| DESCRIPTION |
|
|---|---|
| Language: | Latin |
| Medium: | Limestone |
| Size: | ? cm high ? cm wide ? cm thick |
| Length: | 4 lines of writing |
| Honoree: | Hadrian emperor of Roman ruled 117-138 |
| Approximate Date: | c. 135 CE |
| Place of Discovery: | Jerusalem temple mount wall |
| Date of Discovery: | ? |
|
(from Finegan 1992:199) |
by K. C. Hanson (Adapted from Finegan 1992:199) |
TITO AEL HADRIANO ANTONINO AUG PIO P P PONTIF AUGUR |
To Titus Ael[ius] Hadrianus Antoninus Aug[ustus] Pius the f[ather] of the f[atherland], pontif[ex], augur. D[ecreed] by the D[ecurions] letters in brackets fill out abbreviations |
| DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
| 1. What would motivate the decurions to dedicate a statue (which
is what this inscription was originally part of) to Hadrian?
2. Who were decurions, and what were their social role and status? 3. What is the significance of each of Hadrian's titles listed here: father of the fatherland, pontifex, and augur? 4. What do Hadrian's titles tell us about the structure of the Roman Empire and the emperor's roles? |
| SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY |
| Barnard, L. W.
“Hadrian and Judaism.”
Journal of Roman History 5 (1968-69) 285-98.
Birley, Anthony R. Hadrian: The Restless Emperor. New York: Routledge, 1997. Danker, Frederick W. Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament Semantic Field. St. Louis: Clayton, 1982. Finegan, Jack. The Archaeology of the New Testament. Rev. ed. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1992. Garzetti, A. From Tiberius to the Antonines: A History of the Roman Empire A.D. 14–192. Translated by J. R. Foster. London: Methuen. Hanson, K. C., and Douglas E. Oakman. Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998. Jones, Brian W. “Hadrian.” In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 3:17-18. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Mott, S. C. “The Power of Giving and Receiving: Reciprocity in Hellenistic Benevolence.” In Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation: Studies in Honor of Merrill C. Tenney, edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, 60-72. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975. |
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