he was depicted on the last coins that the colony minted in the middle of the third century AD instead of the usual proper Roman symbols63. There were in Philippi explicit cases of syncretism or assimilation between deities originating from different ethnic and cultural spheres: Jupiter was sometimes worshipped together with native gods, and Diana, to whom several reliefs carved on the acropolis of Philippi were dedicated, was also seen as the Greek Artemis or as the Thracian Bendis64. Cultural borrowings in religious practice included the worship in Latin of the emperor Hadrian as (Iuppiter) Olympius according to the Greek fashion and, on the other hand, the celebration by the Philippian incolae of the Parentalia and the Rosalia –annual festivals commemorating the dead– which were imported from Italy by Roman colonists65. This extreme variety and mixture in worship did not mean, however, that no distinction was made in Philippi between the different deities and cults. The options available to worshippers with regard to the precise deity to whom one would give an offering, to the accurate epithet naming the god, as well as to the language used to phrase the dedication (in Latin or in Greek), were crucial issues reflecting the cultural and social claims of each individual and the way people living in Philippi conceived their own position and identity within the community of the colony. Material culture and economic exchanges tend to confirm what has been said so far about the dual character of the colony as both Italian and regionally rooted in Eastern Macedonia. Although the monumental center of the colony, first built during the Julio-Claudian period and then reworked in the mid-second century AD, perfectly fit the Roman pattern for a public space and included the buildings expected in a Roman forum, the construction technique as well as the building materials (since stone was systematically used instead of brick) were essentially Greek66. This method of construction was consistent with the mainstream monumental architecture widespread throughout the Eastern part of the Empire at that time. On the contrary, the shape of some funerary monuments, especially the sarcophagi, followed Italian models, as did the colonists’ funerary customs themselves67. In this respect, it is surprising to note that no sarcophagi were imported into the colony from neighboring Thasos, whereas the local elite of Thessalonike, which was located much further away although it was easily accessible by the sea, did so68. Sarcophagi in Philippi were made of local stone and bore no sophisticated decorations or reliefs. Connections between Philippi and the island, however, were very common, as stated above about family links between the two communities. Thasian marble was not used for gravestones in Philippi certainly because of the cost –nor was it used systematically for the buildings 62. CIPh II.1, pp. 52-55. 63. M. Amandry, “Le monnayage de la Res Publica Coloniae Philippensium”, in U. Peter (ed.), Stephanos nomismatikos. Edith Schönert-Geiss zum 65. Geburtstag (Berlin 1998) 23-31; idem, “Le monnayage de la Res Publica Coloniae Philippensium. Nouvelles données”, in P.G. van Alfen, G. Bransbourg and M. Amandry (eds.), Fides. Contributions to Numismatics in Honor of Richard B. Witschonke (New York 2015) 495-507. 64. Pilhofer, Philippi II, no. 514; P. Collart and P. Ducrey, Philippes I. Les reliefs rupestres (BCH Suppl. 2; Athens 1975) 222-225; see also the contribution of Kalliopi Chatzinikolaou in the present volume. 65. CIPh II.1, no. 12; Pilhofer, Philippi II, nos. 29, 45, 133, 512, 524, 529, 597, 636, 644; AnnÉpigr 2012, 1382. 66. M. Sève and P. Weber, Guide du forum de Philippes (Athens 2012) 11-22. 67. CIPh II.1, pp. 59-61. 68. Th. Stefanidou-Tiveriou, Die lokalen Sarkophage aus Thessaloniki (Ruhpolding 2014). 178 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context and the sculptures in the forum for which local marble was considered sufficient69. With respect to their wealth, the local elite of the colony belonged to a much lower level than the provincial elite who gathered in Thessalonike70. As far as trade exchange in Philippi and beyond is concerned, further investigation would be required to enable us to give a comprehensive assessment of the colony’s participation in commercial networks. Yet, preliminary studies about pottery production and coin circulation suggest that the main area covered by commercial activities involving the colony ranged from Eastern Macedonia to Northwestern Asia Minor71, which is consistent with what was said above about the geographical space corresponding to the Philippians’ family networks and out-mobility. Although it was located along the Egnatian Way, Philippi never, however, became a major commercial and economic hub during the Imperial period, probably because the town had no direct access to the sea. This is all the more true given that an alternative road allowed one to cross Eastern Macedonia from Amphipolis to Neapolis without going