Description of a votive relief

Bibliography

Smith-Porcher, 1864 Smith, R.M., Porcher, E.A., 1864, History of the recent discoveries at Cyrene, made during an expedition to the Cyrenaica in 1860-61, under the auspices of Her Majesty's government, London - see in bibliography , pp. 76, 98 and p. 114, pl. 83, n. 19; Kaibel, 1878 Kaibel, G., 1878, Epigrammata graeca ex lapidibus conlecta, Berlin - see in bibliography , n. 842a; IBM Marshall, F.H. (ed.), The collection of ancient Greek inscriptions in the British Museum: Supplementary and miscellaneous inscriptions, IV.ii, Oxford, 1916 - see in bibliography , n. 1061.; Laronde, 2004 Laronde, A., 2004, Les rivalités entre les cités de la Cyrénaïque à l’époque impériale, in S. Follet (ed.), L’hellénisme d’époque romaine: nouveaux documents, nouvelles approches (Ier s. a.C. - IIIe s. p.C.). Actes du colloque international à la mémoire de Louis Robert, Paris, 7-8 juillet 2000, Paris, 187-193 - see in bibliography , pp. 191-192. Cf. BMCatSc Smith, A.H., A catalogue of sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, London, 1892-1904 - see in bibliography , 1.790; Callot, 1999 Callot, J.-J., 1999, Recherches sur les cultes en Cyrénaïque durant le Haut-Empire romain, Études d'archéologie classique10, Nancy-Paris - see in bibliography , p. 113, number 207; 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 , pp. 329-330

Text

Apparatus

3 θέτο Κάρπος : Smith-Porcher, 1864 Smith, R.M., Porcher, E.A., 1864, History of the recent discoveries at Cyrene, made during an expedition to the Cyrenaica in 1860-61, under the auspices of Her Majesty's government, London - see in bibliography  θέτο Κάρπος

4 φιλοξενίης : Smith-Porcher, 1864 Smith, R.M., Porcher, E.A., 1864, History of the recent discoveries at Cyrene, made during an expedition to the Cyrenaica in 1860-61, under the auspices of Her Majesty's government, London - see in bibliography  φιλοξενίης

French translation

Cyrène, la mère des cités, que couronne en personne

Libye, qui détient la gloire de trois continents,

Cyrène fut ici placée au-dessus de la poutre, en train de tuer le lion,

par Karpos, en accomplissement d'un voeu, pour témoigner d'une généreuse hospitalité.

English translation

Cyrene, mother of the cities, crowned by Libya

herself, who holds the glory of three continents,

Cyrene was placed here above the lintel in the act of killing the lion

by Karpos, who accomplished a vow, as the token of a great hospitality.

English translation

Here over the architrave, Karpos, making this dedication in token of great hospitality, has placed the lion-slaying Cyrene, whom Libya, having the glory of three continents, herself crowns.

Italian translation

Cirene, madre delle città, incoronata da Libia

in persona, che detiene la gloria di tre continenti,

qui sull'architrave, nell'atto di uccidere un leone, pose lei Karpos,

per esaudire un voto e come segno di generosa ospitalità.

Arabic translation

كيريني، أم المدن، تُوجت من قبل ليبيا ذاتها، من يحمل مجد القارات الثلاث، وضُعت كيريني هنا فوق العتبة في وضع (مشهد يُبين) مقتلها للأسد، من قبل كاربوس، الذي أكمل النذر، كرمز للكرم الواسع. هنا على هذا العتب، جعل كاربوس هذا الإهداء رمزاً للكرم الواسع، واضعاً كيريني قاتلة الأسود، التي توجتها ليبيا بنفسها، حاملة مجد القارات الثلاث.

Commentary

This relief was found by Smith and Porcher in the upper city, in the building that they called 'temple of Venus' because a good proportion of the sculptures they unearthed there were related to that deity. It still uses to be called so, although no epigraphical confirmation exists. The denomination is convenient in order to distinguish it from a temple of Aphrodite in the sanctuary of Apollo. New investigations gave no further clues (see Luni-Mei- Longarini, 2006 Luni, M., Mei, O., Longarini, C., 2006, L'area sacra a divinità della fecondità nel quartiere dell'agorà, in M. Luni, Cirene "Atene d'Africa", Monografie di archeologia libica28, Roma - see in bibliography , p. 66). The relief shows an episod of the myth of foundation: as related by Pindar ( Pyth. 9), the Thessalian nymph Cyrene was able to kill a lion by hand and other monuments at Cyrene show the scene. Moreover Pausanias (X.15.6) tells about a sculpture dedicated by the Cyrenaeans at Delphi showing Battos on a chariot lead by Cyrene, herself crowned by Libya.

The title metropolis seems to be an official one in inscriptions of the second century A.D. More precisely, Cyrene is considered as the 'mother-city' of the the rest of Cyrenaica in the letter of Hadrian (IRCyr C.164, ll. 19 and 21) answering to claims from Ptolemais in a period where the relations between the cities were difficult. Laronde argued that this epigram recorded an episode of this crisis: the name Karpos having his only regional attestation in an epitaph at Ptolemais (IRCyr P.291), both inscriptions might mention one and the same man, who would have acted for his home-city Ptolemais and come to Cyrene for negotiations. His dedication would recall the good hospitality he enjoyed at Cyrene on that occasion.

The phrase τρισσὸν ἔχουσα κλέος, applying to Libya has been much debated; τρισσός is ambiguous, meaning 'threefold', but sometimes also 'third' or even 'three'. Libya is here both the divine entity represented on the relief and one amongst the mentioned 'continents'. Furthermore, in Greek literature, Libyan often means 'Greek from Libya', i.e. from the Cyrenaica. Laronde's interpretation seems the better one: the 'mother-city' (hence the whole region) was founded by people coming from Europe to Africa, whereas Jews settled down under the Ptolemies might be intended as coming from the third continent. This interpretation seems better than that of Callot (after others): Libya 'is proud of being a third continent'.

The relief was placed over the 'beam' or 'lintel' of a building that might be the temple in which it was found. Smith and Porcher, followed by Laronde, thought that it might be a metope of the frieze surmounting an 'architrave'. The dimensions seem somewhat too large for that. No checking is possible, as the vestiges of the temple were already at ground level by the time of Smith and Porcher, who remained very cautious about the original position of all the objects found in this temple. Unfortunately, the epigram does not mention the divinity to which the relief is offered 'as result of a vow'.

Metrical analysis: two regular elegiac couplets deserving no particular metrical commentary.

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