Sacred regulations

IGCyr100200

Trismegistos ID: 5963

Source Description

Repository

Cyrene Museum, 437.

Support

Fragmentary white marble panel, broken on all sides but for the left edge and for a very short part of the right edge, at l. 7 (0.195; 0.21;0.6).

Layout

Inscribed on two columns, separated by a vertical line down to l. 7.

Letters

0.06; careful letters with slight serifs; alpha with dropped bar.

Place of Origin

Cyrene .

Date

Second half of second century B.C. (lettering)

Findspot

Plausibly found by G. Oliverio in 1937 at Cyrene : on the agora , East of the Prytaneum (see commentary).

Last recorded Location

Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1977 in Shahat : Cyrene Museum .

Text constituted from

Transcription from stone (CDL).

Bibliography

Oliverio, Taccuini inediti , IV.6, whence Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 and SECir , 158; Sokolowski, 1962 , pp. 196-198, n. 116 and Robert, Bulletin Épigraphique , 1963.307, whence SEG , 20.719; Dobias-Lalou, 1985 , p. 180, whence SEG , 35.1687; Grosjean-Agnès, 2012 , whence SEG , 62.1788 (new text by C. Dobias-Lalou).

Cf. Pugliese Carratelli, 1964 ; Laronde, 1987 , pp. 425-427; Dobias-Lalou, 2000 , passim and especially pp. 149 and 231, whence SEG , 50.1637; Parisi Presicce, 2007 and Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique , 2008.602, whence SEG , 57.2025.

Text

column a
- - - - - - [.]  +++ [---]  [Ἀ]νέμοις α̣[ἴξ] Ἀπόλλωνι Ἀπ[ο]-τ̣ροπαίωι αἴξ, 〚ὗς〛 5ἀλλὰ χίμαρος· Ζηνὶ Ὑπερφορεῖ οὐθὲν ἔμψυχον θύεται, οὐδὲ -ποδεδεμένος 10πότει οὐδὲ μύρτα ποτοίσες·(vac. 4?) Τελέσσαις αἴξ 〚ὗς〛· Ζηνὶ Πανθείωι καὶ Ἀθαναίαι Πανθείαι, 15Ζηνὶ Ὑπελλαίωι καὶ Ἀθαναίαι Ὑπελλαίαι αἴξ· Ἰατρῶι(vac. 2) ὗς· Ζηνὶ(vac. 1) αἴξ,(vac. 1) ὗς· 20Ἄμμωνι καὶ τοῖς περινάοις ὄις· - - - - - -
column b
[------]  [------]  [------]  [------]   τῶι̣  [c. 8 - 11] καὶ τοῖς π̣[αρέδροις] Ἀθαναίας αἴ̣ξ̣· τοῖς δὲ ἐν τᾶι ἀ- 30γορᾶι καὶ τοῖς ἐ[ν] τῶι πρυτανείω[ι], Παιᾶνι καὶ̣ [τοῖς] παρέδροις ὗ̣[ς ..]  Νύμφαι[ς .....]  35πλὰν τ[ᾶν ἐν τᾶι] νάπα̣[ι c. 5] · Ἀπόλ[λωνι c. 5]  ΦΑ[---]  ΑΓ[---]  40Π[---]  - - - - - -

Apparatus

1-40 Grosjean-Agnès, 2012  shows a text, provided by C. Dobias-Lalou, which is the same presented here

4 〚ὗς〛 (not seen by the previous editors)

5 Dobias-Lalou, 1985  ἄλλα : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  μᾶλα : Sokolowski, 1962 , Pugliese Carratelli, 1964  μάλα (the meaning would be 'sacred strip')

12 〚ὗς〛 : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  ὗς

26 τῶι̣ [c. 8 - 11] : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960  ΤΩ[---] 

27 τοῖς π̣[αρέδροις] : τοῖς π̣[ερινάοις] (also possible, as at l. 21) : SECir  τοῖς + [---] 

28 αἴ̣ξ̣ : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  αἴ̣[ξ]

32 καὶ̣ [τοῖς] : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  ΚΑΡ[---]  : Robert, Bulletin Épigraphique , Pugliese Carratelli, 1964  Καρ[νείωι]

33 ὗ̣[ς..]  : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  [---] 

35 τ[ᾶν ἐν τᾶι] : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960  τ[---] 

36 νάπα̣[ι] : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960  ΝΑΠ[---] 

37 Ἀπόλ[λωνι] : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  Ἀπόλ[λων]

40 Π : Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 , SECir  Γ

French translation

(col. a)  [---] , pour les Vents, une chèvre, pour Apollon Apotropaios, une chèvre, plus précisément un chevreau; pour Zeus Hyperphoreus, on ne sacrifie pas d’être vivant, ni on ne (10) pénètre chaussé, ni on n’apporte de myrte; pour les Telessai, une chèvre, un porc; pour Zeus Pantheios et Athèna Pantheia, pour Zeus Hypellaios et Athèna Hypellaia, une chèvre; pour Iatros, un porc; pour Zeus, une chèvre, un porc; (20) pour Ammon et les dieux voisins, un mouton  [---] .

