The RomanColoniaeof the Near East tion of the city’s status in or : ‘‘in the month Iyár of the year of the
former reckoning [the Seleucid era] and the year ...ofthefreedom....’’
‘‘Freedom’’ (ḤRWRYH) here seems to refer both to the moment of pro-
vincialisation and to the apparently simultaneous elevation of Edessa to the
status ofcolonia. For the city is referred to as ‘‘the renowned Antonina [sic]
Edessa, Colonia Metropolis Aurelia Alexandria’’ (’NṬWNYN’ ’DS’ NṢYḤT’
QLWNY’ MTRPWLS ’WRLY’ ’LKSNDRY’).Coloniathus makes its appear-
ance as a loan-word, slightly differently transliterated by comparison with
Aramaic and Palmyrene, in yet another Semitic language. As in various other
cases, it is associated with the purely Greek status appellation ofmetropolis
and with items of imperial nomenclature, of which the last will presum-
ably have been acquired in the reign of Severus Alexander (..–).
Here again, however, we are not presented with a mere change of name,
but with a new ‘‘colonial’’ constitution. For the document is also dated not
only ‘‘in the priesthood [BKMRWT’] of Marcus Aurelius Antiochus, Roman
knight [HPWS RHMWS—i.e.,ἱππεὺςῬωμαῖος], son of Belšu,’’ but also by
the twostratēgoi—‘‘in thestratēgia[B’SṬRṬGWT’] of Marcus Aurelius Abgar,
Roman knight, son of Ma‘nu, grandson of Agga, and of Abgar, son of Hafsai,
grandson of Bar-Kmr.’’ On the verso one of the twostratēgoi/duumviri, Aure-
lius Abgar, appears as a witness, writing his own signature both in Syriac—
’WRLS ’BGR SṬRṬG’ ŠHD (witness)—and in Greek:ἌβγαροςorἌβγαρὁ
στρ(ατηγός).^175 That he could and did write both is a very significant fact.
The document shows throughout the impact of Roman citizenship and
Roman nomenclature. All the persons involved, both male and female, have
Roman names, with Semitic, or in one case Greek,cognomina. Almost the
same applies to the seller, Lucius(?) Aurelius Tiro, son of Bar B‘šmn, ḤRNY’
—‘‘Harranian,’’ that is, from Carrhae/Harran, also now a Romancolonia(text
to n. above). But we also seem to find traces of the previous system
of city government of Edessa. For there is still a scribe (SPR’) in whose
hand the main body of the text is written, and who concludes it with the
words ‘‘I Marcus Aurelius Belšu, son of Moqimu, the scribe, have written this
document’’ (MRQWS ’WRLYWS BLŠW BR MQYMW SPR’ KTBT ŠTR’
HN’). Immediately above, another official, perhaps the supervisor of the ar-
chives, writes in Greek:Αὐρ.Μάννοςὁἐπὶτοῦἱεροῦκαὶτοῦπολειτικοῦ
μ(α?)ρ(τυρῶ?). There follows a seal with the image of Gordian III (..–
). The use of Greek, however, may serve to introduce one of the most
anomalous features in the history of Edessa as a Romancolonia. There ap-
pear to be no inscriptions reflecting this status. But, as elsewhere, there are
. Goldstein (n. ) denies that there is any visible trace of the finalτandρ.