SEG 62.144 Place of Agathokles

Place of Agathokles

SEG 62.144 Date: 1st-3rd centuries AD

Place (topos), May Agathokles prosper!^[1]

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Greek text

References:

SEG 62.144 (Translated text) (AIO)

Translation by: Chris de Lisle

Monument type: Stylobate

Inscription type: Topos-inscription

Findspot: Roman Agora (In situ)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This text, carved on a stylobate block of the south stoa of the Roman Agora, in the tenth intercolumnal space from the east end, is one of six preserved ‘topos-inscriptions’ from the Roman Agora, all of which are dated roughly between the first and third centuries AD. The others are SEG 62.145-149 and perhaps SEG 18.94 (cf. D.S. Sourlas with N. Papazarkadas in V. Chankowski and P. Karvonis, Tout vendre, tout acheter, 2012, 122-126, 134-135). Topos-inscriptions link a location to a person. They usually consist of a name or title in the genitive case accompanied by the word topos (‘place’), but sometimes they are a name with a verb of possession, or just a name in the genitive or nominative cases (in which case identification as a ‘topos-inscription’ is uncertain). They are usually roughly cut, like graffiti, but may be dipinti (painted texts) or occasionally formal inscriptions. Most often, they appear on paving, columns, and stylobates, especially on major streets and stoas, but they are also found in sanctuaries, churches, places for spectacles, gymnasia, bathhouses, and other public buildings. They are frequent from the first century AD until the 6th century AD throughout Asia Minor and the Greek East (‘locus-inscriptions,’ the Latin equivalent, are encountered throughout the Mediterranean). They reserve a location for an individual or group, such as spaces for merchants’ stalls, spaces for officials to conduct their duties, and mustering spots for participating in or viewing processions and spectacles. Some may have had a commemorative function. The 'topos inscriptions' in the Roman Agora probably indicate merchant's stalls, although difficulties with this interpretation are posed by SEG 62.145 and 146, which occupy the same location, and by SEG 62.148, which includes a sexually explicit obscenity. For a general discussion of ‘topos-inscriptions’, see C. Saliou, ZPE 202, 2017, 125-54. On the Roman Agora in general, see IG II³ 4, 12 with notes.

The invocation of good fortune in this inscription is paralleled in SEG 62.149 (“with good fortune”), as well as ala2004 206 from Aphrodisias and I Milet. 209 from Miletos.

Added: 6 Mar 2026
Updated: 6 Mar 2026
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ID: AIO_3584