through the plain and the town of Philippi itself: that was the road going through the Pieria valley which had already been used for instance by Xerxes’ army during the Persian invasion of 480 BC72. Two main observations emerge from the general overview which has just been given about Philippi’s cultural interactions with its regional environment. First, although it was founded as a typical Roman community artificially grafted onto a foreign area, the colony of Philippi was not insensitive to influence from the surrounding cities and cultures. Despite what Gellius (16.13.9) said about Roman colonies being miniature reproductions of Rome itself in the provinces and having much less autonomy than municipia (since they were a part of the Roman state and directly belonged to it), Philippi, as all the other Roman colonies in the East, was not sealed off from the outside world and, on the contrary, even had permanent and close connections with it. Second, the coexistence in Philippi of three different cultures –Thracian, Greek and Roman– did not lead to a merging of all these influences. As we can see for instance from language contact and from the worship practices in the colony, there was in Roman Philippi a wide range of possibilities with respect to cultural interactions. We should not consider, however, that these mutual influences (which differed very much depending on the ethnic origin of the individuals and on their social and legal status, as well as on the period we are talking about) led to a ‘creolization’ of Roman Philippi or to the rise of a new culture which would have been the synthesis of all three components73. The history and the sociology of cultural contact in Roman Philippi certainly were much more complex and should be looked at carefully by acknowledging the specific context of each instance. 69. É. Lapalus, “Sculptures de Philippes” BCH 57 (1933) 438-466; BCH 59 (1935) 175-192; Sève and Weber, Guide [see n. 66] 29. 70. These economic discrepancies can be seen, e.g., from the amount of the funerary fines: CIPh II.1, p. 72. 71. V. Malamidou, Roman Pottery in Context. Fine and Coarse Wares from Five Sites in North-Eastern Greece (Oxford 2005). For hypothetical coins from Philippi circulating in Troas, Bithynia and Mysia, see RPC I 16561660 with comments on pp. 309-310; RPC Suppl. I-III, p. 86. A theoretical and cartographic modelling of the colony’s integration into regional economic exchanges has been proposed by C. Concannon, “‘Let us Know Anything Further which you have Heard’. Mapping Philippian Connectivity”, in Friesen et al. (ed.), Philippi [see n. 60]. 72. Collart, Philippes [see n. 2] 75; G.A. Pikoulas, Ἡ χώρα τῶν Πιέρων. Συμβολὴ στὴν τοπογραφία της (Athens 2001). 73. For an example of the (problematic) use of this anthropological and sociological concept for exploring cultural interactions in Antiquity, see Jane Webster, “Creolizing the Roman Provinces”, AJA 105 (2001) 209-225. 179 Cédric Brélaz IV. Conclusion: Roman Colony vs. Greek Cities in Eastern Macedonia The aim of this paper has been to assess the position of the colony of Philippi in the province of Macedonia as well as the role it played in its regional environment during the three centuries after it was founded, until the rise of Christianity as an official religion at the beginning of the fourth century AD. This paper dealt with administrative reorganization and land redrawing in Eastern Macedonia due to the creation of the colony, with population flows and geographical mobility provoked by, or made possible by, the settlement of hundreds of Roman citizens in the area, and finally with all kinds of interactions, primarily cultural, involving the colony together with the surrounding cities and populations. Three major sets of conclusions can be drawn from the previous observations: 1. The founding of a colony at Philippi was not meant by Roman power to be a tool for controlling the whole area. Although the situation in Eastern Macedonia was still insecure at times until Thrace was turned into a province in the middle of the first century AD, the colony at Philippi was not the driving force for the integration of the region into the Empire, since the area was incorporated in the province of Macedonia more than one hundred years before Marc Antony decided to settle veterans there. Like all the other colonies settled throughout the Empire during the second half of the first century BC, the primary purpose of creating a colony in Philippi after the battle of 42 BC was to provide Roman veterans with land. Because of the creation of the Roman colony, the whole area between the Strymon river and the Nestos underwent major changes in every single aspect of the life of the local communities: administration, political institutions, demographics, society, language, land ownership, agriculture, town planning, public buildings, and economics. Still, the area affected by the founding of a colony at Philippi was not as wide as was the case with the creation of the colony of Patras, which