Endnote 7 – Ephesus: Key to a Vision in Revelation

The inscriptions also enable us to date the Temple of the Sebastoi more precisely than the fifteen-year Domitian reign. The two formulas used in the 13 inscriptions include the name of the then-current Roman proconsul of the province, as well as other officials. The three proconsuls named in the inscriptions served between 88 and 91 C.E. and, starting in 89/90, a prominent administrator of the temple (the neokoros) is also named. Since these inscriptions were commissioned for the dedication of the Temple of the Sebastoi, we can conclude that the cult became functional between 88 and 91, most likely in the year 89/90. The documentation of the argument for the dating can be found in chapter 2 of my study Twice Neakoros: Ephesus, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Family (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming 1993).