Asiarch

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An Asiarch ( Greek Ἀσιάρχης , literally "ruler of Asia") exercised a prominent function in the Roman province of Asia , the nature of which is not entirely clear. The Asiars were probably the annual representatives of the most important cities in the province, who presided over the provincial parliament ( koinon ) and had to organize and carry out the public games in honor of the gods and the Roman emperors ( imperial cult ) at their expense. They were based in the cities where this festival took place and where the temples of the gods concerned were located, e.g. B. in Ephesus or Pergamon . They were elected by the cities and confirmed by the proconsul . Asiarches are known from numerous inscriptions , but are also mentioned in the New Testament and in the Martyrdom of Polycarps .

In research, the identity of the Asiars with the "high priests of the (province) Asia" ( archiereus tes Asias ), whose ritual office is also linked to the imperial cult in selected cities in numerous inscriptions, is controversial . While most scholars take the traditional view that Asiarch and archiereus are two names for the same office, some researchers assume that the Asiarches, unlike the high priests, held a local office.

In other Roman provinces in the eastern half of the empire, the Asiarches corresponded to the Bithyniarches , Galatars and Lyciarches .

literature

  • Rosalinde A. Kearsley: Asiarchs, archiereis, and the archiereiai of Asia. In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine studies 27 (1986), pp. 183-192.
  • Rosalinde A. Kearsley: Asiarchs: Titulature and function. A reappraisal. In: Studii Clasice 26 (1988), pp. 57-65.
  • Peter Herz : Asiarches and Archiereiai. On the provincial cult of the province of Asia. In: Tyche 7 (1992), pp. 93-115.
  • Steven J. Friesen: Asiarchs. In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 126 (1999), pp. 275–290 ( online (PDF file; 101 kB)).
  • Steven J. Friesen: High Priests of Asia and Asiarchs. Farewell to the identification theory. In: Peter Scherrer (Ed.): Stones and ways. Festschrift for Dieter Knibbe for his 65th birthday. Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1999, pp. 303–307, ISBN 3-900305-29-3 .
  • Helmut Engelmann: Asiarchs. In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 132 (2000), pp. 173–175 ( online (PDF file; 36 kB)).
  • Peter Weiß : Asiars are Archiereis Asias. One answer to SJ Friesen. In: Resistance - Adaptation - Integration. The Greek world and Rome. Festschrift for Jürgen Deininger on his 65th birthday. Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 241-254, ISBN 3-515-07911-4 .
  • Babett Edelmann-Singer: Koina and Concilia. Genesis, organization and socio-economic function of the provincial parliaments in the Roman Empire , Stuttgart 2015.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Acts 19:31.
  2. ^ Martyrdom Polycarps 12, 2.
  3. ^ Already Karl Georg Brandis : Asiarches . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Sp. 1564-1578. The most important representatives of this view in recent research are Rosalinde A. Kearsley and Steven J. Friesen. The identity of Asiars and high priests, on the other hand, has represented Peter Herz, Helmut Engelmann and Peter Weiß in recent years.