led to the administrative reorganization not only of the Northwestern Peloponnese, but even of Western Locris on the other side of the gulf of Corinth74, or with the settlement by Augustus of Nicopolis in Southern Epirus, which was made possible thanks to the synoecism of communities spread all over the Northwestern part of Greece75. The rise of a new Roman political community in Eastern Macedonia, populated with people coming from Italy, did not lead to the Latinization of the region. The colony was not a center from which Romanness would have spread, as was usually the case for Roman colonies in the Western provinces76. There were very few traces of cultural influence on the foreign communities surrounding Philippi that came from the colony. Some features which might be seen as characteristic of Romanization were of course also found in the neighboring Greek cities (such as the worship of the emperors), but this was very common in every single local community throughout the Empire and should not be attributed specifically to the colony’s vicinity and influence. Quite the opposite may be observed: as time went on, the colony itself became Hellenized because of the pressure and influence of its predominantly Greek cultural environment. By the sixth century AD, Philippi had become a Greekspeaking Christian city like any other local community of the Early Byzantine Empire77. 74. A.D. Rizakis, “La colonie de Patras en Achaïe dans le cadre de la colonisation augustéenne”, in Patrasso colonia di Augusto e le trasformazioni culturali, politiche ed economiche della Provincia di Acaia agli inizi dell’età imperiale romana. Atti del Convegno internazionale, Patrasso 23-24 marzo 2006 (Tripodes 8; Athens 2009) 17-38. 75. N. Purcell, “The Nicopolitan Synoecism and Roman Urban Policy”, in E. Chrysos (ed.), Νικόπολις Α΄. Πρακτικὰ τοῦ πρώτου Διεθνοῦς Συμποσίου γιὰ τὴ Νικόπολη, 23-29 Σεπτεμβρίου 1984 (Preveza 1987) 71-90. 76. See, for instance, for Gaul, G. Woolf, Becoming Roman. The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul (Cambridge 1998) 90, 116. Compare Tac. Ann. 12.32: colonia Camulodunum valida veteranorum manu deducitur in agros captivos, subsidium adversus rebellis et imbuendis sociis ad officia legum. 77. Lemerle, Philippes [see n. 45]. 180 Philippi: A Roman Colony Within Its Regional Context 2. As an emanation from the Roman state and since it was granted the ius Italicum, the colony of Philippi enjoyed a special status and position among the local communities of the provinces of Macedonia and of neighboring Thrace. Still, being a Roman colony was not at this time sufficient for Philippi to become the most important political and economic center in Northeastern Greece. This role was assigned to Thessalonike as the city hosted the governor’s headquarters, and therefore provincial elite as well as businessmen gathered there. Neapolis, which was used as the colony’s harbor, never became a major commercial hub in the Northern Aegean, and, even if Philippi undoubtedly took advantage of its position on the Egnatian Way, the colony was only a place people passed through on their way to Asia Minor or to Italy rather than a place people wanted to reach as a final destination. The significance of Philippi as a colony for the region was also balanced by the presence among the neighboring local communities of two thriving cities which enjoyed the privileged status of a free city (and which were then in principle immune to the intervention of the provincial administration just as much as the colony because of the ius Italicum) and were very proud of their specificities, Amphipolis and Thasos. It seems there was a sort of competition between these two cities and the colony. Yet, the very status of being a part of the Roman state did not mean that Philippi was necessarily given preference over its neighbors. When for instance a dispute arose in the second half of the first century AD between Philippi and Thasos over which of the two communities should bear the burdens related to hosting Roman soldiers and functionaries passing through their contiguous territory in the Nestos area, the governor of Thrace decided in favor of Thasos78. Whether or not the claims of the Thasians of being released from these expenditures were legitimate, it is interesting to note that the governor did not hesitate to support a foreign city (admittedly belonging to the province he was running) instead of a Roman colony. Philippi did not play as significant a role in the province of Macedonia as Corinth in Southern Greece (and beyond) or Pisidian Antioch in Anatolia. This also had to do with the wealth and the social level of the local elite. The magnificent appearance of the monumental public space of Roman Philippi might be misleading in this respect and we should not overestimate the colony’s prosperity and power. At the time when the forum was entirely reworked and refurbished with new sumptuous buildings in the mid-second century AD, several officials of senatorial rank were sent to