The
walls of Oenoanda. |
The city of
Oenoanda lies in mountainous country in north- eastern Lycia, in the
south-western corner of modern Turkey. In the mid-second century A.D.,
one of its prominent citizens, one Diogenes, had set up around the
Agora or marketplace, one of the most extraordinary inscriptions of
ancient times.
|
 |
This inscription, some 80 metres long and more than 3 metres high,
containing approximately 25,000 words, was made up of a wide range of
Epicurean writings. They were set up in this very public place, a
bill-board on a vast scale, so that the citizens of Oenoanda could
benefit from the exposition of Epicurean philoosophy they provided.
Though the inscription is now broken up and scattered, large amounts of
it remain in situ, and a
detailed reconstruction of large parts of the original can be made.
|
