The Mausoleum of Licinnia Flavilla and Flavianus Diogenes of Oinoanda: Epigraphy and Architecture
Among the many tombs still to be seen in the necropolis surrounding the site of Oinoanda, in northern Lycia, the mausoleum built by Licinnia Flavilla for her parents and ancestors enjoys a special distinction, which it owes both to its size and to the vast genealogical inscription, comprising twelve generations of the ancestors and connexions of Licinnia Flavilla and her younger kinsman Flavianus Diogenes, which once covered its eastern façade. The aim of this paper is to present new epigraphic evidence which indicates a second major genealogical inscription on the west end of the mausoleum, and to consider the relation of the inscriptions to the underlying building, to each other, and to the aims of Licinnia Flavilla and her kinsman Diogenes.The mausoleum of the Licinnii lies in rubble (Pl. XV (a)) amid a group of smaller tombs at the southern end of the site, in square Lr of the B.I.A.A.'s site-plan (AnSt XLV (1995) 74, Fig. 1) about 40 m. below an isolated stretch of the Hellenistic southern wall overlooking the saddle at the southern end of the ridge on which stand the main buildings of the city. There is an easy ascent to this point from both the western and eastern sides of the ridge, and thence to the city; the mausoleum will have been conspicuous to visitors and travellers. Since antiquity all the tombs in this area have been plundered or overthrown, especially close to the wall. Three types of tomb are visible: rock-cut tombs, some with lion covers; large, free-standing sarcophagi of various designs; and sarcophagi on high, stepped platforms. An example of this last type (Pl. XV (b)) stands close by the east end of the mausoleum, a few metres to the north.