Repository
Cyrene Museum, 1631.
Support
Miniature pillar of smooth limestone with moulding and cornice at the top on three sides (0.25; 0.085;0.10).
Layout
Inscribed on front face of the slightly tapering shaft (0.065 to 0.07; 0.21;0.073 to 0.082), a) inside a cartouche just under the moulding (0.055; 0.005;), b) lower, beneath the figure, superficially carved, of a hunting dog with no visible ears and a tall and slender tail, sitting, looking leftwards.
Letters
0.004; dotted theta, smaller omicron, rho with very small loop, slanting sigma, open omega.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Probably third or second century B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Text constituted from
Transcription from stone (CDL).
Dobias-Lalou-Gwaider, 1997 Dobias-Lalou, C., Gwaider, R.A., 1997, From the Cemeteries of Cyrene, Libya Antiqua (LibAnt)n.s. 3, 25-29 - see in bibliography , n. 5, pl. II.b-c, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 47.2176. Cf. Chamoux, 2001 Chamoux, F., 2001, Chiens cyrénéens, Comptes rendus des séances. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (CRAI)2001, II, 1307-1313 - see in bibliography , pp. 1308-1310, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 51.2207.
Le chien Tyrannos.
Ici je gis sous la terre, mon maître, après bien des fatigues.
The dog Tyrannos.
Here I lay under the earth, dear master, having endured much toil.
Tyrannos, il cane.
Qui giaccio sotto terra, padrone, dopo tante fatiche.
The findspot is situated about 17 km from Cyrene southwards. The dog, who from the image seems to have been a hunting-dog, was probably buried in a country-estate near which his master used to go hunting.
For dogs' epitaphs, see bibliography at Chamoux, 2001 Chamoux, F., 2001, Chiens cyrénéens, Comptes rendus des séances. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (CRAI)2001, II, 1307-1313 - see in bibliography and also Mendez Dosuna, 2007 Mendez Dosuna, J. , 2007, What's in a Name? An epitaph for a Maltese Dog in the Greek Anthology, Seminari Romani di cultura Greca10.2, 267-275 - see in bibliography .
Metrical analysis of b): we have here a dactylic heptameter, probably produced by adjunction of δέσποτα inside a regular hexameter, with trihemimeric and bucolic caesurae.
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All citation, reuse or distribution of this work must contain a link back to DOI: http://doi.org/10.6092/UNIBO/IGCYRGVCYR and the filename (IGCyr000000 or GVCyr000), as well as the year of consultation.