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

Cyrene .

Date

First half of third century B.C. (lettering)

Findspot

Found in 1926 at Cyrene : 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 , p. 329, n. 10, whence SEG , 9.125; Rosamilia, 2014 , n. 8. Cf. Chamoux, 1946 , p. 68, n. 1; Ensoli Vittozzi, 1992 , pp. 187-188, with ph., whence SEG , 42.1664; Dobias-Lalou, 2000 , p. 21.

Text

section i
column a
[---]  [---]  [---] 
column b
Ἄριστις Θευδώρω ἱαριτεύων
[......]  [Θευδ]ώρω ἀνέθηκε.
section ii
Ἀγάθω[ν Ἀγα?]θ̣ο̣κλεῦς ἐπόησεν̣.

Apparatus

i.a.1-2 (not restored before Rosamilia)

ii.1 Rosamilia, 2014  [Θευδ]ώρω : Oliverio, 1928  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 , 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 , n. 8.

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