The RomanColoniaeof the Near East gious history. For the present what is relevant is the self-identification of the
dedicator (evidently the descendant of a Greek family which had received
the citizenship at least some decades before the foundation of thecolonia)
as aκόλ(ων)Καισαρεύς. The pseudo-Greek term is paralleled elsewhere in
the Near East: one example, from Palmyra, has already been noted (text to
n.above).
The use of Latin in thecoloniais now attested by a considerable num-
ber of inscriptions. There is a dedication by a lady named [Cleo?]patra,^87
and more important, the well-known inscription of a man who, or whose
family, gained the citizenship in the Flavian period:M. Fl. Agrippam, pon-
tif., IIviral. Col. I Fl. Aug. Caesareae, oratorem, ex dec. dec., pec. publ.(ILS
Lehmann and Holum [n. below], no. ). A single column from near
the city contains both a dedication to alegatusof the second or third cen-
tury, by aduo[vir]orduo[viri], perhapsex dec. dec. pec. publ.^88 More significant
still is the pair of inscriptions of the first half of the third century found in
the theatre. One names Aur. Fl. Theophilus, aneques Romanusanddecurioof
themetropolis, as being responsible for carrying out the decree of the decu-
rions of the colony to honour Val. Calpurnianus,praefectusof Mesopotamia
and Osrhoene,pat(rono) metr(opolis - eos?) ex d(ecreto) d(ecurionum).^89 The other
is a dedication to Aelius Iulianus,proc. Aug. n., alsopatr(ono) metr(opolis?) ex
d(ecreto) d(ecurionum).^90 The inscriptions represent valuable epigraphic confir-
mation of a phenomenon which is better attested on third-century coinage,
namely the combination of the titlecoloniawith the Greek status term for
major provincial cities,metropolis.^91 If there was at any time a precise defini-
.AE, M. L. Lehmann and K. G. Holum,The Greek and Latin Inscriptions
of Caesarea Maritima(), no. .[Coloniae] Primae Fl. Aug. [Caesareae]/..[Cleo]patra
mater eius hoc f(ieri) i(ussit); but see the better reading by Werner Eck cited there:[?Ex testa-
mento—IIviral(is) (?) col.] Primae Fl(aviae) Aug(ustae) / [Caesareae—/—?Cleo]patra mater eius
her(es) [ facere iussit?].
.AE, a Lehmann and Holum (n. ), no. .
.AE, a W. Eck,ZPE (): ff. Lehmann and Holum (n. ),
no. .
.AE, b Lehmann and Holum (n. ), no. . See now H. M. Cotton and
W. Eck, ‘‘A New Inscription from Caesarea Maritima and the Local Elite of Caesarea Mari-
tima,’’ in L. Rutgers, ed.,What Athens Has to Do with Jerusalem. Festschrift for Gideon Foerster
(), –, which discusses the use of Latin by members of the ruling families of Cae-
sarea.
. For a useful sketch of the evidence, see A. Kindler, ‘‘The Status of Cities in the Syro-
Palestinian Area as Reflected in Their Coins,’’Israel Numismatic Journal– (–): .