Tomb Garden of Athenaios and Neikomedes

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Dates

1904

Garden Description

A large and heavy stone found in 1904 in use as a doorstep at Kale Keui records the dedication by two brothers, Athenaios and Neikomedes, the sons of Nicanor, of a tomb monument for their father and mother and calls on the heavenly and chthonian Menes (Anatolian deities related to the Roman Di Manes) not to allow anyone “except a [brother ?] to sell or buy the garden (peribolo) of the tomb” (μὴ ἐξεῖναί τινι πωλῆσαι τὸ περίβολον τοῦ τάφου μήτε ἀγοράζειν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ(?), 13-18). The prohibition against sale suggests that here, as often elsewhere in Asia Minor and Italy, a garden is referred to metonymically by the perimeter wall that enclosed it.

Bibliography

T. Callender, “Explorations in Lycaonia and Isauria,” in W. M. Ramsay, ed., Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. Aberdeen, 1906, p. 164, no. 23. (Worldcat); (Archive.org)
J. Kubińska, Les monuments funéraires dans les inscriptions grecques de l’Asie Mineure. Warsaw, 1968, pp. 144. (worldcat)

Sidamaria on Gardens of the Roman Empire

Tomb Garden of Athenaios and Neikomedes

Dates

Excavation Dates

Garden Description

Bibliography

Keywords