Çok yönlülüğün temsili: Perge’de Aphrodite’nin Olası Bir Yönü / The Representation of Versatility: A Possible Role of Aphrodite in Perge

This study aims to examine a group of inscribed statue bases found in the city of Perge in Pamphylia to determine their religious context. The inscriptions on these bases state that the agoranomoi dedicated the statues of Eros to the city and in one example, to an unnamed goddess. All the inscriptions are previously published and evaluated in the scope of a corpus and all dated to the Roman Imperial Period. The evaluation of these statue bases in regards to their urbanistic context indicates that the statues of Eros were erected related to the buildings or complexes where the city’s social, economic, and political life were clustered around such as Agora / Macellum, monumental fountains, entrance gates, and colonnaded streets. The source materials coming from other Pamphylian cities and Asia Minor and Greece show that the dedication of Eros statues was a practice neither unique to Perge nor limited to the agoranomoi. Instead, it was frequently made by various civic officials who were especially entrusted with supervisory duties, and it can be considered as a part of religious ritual in relation with Aphrodite, a versatile goddess who, among her many aspects, was perceived as the protectress of magistrates from the 5th century BC onwards. Evidence for the cult of Aphrodite is present in Perge and the other Pamphylian cities, however, based on the extant evidence, understanding the nature of the goddess, ie in regards to what capacity the people worshipped her, is difficult. Thus, these dedications of Eros statues by agoranomoi in Perge can allow us to elucidate an unknown aspect of the goddess in Perge, her guardianship over the civic officials.