Marble plaque, broken into two rejoining fragments, the right one badly damaged. Two rectangular fixing-holes on the sides (0.36 m below the top) and one at the top, 0.252 m from the left edge. Inscribed in two columns separated by c. 0.015 m — the left column carrying two texts, the right column three, each pair set off by a one-letter blank line. Found Sept. 1954 reused as the (inward-facing) door of a rock-cut chamber tomb at Polamia, near the hamlet of Leuka, SW of the village of Solomos, on the right of the Corinth–Argos road, c. 5 km from the Roman Forum; the tomb (three burials; grave-goods — oinochoe Corinth CP 2166, lekane CP 2165) is dated c. 4th c. AD, so the plaque was reused from an earlier monument. The dossier was probably engraved near the end of Junia's life — the koinon decrees provide for her funeral (ll. 10–11, 43–45, 63–66) and cite her will (ll. 7, 59) — and may have adorned her own grave (ed. pr. 496–498, 506 n. 2; Friesen 2014, 218–219).
Letter-heights: ll. 1–2 c. 0.015 m; ll. 3–69 c. 0.010–0.012 m; ll. 70–85 c. 0.009–0.010 m (ed. pr. 498). Orthography (ed. pr. 502–503): iota adscript erratic — regular after ω in texts I–II and in the Telmessos decree, absent after η (one exception τῷ τε κοινῷ l. 74); frequent ει for ι, with ι for ει at ἐπί (l. 72, for ἐπεί) and ἀποδώσι (l. 84); perfect participle καθεστηκειῶν (l. 23, for ‑υῖα) beside regular ἀνατεθηκυῖα (l. 24); ἐπηνῆσθαι (l. 81) beside ἐπηνέσθαι (ll. 10, 37, 62); third-declension genitive Διονυσοφάνου (l. 70); the praenomen Sextus written Σέξτος (l. 12) but Σέκτον (l. 54); a syntactic anacoluthon at ll. 39–41 and a lapsus at l. 57 (ἡ … ψήφισμα); at l. 40 read τό for τό⟨δε⟩.
Corinth (Corinthia)shortly after AD 43 (paullo post a. 43 p.); reign of Claudius/Nerouser 2026-06-11 — identifiers confirmed by the scholar; Greek text supplied as page images of the IG-style reprint of the ed. pr.; not present in the local I.PHI dump. 3D scan: Metascan capture 2023-07-27 (hi-res 8192px WebP derivative).
A dossier of five documents from the Lycian League and three Lycian cities honouring
Junia Theodora, a Roman woman resident at Corinth and benefactress (προστάτις)
of Lycians abroad. Division (per the ed. pr. / SEG 18.143): ll. 1–14 decree of the
Lycian League (κοινόν); 15–21 letter of Myra; 22–41 decree of
Patara; 42–69 covering letter of the League to Corinth (re-citing the honorific decree);
70–85 decree of Telmessos.
English translation (S. J. Friesen 2014, 223–226; from SEG XVIII 143, cf. Pleket 1969, 20–26). Parentheses = the translator's additions; square brackets = larger lacunae.
I. Decree of the Lycian Koinon (ll. 1–14)
Decided by the [koino]n of the Lycians: whereas Junia Theodora, living in Corinth, a woman noble and good and benevolent toward our nation, continually displays zeal on behalf of our nation and munificence, being sympathetically disposed both toward each of the Lycians individually and jointly toward all; and (whereas) she has made from among the authorities a great many friends for our nation, assisting in all the affairs that pertain especially to all Lycians; and (whereas) through the will that she has made she has displayed toward our nation attentiveness; and (since) it is quite fitting that our nation also with the appropriate testimonials repay her; (therefore,) it has been decided by the koinon of the Lycians to recognize and to praise Junia Theodora, and to send her a crown of gold when she draws near to the gods; and our representative Sextus Julius will also be certain to inscribe the following inscription: "The koinon of the Lycians (dedicated this) to Junia Theodora, a woman noble and good and benevolent toward our nation."
