Epitaph of Stlakkie

Bibliography

Said Abdelghader, 1998 Said Abdelghader, A., 1998, Recent finds, Libya Antiqua (LibAnt)n.s. 4, 269-271 - see in bibliography , p. 269, fig. 1, whence Boter and Tybout in SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 51.2212; Reynolds in Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography , pp. 169-170, fig. 3 and Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique Dobias-Lalou, C.Bulletin Épigraphique in Études Grecques (REG)1987- - see in bibliography , 2004.447, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 53.2057; Dobias-Lalou, 2014 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2014, Des pierres qui parlent en vers. A propos des épigrammes grecques de Cyrénaïque, in A. Delattre, A. Lionetto, La Muse de l'éphémère. Formes de la poésie de circonstance de l'Antiquité à la Renaissance, Paris, 319-331 - see in bibliography , p. 326.

Text

Apparatus

2 ἰκοστόν : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  εἰκοστόν (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  <ε>ἰκοστόν (Boter SEG 51, again Tybout SEG 53)

4 Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  μόρος (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  μόγος (Tybout SEG 51)

5-6 Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  γά|μοις (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  ⸢γ⸣ lapis: πά|μοις (Boter SEG 51)

6 ἐπιγηθήσασαν : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  ἔπι γηθήσασαν (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  ἐπιγη⸢θ⸣ lapis: οήσασαν (Boter SEG 51)

7 SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  ὧι (SEG 53) : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  ᾧ (Reynolds and already SEG 51) || Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  παστὸν (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  ⸢μ⸣ lapis: ηαστὸν (Boter SEG 51) || Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  καὶ (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  καὶ {σ} (Tybout SEG 51)

10 Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique Dobias-Lalou, C.Bulletin Épigraphique in Études Grecques (REG)1987- - see in bibliography  ἀμαυροτέρηι δ᾿ὑπὸ λύπηι : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  ἀμαυροτέρηι δ᾿ὑπὸ λύπηι (Reynolds) : SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  ἀμαυροτέρη{ι} δ᾿ὑπὸ λύπη⸢ς⸣ lapis: ι (Martin SEG 51 and again Tybout SEG 53)

11 θνήσκω : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography , SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  θνῄσκω || SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography  μούνην : Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography  μουνήν (Reynolds)

French translation

Alors que je m'acheminais vers ma vingt-deuxième année,

un lamentable sort m'a arrachée à mon aimable chambre nuptiale,

sans que j'aie joui de mon mariage jusqu'à une année complète;

et le jour où m'est échu le voile nuptial, m'est échue aussi la cendre,

à moi Stlakkiè,, qui mérite des pleurs amers; sous le poids d'un chagrin débilitant,

je meurs, après t'avoir confié, mon époux, cette unique enfant.

English translation

As I was passing towards my twenty-second year,

gloomy fate snatched me from my beloved bridal-chamber,

when I had not rejoiced in my marriage for a full year;

but on the day on which I was alotted a bridal bed was I also promised to ashes,

I Stlakkie, deserving of bitter lament; under the weight of enfeebling pain,

I die, having entrusted you, my dear husband, this only girl.

Italian translation

Mentre mi incamminavo verso il mio ventiduesimo anno,

un destino terribile mi ha sottratto dall'amata stanza nuziale,

senza che io abbia goduto nemmeno per un anno intero delle nozze;

proprio nel giorno in cui ho ricevuto in sorte il talamo nuziale, eccomi condannata anche alla cenere,

io, Stlakkie, che merito amare lacrime. Sotto il peso di un dolore che mi esaurisce,

muoio, dopo aver affidato a te, sposo, questa unica figlia.

Commentary

For the probable position of the stele inside a recess, flanked by two series of three niches (all features being re-used in Roman date in the Hellenistic tomb) see the other contributions in Al Muzzeini-Thorn-Thorn, 2003 Al Muzzeini, A., Thorn, D., Thorn, J.C., Reynolds, J., 2003, Newly discovered funerary verses at Cyrene, in Studi in memoria di Lidiano Bacchielli, Quaderni di Archeologia della Libya (QAL)18, 165-172 - see in bibliography ; for names of other members of the same family, cut directly on the wall, see IRCyr C.592.

Most of the corrections proposed in SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 51.2212 were due to hastily editing the inscription from a clumsy copy. Reynolds' definitive publication proved them useless and they were renounced in SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 53.2057.

Once the text was really published, only two points remained discussed. First the rare construction of ὑπό with the dative case is not admitted by Tybout for SEG; however the dative ending is sure for both the adjective and the use of this case instead of the genitive does occur especially in poetry.

The second point is the word ΜΟΥΝΗΝ. Instead of the rare noun μονήν, only attested in prose without lenghtening of the first syllable, and never used in funerary contexts, it seems better to identify it with the adjective μόνος, very often used since Homer with the lengthened first syllable. Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique Dobias-Lalou, C.Bulletin Épigraphique in Études Grecques (REG)1987- - see in bibliography , 2004.447 proposed to connect it with the feminine noun λύπη mentioned at the preceding line and understood so: 'having brought you this only sorrow (i.e. my death)'. However, Tybout's proposal (SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 53.2057) of a subaudible παῖδα seems eventually more convincing for the premature death of a recently married wife: she probably died in childbearth.

Metrical analysis: three elegiac couplets. At verse-line 2, apart from the shortening in hiatus of καί, there has been some discussion about ἰκοστόν. It might be an effect of iotacism, however, it is better explained as recording the Doric form of number 'twenty' with a long i and might therefore be a touch of dialectal tradition in Cyrenaica. At line 9 the final vowel of the name Στλακκίη is metrically shortened before the following vowel.

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