Philippi by the emperors in order to monitor the colony’s finances79. This was a sign of economic distress, probably because local benefactors and the colony itself were no longer able to meet the financial requirements of such a huge building program. Local elite in Philippi were of a much lower rank than those in Corinth and in Pisidian Antioch. As stated above, no descendant of the Italian colonists who had been settled in Philippi was able to enter the Senate and, even if many Philippians made a career in the army and even became equestrian officers, they did not manage to reach the major offices of the imperial administration. On the contrary, local elite in Corinth usually competed with other dignitaries on the provincial scale because of the importance of the city, while in Pisidian Antioch the local elite had close connections with all the major cities of Asia Minor such as Ephesus and with the highest strata of Roman society, which enabled the colony to have powerful senators as protectors (patroni) and even members of the imperial family as honorary duumvirs80. The reason why the scope of the local elite’s influence 78. Pilhofer, Philippi II, no. 711 with the emendations and comments by Fournier, “Entre Macédoine et Thrace” [see n. 8]. 79. CIPh II.1, nos. 39, 41-43, 45-46. 80. M. Christol and Th. Drew-Bear, “Un nouveau notable d’Antioche de Pisidie et les préfets de duumviri de la colonie”, Anatolia Antiqua 10 (2002) 277-289. 181 Cédric Brélaz was so limited in the case of Philippi might be due to the social origin of part of the initial colonists who were settled there. Apparently, the civilians who were expelled from Italy by Octavian because they had supported Marc Antony and who were moved to Philippi as a punishment (as well as perhaps the veterans of the legions which had been defeated during the battle of 42 BC who were first settled in Philippi by Marc Antony) did not succeed in making fortunes large enough to access the upper strata of Roman society and the imperial aristocracy. In this respect, Philippi was similar to the other medium-sized Roman colonies in the East, such as Dyrrachion, Dium, Patras, Alexandria Troas or Berytus (even if senators are attested for the two latter mentioned). 3. The importance of Philippi as a local community in Northeastern Greece should be compared to the neighboring foreign cities which also had a regional scope, such as Amphipolis, Serres, Thasos, Abdera or Maroneia. The immediate region in which the Roman colony of Philippi was involved ranged from the Strymon basin to the Nestos river. The fact that the colony was considered a major settlement in this area corresponding to Eastern Macedonia, if not the most important, is reflected by the decision by the so-called Pentapolis (a group of five foreign cities and local communities located in the Strymon valley which were independent from the colony) to raise a dedication in Greek to the Severan imperial family in the town of Philippi81. This was the first circle of regional activities for Philippians. The links and connections that the people living in Philippi (colonists as well as incolae) had with the outside world for personal reasons or economic purposes could potentially lead Philippians to every part of the Empire. We actually find Philippians serving as soldiers in Carthage or in Rome or, just the opposite, people who came from the Near East to settle in the colony. But the colony was primarily embedded in a much narrower space extending from Thessalonike to Northwestern Asia Minor, especially the area around the Straits (Hellespont, Propontis and Bosphorus) (see Map 2). It is surprising to note that Philippi, on the contrary, does not seem to have had specific connections with the other Roman colonies settled further west in the province of Macedonia, such as Cassandreia, Pella and Dium. This tends to confirm the assumption that regionalism within the Roman Empire was not determined, or limited, by the administrative boundaries of the provinces. Region certainly is a shifting, and sometimes even vague, concept and Philippians might well not have been consciously aware of being part of a ‘region’ with regard to their social, cultural and economic connectivity. Nevertheless, as far as the case of Roman Philippi is concerned, it seems appropriate to admit the existence of a Northern Aegean space encompassing not only the seaboard of Macedonia and Thracia, but also the Northwestern part of the Anatolian peninsula. The rooting of Philippi in this area even increased during the Early Byzantine period when it became a major stop and pilgrimage center on the Egnatian Way between Thessalonike and Constantinople, with the difference that at that time, Philippi took advantage of being closer to what was now the center of imperial power82. Cédric Brélaz University of Fribourg (Switzerland) cedric.brelaz@unifr.ch 81. CIPh II.1, no. 24. 82. J.P. Sodini, “L’architecture religieuse de Philippes, entre Rome, Thessalonique et Constantinople”, CRAI 2014, 1509-1542. 182