The RomanColoniaeof the Near East Europos, which also never minted its own coins, but where a papyrus con-
tract of divorce of.., almost the latest document from the history of
the town, gives it a title which possibly reflects both its foundation in the
early Hellenistic period and a new Roman status:ἐνκολωνείᾳΕὐρωπ[αίων
Σελεύκου]Νεικάτορος[τ]ῇἱερᾷ[καὶ]ἀ[σύλ]ῳκαὶα[ὐ]τονόμ[ῳ]. The title
is enough to give substance to a couple of other references, one with the
loan-wordκόλωνες, in the plural, among the inscriptions in Dura, suggest-
ing that the title had been conferred here too, by which emperor we do
not know.^212
The same three Greek titles, ‘‘sacred, inviolate, and autonomous,’’ are used
to describe the city of Gaza in an inscription from Portus near Rome, dating
to the reign of Gordian III.^213 It seems clear that the place was not yet acolo-
nia. But a lead weight from Gaza itself shows that it too did become one at
some point:κολωνίαςΓάζης,ἐπὶἩρῴδουΔιοφάντου.^214 It is perhaps para-
doxical that this relatively obscure place should not only have gained such an
honour, but should also have been the location of quite extensive narratives
relating to the fourth and fifth centuries, which duly confirm that it then had
a colonial constitution. The first is the brilliantly evocativeVita of Hilarion
by Jerome, covering the first half of the fourth century.^215 BeinginLatin,it
can of course deploy the correct terminology. We thus find that the chief
official of the city is aGazensis duumvir(ch. ). Confirmation is offered by
Sozomenus’Ecclesiastical History, which speaks ofστρατηγοί(, ); and per-
haps by Mark the Deacon’sLife of the Bishop Porphyry, which speaks of ‘‘the
two leading men,’’τῶνδύο πρωτευόντων, named Timotheos and Epipha-
nios, along with adēmekdikosand someeirēnarchoi(), in office in the last
couple of years of the century. However, two chapters later () he speaks of
no. :στρατηγὸνκα[ὶπά]τρωνα τῆςκ[ολω]νείας. See Kraeling, . Later excavations
do not seem to have produced any further inscriptions bearing on this topic.
. P. Dura , .–. Cf. F. Cumont,FouillesdeDura-Europos(), , no. :πιάκλα
[εἰ]σὶκολ(ώνων?); , no. :κόλωνες,βουλευταὶκαὶεἱερεῖς;andExcavations at Dura-
EuroposIII (), , no. (statue base for Julia Domna):Αὐρηλ(ιανῶν)Ἀντωνινιανῶν
Εὐρωπαίωνἡβουλή; V (), , no. :κολωνιοδ[ουρανός?].
.IGRI . See C. A. M. Glucker, ‘‘The City of Gaza in the Roman and Byzantine
Periods,’’BAR Int. Ser. (): .
.IGRIII ; Glucker (n. ), , no. .
. Migne,PLXXXIII, cols. –. English translation in R. J. Deferrari, ed.,Early
ChristianBiographies(Fathers of the Church XV, ), –; text with introduction, Ital-
ian translation, and notes in C. Mohrmann, ed.,Vite dei SantiIV (). See also Glucker
(n. ), ; H. Grégoire and M.-A. Kugener, eds.,Marc le Diacre,Vie de Porphyre().