Repository
Cyrene Museum, inv. number unknown.
Support
White marble fragmentary base with double mouldings of eggs and darts chipped out nearly everywhere; the original face, if once inscribed, is now illegible; the opposite face, bearing the inscription, has lost its left part, probably cut away (0.59; 0.28;0.46).
Layout
Inscribed between the mouldings (0.59; 0.11;).
Letters
0.032-0.04; deeply cut, without serifs.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Ca. 300 B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Found in 1915 at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : North Necropolis, tomb of the Mnesarchoi (tomb N 171 Cassels).
Last recorded Location
Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1979 in Shahat : still in front of the ancient Sculpture Museum and again on September 9th, 1997 in Shahat : Cyrene Museum .
Text constituted from
Transcription from stone (CDL).
Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography , p. 117, n. 119, fig. 75, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 9.231; again as unpublished SECir Oliverio, G., Pugliese-Carratelli, G., Morelli, D., 1961-1962, Supplemento Epigrafico Cirenaico, Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente (ASAA)39-40 (= n.s. 23-24), 219-375 - see in bibliography , 64. Cf. Beschi, 1970 Beschi, L., 1970, Divinità funerarie cirenaiche, Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente (ASAA)47-48, 133-341 - see in bibliography , pp. 181, 182, 204; Marengo, 1985 Marengo, S.M., 1985, Note di epigrafia cirenaica: edizioni ripetute, Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Università di Macerata (AFLM)18, 145-162 - see in bibliography , p. 150; Laronde, 1987 Laronde, A., 1987, Cyrène et la Libye hellénistique. Libykai historiai de l’époque républicaine au principat d’Auguste, Paris - see in bibliography , pp. 56-58, whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 38.1892.
1 [Μνάσαρ?]χος : Oliverio, 1933-1936 Oliverio, G., 1933-1936, Documenti antichi dell'Africa Italiana, II, fasc. 1-2, Bergamo - see in bibliography , Laronde, 1987 Laronde, A., 1987, Cyrène et la Libye hellénistique. Libykai historiai de l’époque républicaine au principat d’Auguste, Paris - see in bibliography [Μνάσαρ]χος : Beschi, 1970 Beschi, L., 1970, Divinità funerarie cirenaiche, Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente (ASAA)47-48, 133-341 - see in bibliography [---] χος
[Mnasar?]khos fils de Damonax.
[Mnasar?]chos son of Damonax.
[Mnasar?]chos figlio di Damonax.
Pugliese Carratelli published again this inscription as SECir Oliverio, G., Pugliese-Carratelli, G., Morelli, D., 1961-1962, Supplemento Epigrafico Cirenaico, Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente (ASAA)39-40 (= n.s. 23-24), 219-375 - see in bibliography , 64, without illustration nor restoration, from Oliverio's papers, as was later established by Marengo.
Neither Oliverio nor Beschi did notice that the stone was re-used, a fact that seems rather certain to C. Dobias-Lalou.
Moreover, the lettering seems rather old amongst the series of bases from the same tomb (IGCyr027100,IGCyr027200, IGCyr027300, IGCyr027400 and possibly IGCyr114300).
That family-tomb is commonly called after the name Mnasarchos, frequent among them, and the name of the present deceased has been thus restored as Mnasarchos. Furthermore, Laronde identifies the father Damonax with a monetary officer active between 331 and 321.
Only Beschi, who assumes the stone to have fallen from another tomb situated above, refrains from completing the name. The fact that it had been re-used is another reason for being cautious.
Creative Commons Attributions-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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.