Researchers have documented nine previously unrecorded inscriptions from Akmoneia, an ancient city in the Phrygia region of modern-day western Turkey, offering fresh insight into the religious and social life there roughly 2,000 years ago. Phrygia holds particular significance in Christian history as a region traversed by the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeys, but the new findings instead illuminate the diverse pagan cults, civic customs and personal lives of its inhabitants before Christianity became firmly established, filling gaps in the archaeological record of the area.

The study, published in the journal Gephyra by Hüseyin Uzunoğlu of Akdeniz University and Münteha Dinç of Uşak University, dates the inscriptions to between the first and third centuries A.D. Among the discoveries are the first written evidence of a cult devoted to Demeter Karpophoros, a fertility and harvest goddess, in Phrygia; an inscription describing a torch-bearing statue funded by a wealthy citizen named Demades to light Akmoneia's main street; and a monument honouring a woman, Mandana, as high priestess in her own right. Other inscriptions reveal more personal details, including a funerary altar stipulating a widow remain unmarried, and an epitaph for two men, likely soldiers, one of whom was apparently murdered.