On August 29, AD 124, Roman Emperor Hadrian was in Ephesus, one of the most important cities of the Roman province of Asia, when he received an embassy seeking his approval for a new festival in the Lycian city of Oenoanda.
The delegation included three members of the council of the Termessians, who had travelled to meet the emperor on behalf of Gaius Iulius Demosthenes, a prominent and wealthy citizen of Oenoanda. They sought approval for the establishment of the Demostheneia, a major musical and artistic festival funded by Demosthenes himself.
Hadrian approved the proposal and issued a letter dated August 29, AD 124, from Ephesus. In it, he praised Demosthenes for his civic generosity and confirmed the establishment of the musical competition.
The emperor’s letter was later carved into a monumental Greek inscription at Oenoanda, alongside documents detailing the organisation and funding of the festival. The inscription provides valuable evidence about cultural life, civic benefaction and the relationship between local communities and the Roman imperial authorities in the second century AD.
The Demostheneia became a recurring festival featuring music, poetry, rhetoric and other competitions, demonstrating the important role that Greek cultural traditions continued to play under Roman rule.
August 29, AD 124 — Ephesus, Roman Asia.
