Prosopographia Palmyrena
Prosopographia Palmyrena
Who was who in ancient Palmyra? Thousands of people from the ancient oasis city in the Syrian desert are known to us by name: poor and rich, powerful and powerless, men, women and children. Who of them belonged to the elite? Who was related to whom and who married into which family? Where was the centre of these people's lives, how far did their horizons and business activities extend?
The DFG-funded research project "Prosopographia Palmyrena" aims to find answers to these and other questions. The aim is to record all Palmyrenes known by name in a database which, when completed, will provide information about the people and their relationships to each other.
Palmyrenes introduce themselves:
ˀlhbl, son of bwly, brother of rbˀl, brother of mhrw
We know of the second brother of mhrw from a dedicatory inscription from Ras-esh-Shaar in Palmyrene, which can be dated to 194 AD. He dedicated an altar to the god Maanu, but neither the Greek spelling of his name nor his academic appointment or social position have survived.
Greek name: -
Academic appointment: Unknown
Social position: Unknown
Attested in: PAT 1702
Date: 194 AD
Type of inscription: Consecration inscription, on an altar of Maanu
Localisation: Palmyrene, Ras-esh-Shaar
Special features: -
ywlys ˀwrlys zbdbwl, son of mlkw, grandson of lšmš, great-grandson of ˀpsk
is known to us from a tomb cession contract from Palmyra dating to 222 AD, in which he ceded parts of his tomb to ywlys ˀwrlys mtly, son of ḥlptˀ. The trias nomnias tells us that both he and his business partner were Roman citizens, but nothing is known about his academic appointment.
Greek name: -
Academic appointment: Unknown
Social status: Roman citizen
Attested in: PAT 1657
Date: 222 AD
Type of inscription: Tomb cession
Localisation: Palmyra
Special features: Cedes parts of a tomb to ywlys ˀwrlys mtly, son of ḥlptˀ.
gys ywlys mksyms
in Greek Ίουλιος Μάξιμους, was a centurion in a Roman legion and also reveals himself as a Roman citizen through the trias nominas. The inscription, which was placed on a stone column either in his honour or in honour of a deity as part of the Great Colonnade of Palmyra, can be dated to 115 AD. It is only incompletely preserved and is also unusual in that it lacks the genealogy that is otherwise typical of Palmyrene inscriptions.
Greek name: Ίουλιος Μάξιμους
Academic appointment: Centurion in the legions
Social status: Roman citizen
Attested in: PAT 1548
Date: 115 AD.
Type of inscription: Consecration / honour inscription on a stone column
Location: Palmyra, Great Colonnade
Special features: The genealogy characteristic of Palmyrene is missing