Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 3 - The Greek World, the Jews, and the East

 Rome and the East

the non-Greek element: ‘‘at Damascus, the men’spancration[all-in wrestling]
twice, at Berytus the men’spancration, at Tyre the men’spancration, at Caesarea
Stratonos the men’spancration,atNeapolisofSamariathemen’spancration,
at Scythopolis the men’spancration,atGazathemen’spancration, at Caesarea
Panias the men’spancrationtwice, at Hieropolis the men’spancration....’’^5
Berytus and Caesarea were alreadycoloniae(and, as it happens, Damascus,
Tyre, Neapolis, and Gaza were later to gain the same status).
That was not, however, the whole story. The impact of Roman rule was
reflected, among other things, by the entry not only into Greek but into
Semitic languages of a long list of Latin terms, among themcoloniaand its
cognates.^6 Some of these will be considered further below, above all in con-
nection with Palmyra and Edessa. But it may be instructive to mention here,
as an example of the complex cultural context into which these Romancolo-
niae,ornominalcoloniae, were inserted, two inscriptions, one from Apamea
and one from Palmyra. In Apamea, in the reign of Hadrian, we find the pecu-
liar institutions of thecoloniaof Berytus reflected in an inscription honouring

an actor: among other distinctions he wasἐν κολωνείᾳΒηρύτῳτετειμη-

μένονσεξβερὰτι(AE, ). The term is not other-wise attested in Greek

transliteration, and the form in which it is given is presumably intended to
represent the Latin ablativesexviratu. Then, from a century later, there is a
Palmyrene bust of the first half of the third century, now in the Louvre,
which represents a man with a Greek-Latin name, who is a citizen not of
Palmyra itself but of thecoloniaof Berytus.^7 The subject is identified in a

. L. Moretti,Iscrizioni agonistiche greche(), no. .
. For Greek, see H. J. Mason,Greek Terms for Roman Institutions: A Lexicon and Analysis
(),  and –. For Semitic inscriptions, see M. G. Angeli Bertinelli,Nomenclatura
pubblica e sacra di Roma nelle epigrafi semitiche(),  (colonia,colonus); – (duumvir,
duumviratus). In the latter case the relevant transliterated forms are all borrowed from the
Greek equivalents. See, for comparative material, S. Krauss,Griechische und lateinische Lehn-
wörter im Talmud, Midrasch und Targumim(–), and A. Schall,Studien über griechische
Fremdwörter im Syrischen(). For QLNY’, see M. Jastrow,A Dictionary of the Targumim
(repr. ), . For linguistic interplay, note also M. G. Angeli Bertinelli, ‘‘I Semiti e
Roma: appunti di una lettura di fonti semitiche,’’SertaHistoricaAntiquaI (), . Martin
Goodman drew my attention to further uses ofcoloniaas a loan-word in the Babylonian
Talmud:Sukkaha;Yebamothb;Baba Bathraa. QLNY’ unfortunately does not find a
placeinD.Sperber,A Dictionary of Latin and Greek Legal Terms in Rabbinic Literature().
. C. Clermont-Ganneau,Répertoire d’épigraphie semitiqueII,no.CISII ;
(Greek)IGRIII  OGIS. See M. A. R. Colledge,The Art of Palmyra(), 
and pl. .