II. Letter from Myra's Boule and Demos (ll. 15–21)
The boule and the demos of the Myrians, to the magistrates of the Corinthians, greetings. A great many of our (citizens), having been in your area, have offered testimonials about your citizen Junia Theodora, daughter of Lucius, regarding the benevolence and zeal that she exhibited on their behalf, continually providing for our (citizens), even when they had just arrived in your city. We, therefore, acknowledging her for the benevolence which she has toward our city, hold her in the highest regard, and we have decided also to write to you, so that you may be aware of the gratitude of our city.
III. Decree of the Demos of the Patarans (ll. 22–41)
Decided by the demos of the Patarians: whereas Junia Theodora, a Roman among those living in Corinth, is a woman among those established with the highest honor, living with discretion and being a friend to the Lycians, having dedicated her own livelihood to (gaining) the gratitude of all Lycians; and (whereas) she has provided many things for a great many of our own citizens as a benefaction; and (whereas) she, showing the magnanimity of her soul, out of benevolence does not cease providing her hospitality toward all Lycians, even receiving them in her home, and especially toward our own citizens she does not cease excelling in her gracious acts toward all, because of which also a great many of our own citizens, coming before the assembly have testified about her; therefore, it is appropriate also for our demos, being grateful, both to praise Junia and to testify about her regarding the recognition and benevolence which she has from our native city, and that it encourages her to expand further her benevolence toward the demos, knowing that our demos also will in no way fall short in its benevolence and grace toward her, but will do everything for her pertaining to excellence and glory; for which reason, by Good Fortune, it has been decided to praise her for everything written above; and furthermore, in order that both Junia and the city of the Corinthians might learn about the benevolence of our city toward her and about the existing decree for her, the secretary of the boule will send the copy of this decree, sealed with the official seal, to the demos of the Corinthians.
IV. Letter of the Koinon and Officials of Lycia, containing a second decree of the koinon (ll. 42–69)
The koinon and magistrates of the Lycians, to the magistrates, boule, and demos of the Corinthians, greetings. Of the existing, heartfelt decree and the crowning with a gold crown and the dedication of a statue for her deification after the [de]p[a]rture (of) Junia Theodora, who lives alongside you, we have sent you this copy, having sealed it with the official seal, so that you may be awar[e] of th[ese things]. Decided by the koinon of the Lycians: whereas Junia Theodora, living in Corinth, a woman noble and good and benevolent toward the nation of the Lycians, has contin[ual]ly displayed zeal on behalf of the nation and munificence toward all visitors, being sympathetically disposed toward both private individuals and ambassadors sent either by the nation or separately by a city; (and whereas) she has found favor with everyone, influencing the authorities to be [most b]enev[ole]nt toward us, since she finds favor with them in every way; [and] (whereas) her s[uc]cessor Sextus Julius, a Roman, be[i]n[g] a good man [. . . . . . with s]urpassing benevolence (he) possess[es the same] zeal toward [o]u[r] nation corre-sponding to the aforementioned benevolence of Junia toward us, to him at the [same] time will be sent the decree from the nation of the Lycians regarding Ju[nia Theodo]ra; and (whereas) a great many of [ou]r (citizens) who were in exile she already welc[omed spl]endidly, and through the will that she has made she has displayed her [own benevole]nce; and (since) it is quite fitting also that our koinon, in return for these things which [she] contin[uing . . . . .] does [well] to repay her with testimonials and gracious acts; (therefore,) it has been decided by the [k]oinon [of the] L[ycians] to recognize and to praise, for all the aforem[entioned reasons, Ju]nia Theodora, a Roman living in Corinth, and to send for her both a crown of gold and five minas of saffron whi[ch can be s]to[red in her home so that it will be re]ady whenever she draws near to the gods an[d . . . . . .]T[. . . . with a painted, g]ilded [statue], and to inscribe th[is] inscription: [The koinon and magistrates of the Lycians] [honored] Junia Theodora, a Roman living in Corinth, with a [cro]wn and a painted, gilded statue, a woma[n no]ble and [goo]d a[nd] be[nevolent], because of her continual affection for our nation an[d . . . . . . . . .].
