Dedication
IGCyr083800
Trismegistos ID: 738392
Source Description
Support
Fragment of a limestone rectangular altar with mouldings below and above and at least one compartment in the upper face (dimensions of base 1.5;0.8; restored width of inscribed area 1.02)s.
Layout
Inscribed on two opposite sides of the upper moulding (a and b).
Letters
Side a: 0.046, one letter plus space 0.9; side b: 0.045, one letter plus space 0.145; slantering sigma.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Ca. 250 B.C. (context)
Findspot
Found in 1916 at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : agora , South of the Temple of Demeter and Kore .
Last recorded Location
Studied by G. Paci before 1995 in situ.
Present Location
Not seen by IGCyr team.
Text constituted from
Transcription from previous editor.
Bibliography
Bacchielli, 1995 Bacchielli, L., 1995, Il santuario di Demetra e Kore nell'Agorà di Cirene durante l'età tolemaica, in N. Bonacasa, et al. (eds.), Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano. I Centenario del Museo greco-romano. Atti del II Congresso Internazionale Italo-Egiziano (Alessandria, 23-27 novembre 1992), Roma, 128-135 - see in bibliography , pp. 130-132 (ph.), whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 45.2169; Bacchielli, 1995 Bacchielli, L., 1995, Berenice II: la regina della riunificazione tra Egitto e Cirenaica, in R. Raffaelli (ed.), Vicende e figure femminili in Grecia e a Roma, Ancona, 239-248 [ = , 119-125] - see in bibliography , pp. 243-244 (= Bacchielli, 2002 Bacchielli, L., 2002, Parole d'Oltremare e altri scritti di archeologia, Ludus philologiae9, Urbino - see in bibliography , pp. 123-124, pl. XXX, 2).
Apparatus
b.1 [c. 6] ας : Bacchielli, 1995 Bacchielli, L., 1995, Il santuario di Demetra e Kore nell'Agorà di Cirene durante l'età tolemaica, in N. Bonacasa, et al. (eds.), Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano. I Centenario del Museo greco-romano. Atti del II Congresso Internazionale Italo-Egiziano (Alessandria, 23-27 novembre 1992), Roma, 128-135 - see in bibliography [Εἰρήν?]ας
French translation
a) (Autel) d'Eunomia [et de Dika?].
b) (Autel) de [c. 6] a.
English translation
a) (Altar) of Eunomia [and of Dika?].
b) (Altar) of [c. 6] a.
Italian translation
a) (Altare) d'Eunomia [e di Dika?].
b) (Altare) di [c. 6] a.
Commentary
The altar was first mentioned by Oliverio, 1931 Oliverio, G., 1931, Scavi di Cirene, Bergamo - see in bibliography , p. 21, who spoke of «altari (uno dedicato alla Benevolenza)»; Stucchi, 1984 Stucchi, S., 1984, La sede del rilievo "di Afrodite" nell' Agorà di Cirene, in N. Bonacasa, A. Di Vita, Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico. Studi in onore di Achille Adriani, II, 851-857 - see in bibliography , p. 854 followed Oliverio's implicit restoration when speaking of «l'ara di Eunoia». However Bacchielli gave for the first time photographs and added an epigraphic analysis by G. Paci. The latter argued that what remains of the last preserved letter, being slightly oblique, is no iota but a mu. Hence the restored name of Eunomia.
The lettering may be dated widely in the third century B.C.; the archaeological context for the displacement of the Demeter and Kore sanctuary of the agora from the Western side towards the middle of the piazza dates of the middle of the century. Bacchielli links it more precisely with the marriage of Berenice with Ptolemy III and argues that after the troubles following Magas' death in 250 this event was the occasion of developing the cult of Demeter as the marriage goddess and jointly that of Eunomia ('Good Order') with possibly Dike and/or Eirene, all three daughters of Themis. The placement of two names on one side and one name on the opposite side is linked to the dimensions of the missing part and to the different spacing of the letters on both sides. In spite of some good arguments, we prefer to leave the third name open, for it would be fully restored.
Anyhow the altar seems to have been shared by three goddesses, a fact that is paralleled at Cyrene, but for the fact that in the other known examples all the names are written on one and the same side of the altars, which rest against another building. The difference here would be due to the place of the altar, that was to be seen from either of its two long sides.
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.
