216 The Imperial Government
ofApollosituatedinanotherGreekcity,SeleuciaontheTigris.Thefactis
recordedonabilingualinscription,inGreekandParthian(thelatterwritten
inAramaicletters)onthestatueitself.^26
WecanthusassumewithoutdifficultythatwhentheemperorMacrinus,
whoseizedpowerafterthemurderofCaracallainMesopotamiain217,sent
‘‘friendly messages, and returned captives’’ to the Parthian king Artabanus,
theletterandanyaccompanyingexchangeswereinGreek(CassiusDio79,
29,2).GreekwastoremainoneoftheroyallanguagesofthenewPersian
Empire, as is illustrated most clearly by the great inscription of Shapur I
fromNaqsh-e-Rustam(textton.3above),setupinthreelanguages,Greek,
MiddlePersian,andParthian.
ThesamepredominanceofGreekasaninternationallanguagecanbeas-
sumedforallthekingdoms,ofvaryingsizeandstability,whichweretobe
foundinthebroadzonebetweentheRedSeaandtheBlackSea.Aninscrip-
tionfromthecityofPrieneinAsiaMinorhappenstoalludequitecasuallyto
thefactthatasearlyas129b.c.anambassadorhadgone‘‘toPetraofArabia,’’
theNabateancapital,forwhatpurposeisnotknown.^27 Wecanbecertainthat
theambassadorfromthisGreekcitydidnotdevotehimselftostudyingthe
Nabateanlanguage(adialectofAramaic)beforehesetoff.TheNabateans’
officialuseofGreekisshownnotonlyontheircoinageoftheHellenistic
periodbutalso,forinstance,indedicationswhichoneoftheirkings,Rab-
bel, like other kings, placed on the Capitol in Rome. In fact, it was made
forhimbyhisambassadors,describedinGreekaspresbeutai.^28 Thesamewill,
beyond question, apply to the dynastyof the kings of the Bosporus, since
thelanguageofthekingdomandthecitieswithinitwasentirelyGreek.In
thecorrespondencebetweenPlinytheYounger,asgovernorofPontusand
Bithynia,andTrajan,wehappentocatchaglimpseofaletterbeingtransmit-
tedbySauromatesI(a.d.93/4–123/4)toTrajan.Indeed,wefindacomplex
set of exchanges proceeding simultaneously. A messenger (tabellarius)from
thekingarrivesinBithyniacarryingalettertoTrajan,andalsoonetoPliny
himself,urginghimtosendthemessengeronwardswithallspeed,asthelet-
tertotheEmperorcontainsthingsheurgentlyneedstoknow.Atthesame
timeanembassyfromtheBosporus,ormorepreciselyfromtheking,ispur-
- Published inThe Land between Two Rivers: Twenty Years of Italian Archaeology in the
Middle East(Turin,1985),423–25,no.231. - SeeG.W.Bowersock,Roman Arabia(Cambridge,Mass.,1983),22.
- A.Degrassi,‘‘LededichedipopoliereasiaticialpopoloromanoeaGioveCapi-
tolino,’’Bulletino della commissione archeologica communale di Roma74(1952):19–47,onp.34,
no.20ScrittivaridiAntichitàI(Rome,1962),415–44.