V. Decree of the boule and demos of Telmessos (ll. 70–85)
In the 40th year, when the priest was Dionysopha[n]es (son) o[f . .]A[. . . . . . . . . . . . Decided] by the boule and the demos of the Telmessians, (the) prytanei[s . .]O[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] resolution. Whereas Junia Theodora, a Roman, a woman who initiate[d with the greatest benevolen]ce for both the koinon of the Lycians and for our city man[y . . . . . benefacti]ons, has completed both for the koinon and for our native city [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] ΩΝ to the city, the visitors from among the Lycians and from [our] cit[izens . . . . . . . she welc]omed in her own home, providing for the[m everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] [di]s[playing] (her) responsibility toward all of the visitors [. . .] own distinction and earnestness [.]A[. . .]O[. .]AΘ[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] and (since) it is [quite] fitting that our city also should repay h[er the proper testim]-onial; (therefore,) by Good Fortune, it has been decided by the demos of the Telm[es]s[ians to re]c[ognize and] [to p]raise the [afore]mentioned Junia Theodora for all the aforementioned reasons, and to encourage her, remaining in the same disp[osition,] to be always the source of something good for us all, knowing that our [city also,] being thankful, will again repay her the appropri[ate] testimonials.
Commentary (after S. J. Friesen, "Junia Theodora of Corinth: Gendered Inequalities in the Early Empire," in Corinth in Contrast, Brill 2014, 203–226)
Five laudatory texts honour Junia Theodora, a wealthy Roman woman resident in Corinth and patron (προστάτις) of Lycians: two decrees of the Lycian League (κοινόν), a letter from Myra, and decrees from Patara and Telmessos. She is praised for three kinds of activity (Robert 1960, 326–30): intervening with the Roman authorities (οἱ ἡγούμενοι/ἡγεμόνες, ll. 5–7, 51–53) on Lycia's behalf — distinct from the Corinthian municipal ἄρχοντες of ll. 15, 42; naming Lycia a beneficiary in her will (ll. 7–8, 59); and lavish hospitality, including sheltering Lycian exiles (ll. 58–59) and hosting visitors and ambassadors from Myra, Patara and Telmessos in her home.
The regional koinon voted two honorific decrees and physical gifts — a gold crown (ll. 10–11, 63–64), five minas of saffron for her funeral (l. 64), and a painted, gilded statue for display in Corinth (ll. 67–68); the cities responded only with texts, and Patara and Telmessos openly urge further benefactions (ll. 33–36, 82–85). Friesen reads this as Lycian elites competing — cities vs koinon — to attract Junia's resources, with Corinth a "bridgehead" for Roman control and itself a rival for those resources.
Most probably the second quarter of the 1st c. AD, around Claudius's creation of the province of Lycia et Pamphylia in AD 43; the exiles she sheltered would be pro-Roman Lycian elites who returned after 43 (Pallas et al. 1959, 508; Robert 1960, 331–32). Cf. the Claudius monument at Patara, AD 46. Alternatives: AD 57 (Kearsley 1999) or the late 40s BC (Behrwald 2000; Kolb 2002), both judged less likely by Friesen.
Sextus Julius (Σέξτος Ἰούλιος) rises across the two koinon decrees: in the first he is merely the koinon's representative (φροντιστής, ll. 11–12) charged with the crown and inscription; in the second he is named Junia's successor and heir (διάδοχος, ll. 53–56) and given his own copy. Junia's father is Lucius (ll. 16–17), giving her a likely full filiation as "Junia Theodora, daughter of Lucius"; she appears to act sui iuris. The cognomen Theodora marks a Greek (non-Italian) heritage; φιλολύκιος ("friend of the Lycians," l. 24), a neologism on the model of φιλορώμαιος, casts her as a benevolent outsider to the Lycians — discursively Roman.
Friesen argues against the common reading of Junia as a straightforward example of women's "empowerment" in the imperial East: known to us only because she used an unusual position to support Roman domination of the eastern Mediterranean, she is "at best an ambivalent example" — her success a "victory for patriarchy," her project taken over by elite men (Sextus Julius) at her death. Of the c. 1,000 elite individuals implicated in producing and receiving the dossier, all are men but Junia herself.
