Unclear

GVCyr050

Trismegistos ID: 738939

Source Description

Support

Support unknown and material unknown.

Layout

Inscribed.

Letters

Height unknown; some small serifs; lunate epsilon and sigma, cursive omega.

Place of Origin

Findspot.

Date

First to third century A.D. (lettering)

Findspot

First copied probably by Granger in 1730 at Cyrene : perhaps Sanctuary of Apollo (see commentary).

Present Location

Seems to be lost.

Text constituted from

Transcription from previous editors.

Bibliography

Fränkel, 1903 , p. 87, n. 3; Peek, 1972 , n. 10.

Text



| ἡ πρό[π]υλον κα[---] ·

| τῆς γὰ̣ρ ἐγὼ Γ[---] 

| ἔρνος <ἀ>νερχό[μ]ε̣ν̣[ον ---] 

| Λ̣ητοΐδ̣ην δὲ [---] .

Apparatus

1 ἡ πρό[π]υλον κα[---]  : Peek, 1972  ἡ πρό[π]υλον κα[θορῶσα δάφνη ξένη εἰμὶ Κυρήνης] : Fränkel, 1903  ΗΠΡΟ+ΥΛΟΝΚΑ

2 τῆς γὰ̣ρ ἐγὼ Γ[---]  : (or) τῆς γὰ̣ρ ἔγωγ[ε ---]  : Peek, 1972  γ̣ῆς γὰ̣ρ ἐγὼ γ[ενόμην Ἑλλάδος, οὐ Λιβύης] : Fränkel, 1903  ΤΗΣΓΔΡΕΓΩΓ

3 Peek, 1972  ἔρνος <ἀ>νερχό[μ]ε̣ν̣[ον] : Fränkel, 1903  ΡΝΟΣΝΕΡΧΟ(vac. 1)Τ̣Υ̣ || [---]  : Peek, 1972  [Κράτερος δ' ἱερεύς με φύτευσε]

4 Peek, 1972  Λ̣ητοΐδ̣ην : Fränkel, 1903  ΚΗΤΟΙΛΗΝ || δὲ [---]  : Peek, 1972  δ' ἔ[τι νῦν κοσμῶ ἐμοῖς στέφεσιν]

French translation

La  [---]  le portail  [---] , dont pour ma part  [---]  un rejeton s'élevant  [---] ; mais le fils de Lètô  [---] .

English translation

The  [---]  the gate  [---] , of which as for me  [---]  an offshoot growing  [---] ; but the son of Leto  [---] .

Italian translation

La  [---]  il portale  [---] , del quale per quel che mi riguarda  [---]  un virgulto che cresce  [---] ; ma il figlio di Latona  [---] .

Commentary

Amongst the notebooks of the French clergyman and scholar Michel Fourmont (1690-1746) are some copies of inscriptions that he received from other persons. When examining Fourmont's archive (this page now available online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52506379g/f742.image.r), Fränkel had noticed that this copy was not of Fourmont's hand. He only reproduced the copy without interpreting it. No findspot is given, but one of the texts (IRCyr C.417) contains a reference to Cyrene and another (IRCyr C.385) still survives in the Sanctuary of Apollo. Laronde has shown that the author of the copy is presumably Granger, who visited Cyrene in 1730 (see Laronde, 1987 , pp. 18-19; Laronde, 1990 and Laronde, 1990 ).

Peek proposed very long restorations, which we can not fully endorse. His restorations were based on the idea that this epigram is related to GVCyr028 and GVCyr036, which both mention a laurel, the latter being inscribed on the Roman propylaeum. This idea seems to be confirmed by the mention of ἔρνος ἀνερχόμενον, a quotation from Od. VI.163, where the beautiful Nausicaa is compared with Apollo's laurel. However ἔρνος may simply be a metaphor for 'child' or 'grand-child' without any relation with a laurel or any other real tree.

Metrical analysis: the fragmentary sequences are all dactylic. The beginning of line 2 τῆς γάρ indicates a new sentence, thus compelling to suppose at line 1 at least a noun related to and a verb. Ιt is therefore clear that each text line is a verse line (this leaving the Homeric quotation at its original place). It is however impossible to guess whether we have four hexameters or two elegiac couplets. The latter is Peek's choice, but usually in such a case, at Cyrene, there is an alternate inset for the pentameter on the stone.

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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.

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