(col. b)  [---] , pour les dieux voisins d’Athèna, une chèvre ; pour les divinités de (30) l’agora et du prytanée, pour Paian et les dieux voisins un porc, pour les Nymphes  [---]  excepté celles du ravin  [---] ; pour Apollon,  [---] .

English translation

(col. a)  [---]  for the Winds, a goat, for Apollo Apotropaios, a goat, more exactly a kid; for Zeus Hyperphoreus, no living being should be sacrified, nor should one (10) come in with shoes on, neither bring myrtle; for the Telessai, a goat, a pig; for Zeus Pantheios and Athena Pantheia, for Zeus Hypellaios and Athena Hypellaia, a goat; for Iatros, a pig; for Zeus, a goat, a pig; (20) for Ammon and the neighbour gods, a sheep  [---] .

(col. b)  [---]  for the gods neighbours of Athena, a goat; for the gods of the (30) agora and of the prytaneion, for Paean and the neighbour gods, a pig, for the Nymphs  [---]  except those of the ravine  [---] ; for Apollo,  [---] .

Italian translation

(col. a)  [---] , per i Venti, una capra, per Apollo Apotropaios, una capra, più precisamente un capretto; per Zeus Hyperphoreus, non si sacrifichi alcun essere vivente, né si entri (10) con le scarpe, né si porti mirto; per le Telessai, una capra, un maiale; per Zeus Pantheios e Atena Pantheia, per Zeus Hypellaios e Atena Hypellaia, una capra; per Iatros, un maiale; per Zeus, una capra, un maiale; (20) per Ammon e gli dèi vicini, un montone  [---] .

(col. b)  [---] , per gli dèi vicini di Atena, una capra; per gli dèi (30) dell'agora e del pritaneo, per Peana e gli dèi vicini, un maiale, per le Ninfe  [---]  fatta eccezione per quelle del vallone  [---] ; per Apollo,  [---] .

Commentary

There exists some confusion about the findspot of this stone: Pugliese Carratelli Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 wrote that it was found in 1937 in the Sanctuary of Apollo, commonly called 'Piazzale'; however in SECir, the same editor, citing Oliverio's notebook, mentions as findspot «nello scavo n. 2 (ad Est del Pritaneo)», i.e. on the agora near the Prytaneum. The photograph from the Department of Antiquities confirms the date 1937, a year for which unfortunately no excavation report may help (see Luni, 2014 , p. 153 and footnote 10). We only know that Oliverio spent some time at Cyrene during that summer (he was no longer Controller of the Antiquities) and he probably took part into the discovery.

As sacrifices are prescribed to various gods and goddesses, often with epithets known only here, the place should not be necessarily the sanctuary of Apollo, although it hosted many other deities. That this panel would have been exposed on the agora is quite possible and we prefer to follow Oliverio's indications. This also fits well the mention of 'gods of the agora and of the prytaneion' at lines 29-31 (which cannot be taken as hinting at the so-called Agora of the Gods in the sanctuary of Apollo, pace Parisi Presicce, 2007 , p. 495, footnote 13).

The restoration proposed here for l. 36 is based on the rare root ναπ-; the full word may be fem. νάπα or neuter νάπος, both with meaning 'woodland vale'. Sanctuaries of Νύμφαι are already known on the Fountain Terrace and on the Western slope of the Acropolis, which might be the place mentioned here (νάπος means both 'grove' and 'ravine') but still lacks any inscribed documentation. Nymphs are also known in the extra-mural sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, near Theatre 5, and at the more remote site of Budaraj, for which the word would also be appropriate.

Some epithets of gods are here quite new. In his first edition, Pugliese Carratelli ( Pugliese Carratelli, 1960 ) discussed the new ones. For Ὑπελλαιος /-α the most convincing interpretation is that from ὑπερ-λαῖος 'with the left hand up'. About the mysterious Telessai, see a tentative etymology by Dobias-Lalou, 2000 , pp. 230-231 and for their figure Grosjean-Agnès, 2012 .

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.

Images