What does this research mean for the field?

Newly discovered inscriptions from Akmoneia reveal specific civic and religious benefactions by local figures, including a coordinated statue dedication program by the priest Hierokles and previously unknown commissions by the honorand Demades. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This article aims to document new inscriptions from Akmoneia, shedding light on honorific dedications and funerary customs.

June 8, 2026Open Access

New Inscriptions from Akmoneia

Key Points

This article aims to document new inscriptions from Akmoneia, shedding light on honorific dedications and funerary customs.
Conducted a survey in the territory of Akmoneia, Ahatköy, Uşak Province
Identified and cataloged nine new inscriptions
Analyzed inscriptions for historical context and significance
Identified two honorific inscriptions dedicated to Demades, affirming his role in commissioning statues
Discovered a new mention of a statue dedication to Demeter Karpophoros by Hierokles and Hermogenes
Published three funerary inscriptions including one epigram revealing connections between individuals in the Roman army

Abstract

This article presents nine new inscriptions discovered during a survey conducted in the territory of Akmoneia, located at Ahatköy in the Banaz district of Uşak Province. Two of these monuments are honorific inscriptions preserved in a fragmentary state (nos. 2 and 4). In one of them (no. 2), the honorand Demades can be securely identified with the individual previously known from an honorific decree dated to AD 68, who is recorded as having dedicated numerous statues. A newly identified inscription (no. 1) reveals that, in addition to various benefactions, this individual also commissioned a torch-bearing statue (lampadephoros). A newly presented document concerning statue dedications along the main street of Akmoneia indicates that a priest named Hierokles, together with his son Hermogenes, erected a statue of Demeter Karpophoros and dedicated it to the divi Augusti and the demos (no. 3). A closely comparable inscription has recently been published (Uzunoğlu – Akyürek-Şahin 2023, 170–172, no. 1), but due to the loss of its upper portion, the identity of the statue associated with that base remained unclear. The close similarity between the two inscriptions is significant, as it demonstrates that Hierokles and his son Hermogenes carried out a coordinated programme of statue dedications along the city’s main street. Three of the published monuments (nos. 5–7) are funerary inscriptions, one of which is a funerary epigram of an individual, whose homeland was Synnada and who appears to have served in the Roman army (no. 5). The stone features a further epigram concerning Thalamos, who likewise appears to have held an official position in the army. Since the reading in line 1 of the first epigram clearly precludes the identification of the two individuals, it is possible that they were comrades, commemorated together on the same funerary monument. The remaining two inscriptions (nos. 8–9) survive only in fragmentary form; no. 8, inscribed on an architrave, is to be interpreted as part of a building inscription.

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