The RomanColoniaeof the Near East the brother of the emperor Philip, at their native city, Philippopolis (now
itself acolonia).^124
Even in Heliopolis we would expect that both before and after the confer-
ment of the new status Greek will have been current as well as Latin; and we
do duly find one Greek inscription which expresses the colonial character of
the place. A relief from the stairway of the main temple of Baalbek is accom-
panied by a brief inscription contained in a cartouche:Νάρκισος Κασίου,
βουλευτικὸςκολ(ωνείας)Ἡλ(ιουπόλεως).^125 The inscription has sometimes
been taken to date to the first half of the second century, and hence to pro-
vide evidence that from the beginning Heliopolis was an independentcolonia.
But the date is hypothetical, and a single brief inscription such as this cannot
possibly stand against the accumulation of other evidence. In fact it is to be
seen as a Greek reflection, of a familiar type, of the institutions of Severus’
new foundation.
The other place which Herodian (text to n. above) records as having
displayed a timely loyalty to Severus in was the city of Tyre. It can hardly
be doubted that its acquisition from Severus of the rank ofcoloniaand the
privilege ofius Italicumcame about precisely for that reason. But if that is so,
its proud citizen Domitius Ulpianus, certainly born some decades before the
change of status, chooses to record the fact in more grandiose language, re-
flecting the antiquity of the city and its long-standing relation with Rome:ut
estinSyriaPhoenicesplendidissimaTyriorumcolonia,undemihiorigoest,nobilisregio-
nibus,seriesaeculorumantiquissima,armipotens,foederisquodcumRomanispercussit
tenacissima; huic enim divus Severus et imperator noster ob egregiam in rem publi-
cam imperiumque Romanum insignem fidem ius Italicum dedit.^126 From Ulpian’s
wording the date should not be earlier than.., when Caracalla (impe-
rator noster) became joint Augustus with Severus; and it very probably was
precisely , the same date as Laodicea.
Tyre, like other places, was now simultaneously acoloniaand ametropolis.
The scanty epigraphy of the city, largely confined to grave inscriptions of the
late Roman period, offers very little confirmation of this, although one re-
markable new discovery will be mentioned below. But the coins of Severus’
reign already show the legendSEP(timia)TURUSMETROP(olis)COLONI(a),
and similar legends, with variations, continue up to the reign of Gallienus.
In the absence of all other evidence the fact that for a period under Elagabal
.ILS.
.IGLSVI .
.Dig. , , , pr; cf. , , , (Paulus):Eiusdem iuris et Tyriorum civitas a divis Severo
et Antonino facta est.