Plancia Magna (Greek: Πλανκία Μαγνά) was a prominent woman of Perga in the Roman province of Lycia et Pamphylia who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries. During her life she was not only a high priestess, but a decurion and preeminent benefactress to the city, funding the restoration of the main city gates between the years AD 119 and 122.
Ancestry, family, and early life
editPlancia Magna was the daughter of the Roman Senator Marcus Plancius Varus and the Herodian Princess Julia, daughter of king Tigranes VI of Armenia.[1] The Plancii were among the wealthiest and most notable families of Roman Asia Minor around this time, having arrived in Perga as traders from Latium at the end of the Roman Republic. Both Magna's father and her brother, Gaius Plancius Varus, were given the honorary title ktistes ("founder"), reflecting their local prominence and patronage of the city.[2]
Magna married the Roman Senator Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus, suffect consul in 100 with his friend Pliny the Younger. Magna bore Tertullus a son, Gaius Julius Plancius Varus Cornutus.[3]
Activity in Perga
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In the reign of Emperor Hadrian, Plancia Magna funded major civic improvements in Perga. These improvements included the restoration and expansion of the Hellenistic southern gate at Perga, a magnificent structure protecting the coast-facing entrance to the city, originally built in the 3rd century BC.[4] The round towers flanking the gate were refurbished, and just past the gate was constructed a horseshoe-shaped courtyard adorned with two tiers of statues, twenty-eight in total. On the lower tier were large statues of various Greek deities, while the upper tier held smaller depictions of historical and mythological figures linked to Perga, including Magna's own father and brother. Adjacent niches, their contents now lost, may have contained statues of Magna's husband or son, also prominent local figures.[5] Uniquely, the inscriptions define Magna's family members in relation to her ("father/brother of Plancia Magna"), establishing a dominance which is unseen in other contemporary female-commissioned statuary.[6]
The exit from the courtyard into the city was through a monumental triple passage arch, which housed further statues of Artemis (Perga's chief diety) and the deified imperial family.[7] The assemblage included more imperial women than men. The inscription for Salonia Matidia (died 119) uses the posthumous title diva, while that of Pompeia Plotina (died 122) does not—thus, the erection of the statues can be approximately dated to within the intervening years.[8] Each statue's inscription included an attribution, identifying them as the product of Magna's beneficence:
Translated from Latin [first two lines]:
- to the genius of the city
- Plancia Magna daughter of Marcus
Translated from Greek [last two lines]:
- to the fortune of the city
- Plancia Magna[9]
In addition to her donations, Magna was personally active in the civil and religious society of Perga. She served multiple terms as city magistrate, and held a wealth of titles: priestess of Artemis, high-priestess of the imperial cult, "priestess for life of the mother of the gods", and demiourgos. The last was the highest civil position attainable in the city, and the officeholder's name was used to identify the year in all official documents. Magna is the only known female demiourgos of Perga.[4]
A surviving inscription from the base of a statue erected by the community of Perga reveals her position in the city:
- Plancia Magna
- Daughter of Marcus Plancius Varus
- and daughter of the city.
- Priestess of Artemis
- and both first and sole public priestess
- of the mother of the gods
- for the duration of her life
- pious and patriotic.
References
edit- ^ Grainger, John D. (2003). Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis AD 96–99. London, New York: Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 0-415-28917-3. OCLC 52012210.
- ^ Boatwright, Mary T. (1991). "Plancia Magna of Perge: Women's roles and status in Roman Asia Minor". In Pomeroy, Sarah B. (ed.). Women's History and Ancient History. UNC Press Books. pp. 249–272. ISBN 9780807819494.
- ^ Jameson, Shelagh. "Cornutus Tertullus and the Plancii of Perge", Journal of Roman Studies, 55 (1965), pp. 55f
- ^ a b Caceres-Cerda, Barbara F. (2018). The Exceptional Case of Plancia Magna: (Re)analyzing the Role of a Roman Benefactress (MA thesis). City University of New York.
- ^ Gatzke, Andrea F. (2020). "THE GATE COMPLEX OF PLANCIA MAGNA IN PERGE: A CASE STUDY IN READING BILINGUAL SPACE". The Classical Quarterly. 70 (1): 385–396. doi:10.1017/S0009838820000324. ISSN 0009-8388.
- ^ Kays, Melissa (2024). "Monuments of Aurelia Paulina and her portrayal of social change in Roman Asia Minor". In Kremer, Gabrielle; Pollhammer, Eduard; Kopf, Julia; Beutler, Franziska (eds.). ZEIT(EN) DES UMBRUCHS Akten des 17. Internationalen Kolloquiums zum provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffen Wien – Carnuntum, 16.–21 Mai 2022. Vienna: Sonderschriften des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien. pp. 16–21. ISBN 978-3-903207-86-8.
- ^ Tuck, Steven L. (2015). "Epigraphy and Patronage". In Friedland, Elise A.; Sobocinski, Melanie G. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Roman Sculpture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 412-413. ISBN 978-0-19-992182-9. OCLC 887851059.
- ^ Jameson, "Cornutus Tertullus", p. 55
- ^ AE 1965, 210
Further reading
edit- Sheila Dillon (2010). The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World. Cambridge University Press, pp. 155–161. ISBN 978-0-521-76450-6
- Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy & H. Alan Shapiro (1995). Women in the Classical World: Image and Text, Oxford University Press, pp. 363, 364f. ISBN 9780195098624
- Charles Gates (2003). Ancient Cities: the Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome, Routledge. ISBN 0415121825
External links
edit- Plancia Magna, Aurelia Paulina, and Regilla: Civic Donors (last visited 24 March 2017)
- Ataman Hotel: Plancia Magna
- Plancia Magna Inscription (AE 1965, 210 = IK-54 90)
- Statue of Plancia Magna (photo)
- Statue of Plancia Magna (photo)