of the Grceco- Roman Era in certain ancient Sites of Asia Minor. 133 



Hadrian had also been introduced; for it is matter of history, that this great 

 emperor had emulated his predecessors in the succour which he had afforded to 

 the Sardians in their emergency. This monument, therefore, refers chiefly to a 

 period, in which this metropolis had emerged from a dreadful national calamity, 

 or rather a succession of calamities, in consequence of the earthquakes which so 

 frequently devastated the volcanic region of the Katakekaumene. Those which 

 had taken place during the reign of Tiberius are expressly recorded by 

 Tacitus,* and Dio Cassiust I'cfers to those which had occurred in Trajan's time, 

 but in a general way, as the attention of that historian was more especially 

 directed to Antiocheia, where Trajan was sojourning during the season of the 

 catastrophe. The generosity of his successor, on a similar occasion, procured 

 him, by a decree of the Sardians, the title of Neocorus, | one of great honour, 

 and much sought after during the dynasty of pagan Rome, as well by commu- 

 nities as by individuals. It may be translated, Temple-warden. 



The conclusion which appears, from the indistinct notices at the close of this 

 titulus, to be probable is, that the funds at the disposal of the priesthood had 

 mainly contributed to the erection of this testimonial. 



We are informed also in the fifth, and as appears to me, in the thirteenth line 

 also, that Sardes enjoyed, like Pergamus and a few other cities of principal note, 

 the title of 5ty vecoKopos, This expressed a much higher grade of honour than 

 the single Neocore,§ to which, even by itself, the generality of cities esteemed 

 themselves fortunate in being: admitted. 



The characters are, it is true, considerably effaced in both the instances to 

 which I refer, and I did not venture to supply the Lacunse until after a most 

 careful consideration of the text, which points at once to the readings which I 

 have introduced. 



The simple epithet, vecoKopo^, appears to have occurred towards the close, 

 namely, in the twenty-third line. This, however, might have been 8ls vecoKopos 

 also, as a very considerable hiatus precedes the first syllable, which, together 

 with the last, is the only remaining portion of the word. 



There is a fragment preserved in the eighteenth line, belonging to a word 



* Annal. ii. 47. f Hist. Rom. Ixviii. 24. 



X Vid. Rees' Cyclopaed. Art. Sardis. § Vid. Vaillant. de Numism. Graec. Rom. pp. 266, ss. 



