ARG, 8. Band, 275-316 The Officials of Oracular Sanctuaries in Roman Asia Minor* Aude BUSINE Uiiiversite Libre de Bruxelles/Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique Who were those who worked in the oracidar sanctuaries in the Roman East äs in- terpreters of the god's will? What were their functions? What part did they act in society? Li order to answer to diese questions, this article takes a look at the officials in charge of the oracular sanctuaries in Roman Asia Minor during the first three cen- turies A.D. It will concentrate on the sacred personnel working at Claros and Di- dyma, which are the two main oracular shrines in the region, given both their im- portance at the time and the richness of surviving documentatioii 1 . * This article is derived from the post-doctoral research I made in Oxford during the academic year 2003-2004 thanks to the generous support of the Fondation Wiener-Anspach. I would Hke to thank S.R.F. Price, who kindly agreed to supervise my work, äs well äs A. D'Hautcourt, B. Dignas, A. Duplouy and J. Scheid for their reading and/or advice. I am also grateful to E. Matthews (Lexicon of Greek Personal Names); to A. K. Bowman and Gh. Crowther (Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents); and to M. Goodman and Wolfson College, which hosted me äs a Visiting Scholar. Ahbreviations (Other abbreviations are taken from ÜieAnneephilologique): LDidyma A. REHM and R. HARDER, Didyma II. Die Inschriften, Deutsches Archäolo- gisches Institut (Berlin 1958). Robert, Amyzon J. and L. ROBERT, Fouilles d'Amyzon en Carie. L Explorat'uon, histoire, monnaies et inscriptions (Paris 1983) Robert, Carie J. and L. ROBERT, La Carie: HUtoire et geographie hislorique avec le rccueil des inscriptions antiqu.es. H. Le plateau de Tabai et ses environs (Paris 1954) Robert, Laodicee L. ROBERT, Inscriptions n° 1-25, in J. DES GACMERS, P. DEVAMBEZ, L. KAHiL, R. ClNOUVftS, Laodicee du Lycos. Le nyrnphee. Campagnes 1961-1963 (Quebec-Paris 1969) 247-389. SGOst R. MERKELBACH and J. STAUBER, Steinepigramme aus dem Griechischen Osten. I-IV (Stuttgart - Leipzig 1998-2002). 1 Indeed, though there is a number of places in Roman Asia Minor where the presence of an oracular culi is auested (e.g. Hierapolis, Gryneion, Patara)^ there is evidence for no other oracular sanctiiaries for ihe analysis of their clergy members.