Private honors and artist's signature
IGCyr021000
Trismegistos ID: 6011
Source Description
Support
White marble rectangular block re-used in a late wall (0.875; 0.27;0.65). The anathyrosis at the left-hand side shows that another block was adjacent at left.
Layout
Inscribed on the front face of this block and the next one, now lost, to the left; laid out in two columns of two lines each (i.a and i.b), then one line on the whole width and a fourth line in smaller characters below (ii).
Letters
0.025 for b and c, thus also for a, 0.015 for d; smaller dotted theta, nearly non-slanting sigma.
Place of Origin
Date
First half of third century B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Found in 1926 at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : Sanctuary of Apollo, West of the Temple of Apollo , reused in a Roman House.
Later recorded Location
Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 2001 in situ.
Last recorded Location
Seen by Rosamilia in 2012 in situ.
Text constituted from
Transcription from stone (CDL + Rosamilia).
Bibliography
Oliverio, 1928 Oliverio, G., 1928, Campagna di scavo a Cirene nell’estate 1926: i principali documenti epigrafici, Africa Italiana1, 317-336 - see in bibliography , p. 329, n. 10, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 9.125; Rosamilia, 2014 Rosamilia, E., 2014, Firme di scultori della Cirenaica: un'analisi del corpus, in Luni, M. (ed.), Cirene greca e romana, Monografie di archeologia libica36, Cirene Atene d'Africa7, Roma, 89-106 - see in bibliography , n. 8. Cf. Chamoux, 1946 Chamoux, F., 1946, Un sculpteur de Cyrène, Zénion fils de Zénion, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique (BCH)70, 67-77 - see in bibliography , p. 68, n. 1; Ensoli Vittozzi, 1992 Ensoli Vittozzi, S., 1992, Indagini sul culto di Iside a Cirene, in A. Mastino (ed.), L'Africa romana: atti del 9. Convegno di studio, Nuoro, 13-15 dicembre 1991 (L'Africa romana9), I, Pubblicazioni del Dipartimento di storia dell’Università degli studi di Sassari20, Sassari, 167-250 - see in bibliography , pp. 187-188, with ph., whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 42.1664; Dobias-Lalou, 2000 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2000, Le dialecte des inscriptions grecques de Cyrène, Karthago25, Paris - see in bibliography , p. 21.
Text
Apparatus
i.a.1-2
(not restored before Rosamilia)
ii.1
Rosamilia, 2014
Rosamilia, E., 2014, Firme di scultori della Cirenaica: un'analisi del corpus, in Luni, M. (ed.), Cirene greca e romana, Monografie di archeologia libica36, Cirene Atene d'Africa7, Roma, 89-106 - see in bibliography
[Θευδ]ώρω : Oliverio, 1928
Oliverio, G., 1928, Campagna di scavo a Cirene nell’estate 1926: i principali documenti epigrafici, Africa Italiana1, 317-336 - see in bibliography
Ὥρῳ (not suspecting any lacuna at left)
French translation
i. [Un tel fils d'Un tel] [---] ,
Aristis fils de Theudôros, prêtre.
[Un tel fils de Theu]dôros a consacré (le monument).
ii. Oeuvre d'Agathôn fils d'[Aga?]thoklès.
English translation
i. [So-and-so son of So-and-so] [---] ,
Aristis son of Theudoros, priest.
[So-and-so son of Theu]doros dedicated (the monument).
ii. Made by Agathon son of[Aga?]thocles.
Italian translation
i. [Il tale figlio del tale] [---] ,
Aristis figlio di Theudoros, sacerdote.
[Il tale figlio di Theu]doros dedicò (il monumento).
ii. Opera di Agathon figlio di[Aga?]thokles.
Commentary
This inscription has been originally considered a dedication to the god Horus, with a dative ending without iota that was inconsistent with the chronology. Rosamilia's interpretation is much more convincing. The layout with the names of the persons portrayed above at the nominative case and below a full sentence giving the name of the person among them who was responsible for the dedication has an exact parallel in IGCyr097900. At line 2 of the lost column a, there should have been an indication about an office held by the other dedicant.
Alternatively the missing name at section ii might be at the accusative case, for the person whose statue was dedicated, and the names at i.a and i.b would be that of the dedicants.
Although both name and father's name of the priest who made the present dedication are frequently used in Cyrenaica, the very similar script of IGCyr101500 allows to infer that the latter might be a dedication by the son of the priest; if of the same family, the Aristis son of Theudoros who subscribed about 280 B.C. (IGCyr065210, col. a, l. 147) might be the priest himself.
For the artist's signature, Oliverio's restoration seems good, for Ἀγαθοκλῆς is rather common in Cyrenaica and gives echoing names for father and son. Chamoux, 1946 Chamoux, F., 1946, Un sculpteur de Cyrène, Zénion fils de Zénion, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique (BCH)70, 67-77 - see in bibliography , p. 68, n. 1 had checked the extent of the gap and C. Dobias-Lalou now adds that theta is the only possible letter before the incomplete omicron. Chamoux and Rosamilia think that Agathon was a Cyrenaean. See discussion at Rosamilia, 2014 Rosamilia, E., 2014, Firme di scultori della Cirenaica: un'analisi del corpus, in Luni, M. (ed.), Cirene greca e romana, Monografie di archeologia libica36, Cirene Atene d'Africa7, Roma, 89-106 - see in bibliography , n. 8.
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