Support
Sandstone stele with a relief of a gladiator, later reused for IRCyr P.407 on its lower part (dimensions not registered).
Layout
Inscribed in four lines on a projecting belt just under the relief.
Letters
Height not registered; projecting summit of alpha, delta and lambda, lunate epsilon, sigma, cursive mu and omega.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Perhaps second century or first half of third century A.D. (lettering)
Findspot
Found by R. Norton in 1909 in Ptolemais pleiades; HGL : exact findspot not mentioned.
Present Location
Not seen by GVCyr team; seems to be no longer in Libya.
Text constituted from
Transcription from previous editors and photograph (CDL).
Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography , n. 77a, pp. 185, 505, whence Sammelbuch Preisigke, F. et al. (eds.), Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, Strassburg/Wiesbaden1915- - see in bibliography 5940; Vollgraff, 1919 Vollgraff, W., 1919, Epigrammata emendata, Mnemosyne, 47, 251 - see in bibliography ; Robert, 1968 Robert, L., 1968, Enterrements et épitaphes.IV, Épitaphes en Cyrénaïque, L'Antiquité Classique37, 433-439 - see in bibliography , pp. 433-436; Cf. Peek, 1955 Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography , n.1135; Uhlenbrock, 1999 Uhlenbrock, J.P., 1999, Cyrene papers: the second report. The Oric Bates expedition of 1909, Libyan Studies (LibStud)30, 77-97 - see in bibliography , p. 94, fig. 13, and Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique Dobias-Lalou, C.Bulletin Épigraphique in Études Grecques (REG)1987- - see in bibliography , 2000.746, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 49.2363.
1
Robert, 1968
Robert, L., 1968, Enterrements et épitaphes.IV, Épitaphes en Cyrénaïque, L'Antiquité Classique37, 433-439 - see in bibliography
Ἀ̣τιοχᾶ[ς] [ὁ πρὶν] Ἐφέσις : Sammelbuch
Preisigke, F. et al. (eds.), Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, Strassburg/Wiesbaden1915- - see in bibliography
Ἀ̣τιόχα [.....] Ἐφεσίς : Peek, 1955
Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography
Ἀ̣τίοχος Ἐφέσιο[ς]
2 [καὶ] γενάμην : Robinson, 1913
Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography
[καὶ] ἐ̣γεν⸢ό⸣
lapis: άμην (Keil's reading) : Vollgraff, 1919
Vollgraff, W., 1919, Epigrammata emendata, Mnemosyne, 47, 251 - see in bibliography
, Peek, 1955
Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography
γενάμην
3 ἰμὶ : Robinson, 1913
Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography
[εἰ]μὶ
4 χ̣[α]ίρετε παρoδῖται : Robinson, 1913
Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography
[χαίρ]ετε [π]αρ⸢o⸣
lapis: aδῖται (Keil's reading) : Vollgraff, 1919
Vollgraff, W., 1919, Epigrammata emendata, Mnemosyne, 47, 251 - see in bibliography
, Peek, 1955
Peek, W., 1955, Griechische Vers-Inschriften, I-II, Berlin - see in bibliography
[χα]ί[ρ]ετε [ὦ π]αρ⸢o⸣
lapis: aδῖται
Antiokhas précédemment appelé Ephésios.
Je n'existais pas et je suis né. Je n'existe plus et point ne m'en soucie. Salut, passants.
Antiochas formerly named Ephesios.
I was not alive and was born. I am no longer alive and do not mind. Hello, passers-by.
Antiochas, prima chiamato Ephesios.
Non esistevo e sono nato. Non sono più e non me ne curo. Salute, passanti.
This inscription was first seen by R. Norton, who visited Cyrenaica in 1909 for the first time. His copy was joined to the epigraphical material collected during his mission at Cyrene in 1910-1911 by epigraphist H. De Cou and published by D.M. Robinson, who was not able to interpret by himself the copy but gave in addendum a transliteration sent by J. Keil. The stone, that was never seen since, was probably taken abroad, as J.P. Uhlenbrock rediscovered in Norton's archive a photograph of it taken aboard the ship Utowana with which Norton travelled in 1909.
The name was first explained as the masculine Ἀντιοχᾶς by L. Robert, who also understood Ephesios as a second name, possibly introduced by ὁ καί, but more plausibly by ὁ πρίν, as in two other epitaphs of gladiators at Ptolemais (see IRCyr P.220 and IRCyr P.221).
Metrical analysis: lines 2 and 3 were interpreted as a somewhat irregular hexameter independently from Norton's copy by both Keil (apud Robinson) and W. Vollgraff. But the photograph now gives a more precise view of the gaps: those lines appear to be made of metrical sequences, not belonging to any complete verse. Their formulation is a commonplace of stoicism. We have no information about the findspot. The topics of both this inscription and its reuse are clearly funerary, whereas for other steles mentioning gladiators the topic might be discussed (see at GVCyr018). At l. 4, there is no space on the stone for Vollgraff's addition of ὦ, which would produce a more common dactylic rhythm, in spite of a somewhat harsh hiatus.
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