A New Agonistic Honorific Inscription for Dioteimos from Termessos

This article presents a new agonistic inscription belonging to Dioteimos, son of Artemon, from Termessos. Ferit Baz discovered the inscription on the colonnaded street during the epigraphic survey conducted in Termessos in 2017. It mentions the names of Dioteimos, son of Artemon, who won the wrestling competition in the boys’ category, and the proboulos Hermaios. According to Heberdey’s stemma, the inscription is dated to ca. AD 180, as proboulos Hermaios is listed as belonging to the seventh generation. The most famous place in the city to erect monuments was the colonnaded street (as a locus celeberrimus) where the wrestlers also seem to have had favorable locations for their monuments. The most interesting situation of the pedestal is that the inscribed surface is not oriented towards the street. The inscribed surface faces the other architectural elements on the side. It is most likely that the pedestal of the statue was turned on its side in antiquity for unknown reasons. In this rotated state, the inscription is difficult to see and read. This situation is unusual since most inscriptions in and around the colonnaded street in Termessos are in situ. The pedestal of the statue is probably in its original position. However, this sideways rotation must have significantly diminished the representational value of the honorific monument. On the other hand, the Termessians must have been aware of the importance of the visual presence of their statues and their pedestals. The fact that the pedestal has been rotated in this way suggests that there may have been some changes in the erection and positioning of the pedestals on the colonnaded street at Termessos. This situation should always be taken into consideration.