Epitaph of Arata
GVCyr002
Trismegistos ID: 738898
Source Description
Support
Limestone stele surmounted by a pediment with acroteria (out of which two are now lost) and projecting moulding below it; a hole on the front face does not affect the inscription (0.30; 0.69;0.075).
Layout
Inscribed on front face on 2 lines with axial layout, then 2 groups of 4 lines aligned at left and separated by a vacat (width 0.30).
Letters
Lines 1-2: 0.023; l. 3 on: 0.008-0.015; no serifs, smaller round letters, slanting sigma.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Late fourth or early third century B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Found before 1935 at Ptolemais pleiades; HGL , at the time port of Barka: plausibly from the West Necropolis .
Present Location
Not seen by GVCyr team; studied from photograph.
Text constituted from
Transcription from editor.
Bibliography
Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography , pp. 257-258 fig. 102-102a and De Sanctis, 1937 De Sanctis, G., 1937, Un epigramma di Tolemaide, Rivista di Filologia e Istruzione Classica (RFIC)65, 53-55 - see in bibliography , whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 9.362; Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography , n. 1912; Peek, 1960 Peek, W., 1960, Griechische Grabgedichte, Berlin - see in bibliography , n. 444 and p. 321; Hansen, 1983-1989 Hansen, P.A. (ed.), Carmina epigraphica Graeca, I-II, Berlin, 1983-1989 - see in bibliography , n. 680. Cf. Bazama-Reynolds, 1978-1979 Bazama, A., Reynolds, J., 1978-1979, Some new inscriptions from the cemeteries of ancient Ptolemais, Libya Antiqua (LibAnt)15-16 , 255-261 - see in bibliography , p. 260, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 37.1714.
Text
| [Π]ορθμίδος εὐσέλμου μεδέων γέρον, ὂς διὰ πάν[τα] | νυκτὸς ὑπὸ σκιερᾶς πείρατα πλεῖς ποταμοῦ,
| (5) ἆρά τινα Ἀράτας ἄλλαν ἀρετὰν ἴδες, εἴ γε | τάνδ’ ὑπὸ λυγαίαν ἄγαγες ἀϊόνα; (vac. 12 lines)
5 | [Ο]ὐκέτι τὰν ἁβρόπαιδα πάτραν σὰν Ἑσπερ[ίδ’ ὄψ]ηι, | [οὐ]δὲ τὸν ἕστεργες σὸν πόσιν, οὐδὲ τέκνωι
| στρώσεις νυμφιδίαν εὐνὰν τεῷ. Ἦ μάλα δαίμων, | (10) [Ἀ]ράτα, κρυερὰν σοί τιν’ ἔδειξεν ἀράν.
Apparatus
3 Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography ὂς : Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography ἇ̣ς̣ || Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography , Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography πάν[τα] : De Sanctis, 1937 De Sanctis, G., 1937, Un epigramma di Tolemaide, Rivista di Filologia e Istruzione Classica (RFIC)65, 53-55 - see in bibliography , SEG 9 - see in bibliography πάν[τᾳ]
6 De Sanctis, 1937 De Sanctis, G., 1937, Un epigramma di Tolemaide, Rivista di Filologia e Istruzione Classica (RFIC)65, 53-55 - see in bibliography , SEG 9 - see in bibliography , Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography ἄγαγες : Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography ἄγαγ'ἐς
8 τὸν ἕστεργες : Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography , SEG 9 - see in bibliography τὸν Ἑσπερίδ̣ο̣ς̣ : Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography τὸν ἔστερίσ̣α̣ς
French translation
Arata fille de Kallikratès, d'Euhespérides.
Vieillard, maître de la barque aux bons bordages, qui dans ta navigation
franchis les limites du fleuve sous la nuit ombreuse,
as-tu jamais vu une vertu surpassant celle d'Arata, s'il est vrai que
tu l'as débarquée sur la rive sinistre?
Jamais plus tu ne verras ta patrie aux enfants délicats, l'Hespéride,
ni l'époux que tu chérissais, jamais pour ton enfant
tu ne prépareras la couche nuptiale. Ah vraiment, la divinité,
Arata, a fixé pour toi une glaçante malédiction!
English translation
Arata daughter of Kallicrates, from Euesperides.
Old man, master of the well-planked boat, who sails
through the limits of the river under the shady night,
did you ever see a virtue higher than that of Arata, if you did
bring her to the gloomy shore?
Never will you see again your country with delicate children, Hesperis,
nor will you see your beloved husband, nor will you for your child
prepare a bridal couch. Truly, a deity,
Arata, decided for you an icy malediction!
Italian translation
Arata figlia di Kallikrates, di Euesperides.
E tu vecchio, signore della barca dal robusto fasciame, che nella notte fosca
da una sponda all'altra percorri il fiume,
hai mai visto una virtù superiore a quella di Arata, se davvero
l'hai condotta alla riva oscura?
Né più mai la tua patria vedrai dai delicati fanciulli, l'Hesperis,
né il tuo sposo che amavi, né a tua figlia
preparerai il letto nuziale. Ah davvero, la divinità,
Arata, ti ha destinato una maledizione di ghiaccio!
Commentary
Oliverio only mentioned Ptolemais as the provenance of the stele. Bazama-Reynolds attributed the stele to the small necropolis developed along the road issuing from the Northern gate of the city-wall at West, where they found a number of similar steles. Ptolemais was at the time not yet a city of that name, but only a harbour for Barka. The stele should be the most ancient inscription from this site.
This well made epigram develops the theme of malediction by playing on the name of the deceased woman 'Arata', which etymologically means 'accursed', directly through the use of ἀρά and indirectly through two puns based on the assonance with the interrogative particle ἇρα and with ἀρετά 'virtue'.
This woman was from Euesperides and died at Ptolemais, where she was buried.
Metrical analysis: after a title (ll. 1-2), eight text-lines, which are so many verse-lines, forming four elegiac couplets. The space on the stone marks the limit between the two pairs of couplets, which is also the limit between two enunciation modes, the first part addressing Charon the ferryman, the second addressing the deceased Arata.
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