The North Necropolis at Hierapolis of Phrygia: Study, Mapping and Contextualizing of the Epigraphical Corpus

This paper concerns the recent research activities aimed at the study, mapping and contextualizing of the large epigraphical corpus of the North Necropolis of Hierapolis of Phrygia, consisting of about 750 texts ranging from the Hellenistic age to the early- Byzantine period. This research is strictly linked to the investigations focused on the reconstruction of the spatial organization of the necropolis, the study of its characteristics, and the analysis of its transformations over centuries. These investigations are based on systematic topographical surveys aimed at producing a new large-scale archaeological map of the necropolis with the purpose to reconstruct its ancient topography, the internal routes and the organization of the different sectors. Particular attention has been dedicated to the various architectonical types of funerary monuments (about 300 buildings, including tumuli, bomoi, aediculae tombs, exedrai, hyposoria, stepped platforms, etc.), mostly built in travertine and in few cases using marble blocks, and to the numerous sarcophagi, both in travertine and marble, of which many were also analysed in order to archaeometrically determine the marble provenance. Furthermore, the georeferencing of the funerary inscriptions allowed for the acquisition and contextualization of many data, regarding the chronology of the monuments, their types, the different qualities of marbles used, the funerary properties or the information regarding structures (such as enclosures, paved areas or porticoes) or gardens nowadays not preserved. Lastly, the contextualization of the epigraphical corpus offers very important data on the socio-economic body of Hierapolis, its communities and guilds, etc. In this regard, the paper shows specifically the exemplificative cases of the inscriptions related to the Jewish community and the gladiators buried in the necropolis.