Hérodès fils de Samos et sa famille. Autour d’une inscription funéraire en remploi dans la basilique Nord du site d’Hagios Vassileios (Thasos)

Abstract

Herodes son of Samos and his family. About a funerary inscription reused in the northern basilica at the site of Hagios Vassileios (Thasos). Among the significant finds at the site of Hagios Vassileios, to the west of the ancient city of Thasos, is the base of an ambon which belongs to northern most paleochristian basilica brought to light in this area. In an older phase, the block belonged to an inscribed funerary monument : five names, among which three are male and two female, were engraved on its main face. All these names appear in other Thasian inscriptions of Roman times : they belong to an important local family, in which the names Herodes son of Samos and Samos son of Herodes seem to have alternated from generation to generation. The confrontation of these documents allows a reconstruction of the stemma of the family as well as the study of its integration into the upper class of Thasian society.

Recent epigraphic research in Thasos, Aegean Thrace & Samothrace (2005-2015)

“…The match between the two fragments (Parissaki 2002 = SEG LII 815) has been confirmed following consultation of the squeeze of the Thasian fragment in the archives of the EfA. As a result, it has become clear that Perigenis, a woman honoured in the first fragment, was the wife of Samos, honoured in the second (Fournier andDadaki 2012-2013). The reconstituted inscription (Fig.…”

“…The second epitaph is inscribed on a large marble block from a funerary monument, reused in Proto-Byzantine times and discovered at Agios Vassileios. This monument, dated to the first century AD, bore the names of five Thasians -three men and two women -belonging to three generations (Fournier andDadaki 2012-2013). It is worth mentioning here the stimulating study by Bernard Holtzmann (2012) of one particular type of Thasian monument characteristic of the imperial periodfunerary medallions, sometimes inscribed, representing a couple or, more frequently, a woman by herself.…”

“…Reuniting the monument and the associated epigraphic dossier has allowed for a stemma over five generations to be drawn up, showing connections between some 15 men and women. The importance of this extended family can be measured by the almost systematic access of its male members to the archonship and also by the traces of the intense building activities of its members, as reflected in several dedications and honorific inscriptions (Fournier andDadaki 2012-2013). Finally, the recent publication of a memorial of a Thasian delegation to the Sanctuary of Apollo at Klaros, dated to AD 127/8, has revealed the names of the seven boys who made up the city's choir, as well as those of the four ambassadors who accompanied them (Ferrary 2014: 255-56, no.…”