Artemis and Asiarchs 341 On the whole, asiarchs are not very widely attested before the inauguration of the temple of the imperial cult in Ephesos in 89/90 CE (18) — the date is deduced from the dedicatory inscriptions in the temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesos (IvE 232; 232A; 233; 234; 235; 237; 238; 239; 240; 241; 242; 1498) (19). Then the epigraphic record begins with one Tatianos in Ephesos (IvE 492) and remains consistently rich throughout the 2nd and far into the 3rd century CE (20). This remarkable shift in attestation suggests that in the late 1st century the office of asiarchs was revived and that these asiarchs were in some way associated with the imperial cult in the province of Asia — but this does not automatically make them high priests of this cult. On the other hand, of course, it would be quite natural to assume that the function of the asiarchs changed in the course of time, especially if the office was indeed revived after having been out of use for about a century (21). b) An Ephesian Example: Tiberius Claudius Aristion Considering individual asiarchs demonstrates how ambiguous the evidence is. One of the most famous asiarchs is Ti. Claudius Aristion from Ephesos (22). Pliny the Younger (Ep. 6,31,3) describes him as princeps Ephesiorum, homo munificus et innoxie popularis. In 88/89 CE he was the first high priest of Asia in charge of the temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesos (IvE 234; 235; 239; 1498). In 90/91 he was the first newkovro" (temple-warden) of the same temple (IvE 237; 241) (23). In 92/93 he was both secretary (grammateuv") and asiarch (IvE 461; (18) The list of asiarchs in FRIESEN, Twice Neokoros, 189-208 begins with one Flavius Krateros from Kibyra, tentatively dated to 80-90 CE. However, this asiarch is only attested in two inscriptions from ca. 200 CE (IGR IV 907; 912) honouring his descendant Ti. Claudius Polemon who seems to have been asiarch in ca. 170 CE. The date of 80-90 CE is reached by calculating back in steps of about 30 years per generation. Hence this is not really hard evidence for asiarchs before 89/90 CE. (19) Cf. M. DRÄGER, Die Städte der Provinz Asia in der Flavierzeit (EHS.G 576; Frankfurt/M. 1993) 129; FRIESEN, Twice Neokoros, 41-49. (20) Cf. FRIESEN, Twice Neokoros, 189-208. (21) Cf. CAMPANILE, “Asiarchi”, 79, n. 54; EAD., “Sommi sacerdoti”, 549, n. 33. (22) Cf. PIR2 II C 788; W. ECK, “Claudius II 5. Ti. C. Aristion”, Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike (eds. H. CANCIK – H. SCHNEIDER) (Stuttgart – Weimar 1997) III, 13. See also P. SCHERRER, “Das Ehrengrab des Kaiserpriesters am Embolos – Eine Personensuche”, … KAI KOSMHSANTA THN POLIN… und verschönerte die Stadt … Ein ephesischer Priester des Kaiserkultes in seinem Umfeld (ed. H. THÜR) (SÖAI 27; Wien 1997) 93-112. (23) Only these two among the twelve dedicatory inscriptions mention a newkoro" (as a temple official) at all. v