The editors observe a consistent distinction (after Larsen 1956) between κοινόν — the Lycian "federal state," used where official authority issues the decree (ll. 9, 13, 42, 47, 61) — and ἔθνος, the vaguer "nation," used of Junia's benevolence toward Lycians (ll. 3, 6, 8, 14, 48–55, 69). οἱ ἡγούμενοι / ἡγεμόνες (ll. 5, 52) denote the Roman authorities (Wilhelm, Daux, Robert), not the Corinthian magistrates. Junia is a Roman resident at Corinth (one of the cives Romani consistentes, distinct from colonists with double citizenship), the Myra letter's "your citizen" (l. 17) being an imprecision; the editors think her ties to Lycia were those of business (negotiatores).
Styled ὁ φροντιστὴς ἡμῶν (ll. 11–12) — φροντιστής ≈ Latin procurator / curator (cf. IGR IV 219, T. Valerius Proculus φροντιστής of Drusus Caesar) — and διάδοχος "successor" (ll. 53–54). The editors take him for a private individual unofficially managing Lycian interests, and probably Junia's heir (διάδοχος in the sense "heir ab intestato," Preisigke) — likely a kinsman (nephew or cousin), since no husband or children appear; his Lycian connection may even explain hers.
Only the Telmessos decree bears a date — "the 40th year, in the priesthood of Dionysophanes" (l. 70) — but by an unspecified, locally-reckoned era, here unusable. A terminus post quem is 44 BC (Corinth's refoundation as a colony); a terminus ante quem is given by the exiled Lycians Junia sheltered (ἐκπεσόντας, l. 58): exile to Corinth points to the period of Lycian independence, before Claudius annexed Lycia (with Pamphylia) as a province in AD 43 — the factional troubles Suetonius reports (Claud. 25) — so the dossier falls shortly after AD 43.
Condition (ed. pr. 500): of the two rejoined fragments the right one is badly damaged, so the second half of every line in the right-hand column is hard to read or illegible — hence the heavy restoration of ll. 47–85. The Greek of Col. II in this edition should be collated against the ed. pr. text (which carries the editors' lacuna-counts). L. 58: only the oblique strokes of the delta survive. L. 69: ΞΙΣΛΛ on the stone, with an uncertain number of letters lost after (the decree's end need not coincide with the line-end).Lapis ΣΦΡΑΓΙΣΑΜΕΝΟΙ (corr. to σφραγισάμενον).Lapis ΣΕΚΤΥΣ for ΣΕΧΤΥΣ (Σέξτος): the stone misspells the praenomen Sextus — hence the ed. pr.'s "(sic)" (Friesen 2014, 225 n. 60).ἡ appears to be an incorrect definite article for (τὸ) ψήφισμα (Friesen 2014, 225 n. 61).ad fin. restoration proposed by L. Robert (1960, 332); suppl. also attributed to M. N. Tod (per epistulam).Lapis ΙΕΡΩΣ (corr. to ἱερέως).Lapis ΕΠΙ for ΕΠΕΙ (Friesen 2014, 226 n. 63).προστασία could also be rendered "sponsorship" or "patronage"; the damage makes precision difficult (Friesen 2014, 226 n. 64).
D. I. Pallas, S. Charitonidis & J. Venencie, BCH 83 (1959) 496–508, pl. XXVII (with the inv. no. erroneously as "I 2476").SEG XVIII 143.RP I COR 359 (A. D. Rizakis & al., Roman Peloponnese).H. W. Pleket, Epigraphica II: Texts on the Social History of the Greek World (Leiden 1969) nos. 20–26 (text + comm.).L. Robert, Hellenica 11–12 (1960) 326–342 (fundamental commentary; the saffron and the funeral).S. J. Friesen, "Junia Theodora of Corinth: Gendered Inequalities in the Early Empire," in S. J. Friesen, S. A. James & D. N. Schowalter (eds.), Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014) 203–226. [source of the translation, the expanded apparatus, and the commentary above]R. A. Kearsley, "Women in Public Life in the Roman East: Iunia Theodora, Claudia Metrodora and Phoebe, Benefactress of Paul," Tyndale Bulletin 50 (1999) 189–211 (the "empowerment" reading Friesen contests; cf. Phoebe of Kenchreai, Rom. 16:1–2).J. Wiseman, The Land of the Ancient Corinthians (1978) 90.