Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

Emperors, Kings, and Subjects 241

emissariesofthekingdommakingtheirway.^41 ThepresenceoftheRoman
Empirewastobesymbolisedfromthefirstcenturytotheearlyfourthby
thefactthatthekingswerecharacteristically(andperhapswithoutexcep-
tion),tobe,likethekingsofJudaea,RomancitizenswiththeRomanthree
names (tria nomina), retaining to the end the Julio-Claudian nomenclature
‘‘TiberiusIuliusRhoemetalces’’or‘‘Rhescuporis’’andsoforth.
All that will be attempted here is to pick out a fewexamples from the
inscriptionsoftheBosporankingdom,toillustratethesymbolicfunction-
ing of a system of dual sovereignty, of the local king and the distant, all-
powerfulemperor.ButwewillbeginwithastrikingroyalletterfromGor-
gippia,publishedinthesameyear,1965,asStruve’sexcellentcollectionof
the inscriptions of the kingdom, but too late to be included in it, and re-
markably neglected since.^42 It was indeed duly noticed by Louis Robert,^43
buthisintentiontore-publishitandanalyseitfullyinaforthcomingBul-
letinwasneverfulfilled.Bythemid-1990sithadstillnotgainedaplacein
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum,orinL’Année Epigraphique,until1994(as
AE1538).AssubsequentlyrevisedbyH.Heinen,thefirstofthetwoletters
containedintheinscriptionrunsasfollows:^44

KingAspourgosphilorōmaios[friendoftheRomans]

toPantaleonandTheangelos,

greetings.

BeingbenevolentlydisposedtowardsthecityoftheGorgippeis,and

wishingtosecureforthemtheirrights[tadikaia],sinceitseemedthatin

manyrespectstheyhadbeenfavourabletome,butespeciallyinhaving

preservedthemselves,duringmyjourneyup[anabasis]toSebastos Au-

tokrator[Imperator Augustus], in the most complete absence of distur-

bance,inaccordancewiththeinstructions[entolai]givenbyme,Irule

forthefuturethatinheritances[kleronomiai]shouldbyrightberetained

bythemaccordingtothekinshiplawofEupator.Therefore,byputting

41. Texttonn.25–27.


42. T.V. Blavatatskaya, ‘‘Reskripti tsarya Aspurga,’’Sovietskaya Archeologia10.2 (1965):
    197–209. See also S.Yu. Saprykin, ‘‘‘Ebratorov zakon o nasledovanii’ i yevo znacheniev
    istoriipontiiskovotsarstva’’(‘‘Eupator’sLawonInheritance,’’andItsRoleintheHistoryof
    thePonticKingdom),VDI197(1991):181–97.
    43.Bull. Épig.1968,378.


43. SeeH.Heinen,‘‘FehldeutungenderἀςάβασιςundderPolitikdesbosporanischen
    KönigsAspurgos,’’Hyperboreus4(1998):340–61;‘‘ZweiBriefedesbosporanischenKönigs
    Aspurgos(AE1994,1538).ÜberseheneBerichtigungsvorschlägeGüntherKlaffenbachsund
    weitereBeobachtungen,’’ZPE124(1999),133–44,whenceAE1998,1153.