Tomb Garden Of Chaldaios

Contributor: Amelia Lamis
Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-01

Dates

early 2nd century CE

Garden Description

According to a marble plaque of Trajanic or Hadrianic date found near Akhisar, “Fabius Zosimus, prepared a sarcophagus for himself and his dearest wife Aurelia Pontiana and put it in a place free of graves in front of the city on the side of the shrine of Sambatha (a local Sibyl) in the garden (peribolo) of Chaldaeus (or “the Chaldaean”) beside the public road” (Φάβιος Ζώσιμος κατασκευάσας σορὸν ἔθετο ἐπὶ τόπου καθαροῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλεως πρὸς τῶι Σαμβαθείωι ἐν τῶι Χαλδαίου περιβόλωι παρὰ τὴν δημοσίαν ὁδὸν ἑαυτῶι ἐφ’ ᾧ τεθῇ καὶ τῆι γλυκυτάτηι αὐτοῦ γυναικὶ Αὐρηλίᾳ Ποντιανῆι, TAM V,2 1142). Here, as often elsewhere in central and western Anatolia, a tomb garden seems to be referred to metonymically by reference to its perimeter wall.

The establishment of a tomb monument in a garden belonging to an extraneous party is found elsewhere in Asia Minor at Hierapolis in the complex of M. Aurelius Valerianus and Cl(audius) [N]ausimachus. The date and location of Fabius’s funerary disposition is confirmed by a subscription to his declaration, carved on another face of the stone, which places it ”in the most splendid city of Thyateira” (ἐγένετο ἐν τῆι λαμπροτάτῃ Θυατειρηνῶν πόλει, TAM V,2 1142) during the consulship (probably the first consulship) of L. Catilius Severus, who held the office twice, in 110 and 120 CE.

Bibliography

  • Cagnat, R., T. Reinach, and E. Lafaye. 1927. Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes. Vol. 4. Paris. (worldcat); (Archive.org)
  • Herrmann, P. 1989. Tituli Lydiae linguis Graeca et Latina conscripti. Tituli Asiae Minoris 5.2. Vienna. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places