Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ADALYA, cilt.19, ss.115-132, 2016 (AHCI)
Some inscriptions on the cash delivery to a limited number of (sic) known from the northern and western Lycian cities of Oinoanda, Tlos and Xanthos are revisited in light of Pliny's ep. X, 116-117. Firstly, the article concludes that the institution of sitonia as a magistracy, well known from numerous inscriptions from Asia Minor regarding purchasing grains, did not become established in Lycia. Secondly, numerous inscriptions covering sitometria, which is the basis for sitometroumenoi, from other parts of Asia Minor and abroad are reviewed. It is further emphasized that sitometria is not peculiar to Lycia. While examples sitometria are attested in the Aegean islands and Caria in the Hellenistic period, those from the cities of northern, western and central Lycia are from the Roman Imperial period. As an institution, sitometria distributes/apportions grain among the citizens, and it became organized officially at some point in Lycia. On the other hand, sitometroumenoi is a medium participium derived from the verb sigma iota tau o mu epsilon tau rho epsilon omega. When the Demostheneia was instituted at the latest in 124 A.D., a privileged group of 500 citizens was created in Oinoanda encompassing the boleutai and sitometroumenoi out of the bouleutai. In Tlos this group consisted of 1100 persons. In Xanthos although the number is not known, it is known that gerousiastai were also included in this privileged group. Except for bouleutai and gerousiastai, who else were included in the sitometroumenoi andres has been debated for a long time. Pliny's epistulae 116-117, which mention the Bithynian habit of issuing invitations, seem to define sitometroumenoi andres. The Bithynians regularly distributed gifts (ad sollemnes sportulas) of one or two each denarii per person to various strata of community (corpora: totam bulen atque etiam e plebe non exiguum numerum), and they called it as dianome. Their numbers reached 1000 individuals and sometimes even more. The number of sitometroumenoi andres in Tlos was also over 1000 individuals. The cash handouts to sitometroumenoi are named as dianome in two inscriptions, as in Bithynia. In Bithynia bouleutai were among the invitees and also a substantial number of the plebs was invited on various occasions. Here, in Lycia the sitometroumenoi other than the bouleutai probably corresponded to a new group of citizens picked among the plebs id est the demotai. The privileges of this group were linked with the term sitos. Correspondingly, the article advances the understanding that the sitometroumenoi andres were the group of persons who have the priority to receive grains'. That this privilege was bestowed on the demotai in addition to the bouleutai and gerousiastai, would have been due to a rebellion of the demos, who suffered from a difficult situation in the city of Oinoanda (IGR III, 493: epsilon nu delta nu sigma chi rho eta sigma tau o tau alpha tau omega kappa alpha 1 rho omega) that arose before the Demostheneia. It is suggested that the concept might have originated in Oinoanda and spread to the other cities for the inscriptions of both sitometria and sitometroumenoi andres are found more frequently in Oinoanda. Accordingly, the foundation of sitometria in Oinoanda was probably realized by C. Licinnius Fronto, a member of the Licinnii, or by another individual of the same family, and the sitometroumenoi andres might have appeared in the Demostheneia inscription for the first time.