The RomanColoniaeof the Near East cant re-building—colonnades in the forum, a basilica, a columned street,
and a stadium—none precisely dated but possibly belonging to the Severan
period.^135 The known inscriptions are extremely few; but one very fragmen-
tary one seems to confirm that, as in othercoloniae, there wereduumviri,de-
scribed by the normal Greek equivalent,στρατηγοί.^136 The colonial coins at
any rate give some elements of the city’s title:COL(onia) L(ucia?) SEP(timia)
SEB(aste).^137
That completes the list of the places within the already-established pro-
vincial area which received colonial status from Severus. What Sebaste did
to earn this award is not clear; but elsewhere the connection with timely
transfer to the Severan side in the civil war is explicitly or implicitly stated.
Rather different considerations inevitably apply to the remarkable list ofcolo-
niaewhich made their appearance in newly conquered Mesopotamia, one of
the least known and least understood areas of the ancient world.^138
The initial creation of the new provinces of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene left
as an enclave the small kingdom of Abgar with its capital Edessa, which was
to become acoloniaonly under Caracalla (text to nn. – below). Here,
as will be seen, there is remarkable evidence. Elsewhere we know only bare
details. In the case of Nisibis at least, Cassius Dio indicates vaguely that a
status (ἀξίωμα) was given to the city at the moment of the formation of
the province; but elsewhere he elucidates this point by saying that Nisibis is
now ‘‘ours’’ and is regarded as a colony—νῦνμὲνἡμετέραἐστὶκαὶἄποικος
ἡμῶννομίζεται.^139 The coinage confirms this, though the legends are with-
out exception Greek: the title as given on the coins expands fromΚΟΛ
ΝΕΣΙΒΙunderMacrinustoΙΟΥ(λία)ΣΕΠ(τιμία)ΚΟΛΩ(νία)ΝΕΣΙΒΙ
ΜΗΤ(ρόπολις) under Philip.^140 Until recently, nothing more was known.
. J. W. Crowfoot, K. M. Kenyon, and E. L. Sukenik,The Buildings at Samaria(),
–.
. G. A. Reisner, C. G. Fisher, and D. G. Lyon,Harvard Excavations at Samaria, –
(), , no. , and pl. c: [στρα]τηγούντωνἈννίουῬο[ύφου.. .]. See Crowfoot
et al. (n. ), , no. .
.BMC Palestine,–,–.
. For this region, see L. Dilleman,Haute-Mésopotamie orientale et pays adjacents();
N. Pigulevskaja,Lesvillesdel’étatiranienauxépoquespartheetsassanide(); D. Oates,Studies
in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq().
. Dio , , ; , , . See Pigulevskaja (n. ), –, and for its later history as a
Romancolonia, C. S. Lightfoot, ‘‘Facts and Fictions: The Third Siege of Nisibis,’’Historia
(): .
.BMC Mesopotamia, cviii–ix, –.