Epitaph of Aphrodisia

Bibliography

Pacho, 1827 Pacho, J.-R., 1827, Relation d'un voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrénaïque et les oasis d'Audjelah et de Maradeh, pendant les années 1824 et 1825, Paris - see in bibliography , pl. LXXVIII (printed as LXXIX) and p. 403 (Letronne), whence CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, I-IV, Berlin, 1828-1877 - see in bibliography 5200.b; IGRR Cagnat, R. et al. (eds.), Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, I-III, Paris, 1901-1927 - see in bibliography I.1026; Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography , pp. 196-197, whence Sammelbuch Preisigke, F. et al. (eds.), Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, Strassburg/Wiesbaden1915- - see in bibliography 5939. Cf. Lüderitz-Reynolds, 1983 Lüderitz, G., and J.M. Reynolds, 1983, Corpus jüdischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika (mit einem Anhang von Joyce M. Reynolds), Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des vorderen Orients53, Reihe B, Wiesbaden - see in bibliography , n. 32.d, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 33.1468.

Text

Apparatus

1 Lüderitz-Reynolds, 1983 Lüderitz, G., and J.M. Reynolds, 1983, Corpus jüdischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika (mit einem Anhang von Joyce M. Reynolds), Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des vorderen Orients53, Reihe B, Wiesbaden - see in bibliography  Ἀφροδεισία : Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography  Ἀφροδείσα || Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography  Ἀφροδεισία ἡ καὶ Πτο̣λ̣εμαΐς (De Cou's reading) : CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, I-IV, Berlin, 1828-1877 - see in bibliography  α' [ἔτ]ο<υ>ς. Εἰρ̣άν̣α [Καπί]τ̣ων<ο>ς

2 Lüderitz-Reynolds, 1983 Lüderitz, G., and J.M. Reynolds, 1983, Corpus jüdischer Zeugnisse aus der Cyrenaika (mit einem Anhang von Joyce M. Reynolds), Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des vorderen Orients53, Reihe B, Wiesbaden - see in bibliography  ἀπαγ̣ο̣ρεύει : Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography  ἀπα[γ]ορεύει (De Cou's reading) : CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, I-IV, Berlin, 1828-1877 - see in bibliography  ἀπαγόρ<ε>υσ̣α̣ : Pacho, 1827 Pacho, J.-R., 1827, Relation d'un voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrénaïque et les oasis d'Audjelah et de Maradeh, pendant les années 1824 et 1825, Paris - see in bibliography  ἀπαγόρευε (Letronne's reading)

3 τοῦτό ποτ[ε] : Robinson, 1913 Robinson, D.M., 1913, Inscriptions from the Cyrenaica, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA)17, 157-200 - see in bibliography  τοῦτό πο[τε] (De Cou's reading) : Pacho, 1827 Pacho, J.-R., 1827, Relation d'un voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrénaïque et les oasis d'Audjelah et de Maradeh, pendant les années 1824 et 1825, Paris - see in bibliography , CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, I-IV, Berlin, 1828-1877 - see in bibliography  τοῦ τόπου̣ (Letronne's reading)

French translation

Aphrodisia dite Ptolemais, âgée de deux ans, repose ici. Son père profère un interdit en ces termes : quiconque ouvrira ce petit cercueil et y ensevelira quelqu'un sera redevable de 500 deniers au très saint Trésor.

Courage, héroïne, personne n'est immortel.

English translation

Aphrodisia also called Ptolemais, aged 2, lies here. Her father gives the following prohibition, saying that whoever shall ever open this small coffin and bury someone in it must contribute 500 denarii to the Sacred Treasury.

Take courage, Heroine, no one is immortal.

Italian translation

Aphrodisia, detta anche Ptolemais, di due anni, qui giace. Suo padre pronuncia questo divieto, dicendo: chi mai aprirà questa piccola bara e vi seppellirà qualcuno dovrà versare al Tesoro sacro 500 denari.

Coraggio, eroina, nessuno è immortale.

Commentary

Although very young when she died, the girl had already got a surname, which seems a little queer if used at Ptolemais proper. We may guess that some event in her family such as a recent settling made her birth there noteworthy and resulted in that second name.

The metric formula is assumed as a clue for a Jewish family by Lüderitz, citing Simon, 1936 Simon, M., 1936, Θάρσει οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος. Etude de vocabulaire religieux, Revue de l'histoire des religions, 113, 188-206 - see in bibliography . For the latter, the internal contradiction of the formula is solved by the belief in resurrection, a topic which from Egypt passed on in Jewish and then in Christian religion. However, many pagan testimonies were mentioned by Robinson and the case is not so clear.

Metrical commentary: in this inscription only the end forms a whole verse line, a pentameter which is a common funerary formula with only the addressee needing to be changed. However also ἐνθάδε κεῖται in the pedestrian text is a very common formula, the rhythm of which can take place in a dactylic verse, especially at the end of a hexameter.

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