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CLOSESulla’s Trophy at Orchomenos: The inscription and the historical context of the monument
Sophia Zoumbaki
An interdisciplinary team of collaborators has undertaken the study of the trophy erected by L. Cornelius Sulla at Orchomenos to commemorate his victory over the forces of King Mithridates VI of Pontus in 86 BC. This is a unique monument of its kind (a Roman general’s adaptation of the traditional trophy rendered in stone), which was discovered by chance in 2003 in the village of Pyrgos on the edge of the Kopais plain, near Orchomenos. The excavation that followed revealed the monument almost entirely in situ. It bears an inscription (responsible: Sophia Zoumbaki) that confirms the identification of the monument and provides the impetus for a reconstruction of its historical context and Sulla’s relations with the Greek cities. The complete publication of the monument by the interdisciplinary study team is currently in preparation in the MELETEMATA series.
- S. Zoumbaki, “Sulla, the Army, the Officers and the poleis of Greece: A Reassessment of Warlordism in the First Phase of the Mithridatic Wars”, in: T. Ñaco del Hoyo, F. Lόpez Sánchez (eds.), Wars, Warlords, and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean (Leiden-Boston 2018) 351-379.
- E. Kountouri, N. Petrochilos, S. Zoumbaki, “The Tropaion of Sulla over Mithridates VI Eupator: A First Approach’, in: V. Di Napoli, F. Camia, V. Evangelidis, D. Grigoropoulos, D. Rogers, S. Vlizos (eds.), What’s New in Roman Greece? Recent Work on the Greek Mainland and the Islands in the Roman Period (Athens 2018) 359-368.
- S. Zoumbaki, “Sulla’s Relations with the Poleis of Central and Southern Greece in a Period of Transitions”, in: Al. Eckert, Al. Thein (eds.), Sulla. Politics and Reception (Berlin-Boston 2019) 33-53.
- S. Zoumbaki, “Rewards, Punishments, and the Sullan nomoi of Athens: Shedding Light on Sulla’s Settlement in the Towns of the East”, in: B. Antela-Bernárdez, I. Arrayás Morales (eds.), Sullanum Tempus. Historical Studies on the Age of L. Cornelius Sulla (in press).
- E. Kountouri, N. Petrochilos, S. Zoumbaki, “The Tropaion of Sulla over Mithridates VI Eupator”, in: Trophées et monuments de victoire romains, colloque pour le CRHiSM-CRESEM– UPVD (Perpignan, 21-23 October 2015).
- S. Zoumbaki, “Shedding Light on Sulla’s Arrangements in the Greek Mainland after the First Mithridatic War: The New Inscription of Sulla’s Trophy at Orchomenos and a Series of senatus consulta from Central Greece and Beyond”, in the International Conference Administrative Documents from the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Imperium (Κέρκυρα, 26-27 Σεπτεμβρίου 2018).
- E. Kountouri, N. Petrochilos, S. Zoumbaki, “The trophies of Sulla from the battles of Chaeronea and Orchomenos”, paper in the conference Chaeronea, August 338 BC. A state of the question (Athens, 28/2-1/3/2024).
Main page image: The trophy’s base blocks in situ / Photo from Elena Kountouri – Nikolaos Petrochilos – Sophia Zoumbaki, “The Tropaion of Sulla over Mithridates VI Eupator: A First Approach”, in: V. Di Napoli et al. (eds.), What’s New in Roman Greece?, Meletemata 80 (Athens 2018) 359-368, fig. 3