L’Adnotatio de Constantin sur le droit de cité d’Orcistus en Phrygie

Abstract

The Orcistus inscription (MAMA VII, 305) consists of four documents, spanning the years from 324-326 to 331. A fine edition was published in 1956, and there have been important studies of it in the last twenty years. Nevertheless, the nature of the first document, its author and its date remain controversial: is it a letter of the praetorian prefect or an imperial adnotatio? The disputed text can be precisely restored because it is cited word for word in the next document. By this means unnecessary restorations must be eliminated, and the imperial character of the text can be recognised beyond doubt from the verb sancimus. Consequently the first document is none other than the adnotatio of Constantine, in its complete, original form, including, it would appear, the imperial subscript (scripsi?). The adnotatio and the second document, adressed to Ablabius, are probably not later than 325-326. At this date, Ablabius is not yet praetorian prefect but in fact vicarius of Asia, and, as such, perhaps already a senator. In conclusion, there is a discussion of the rescript procedure, in which the imperial response was issued in two differing formats, and of adaptations undergone by the text from the manuscript copy to the inscribed version. [Author, transl. by M. J. Jones with S. Corcoran]

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