Dedication to the Theoi Apotropaioi
IGCyr114900
Trismegistos ID: 738701
Source Description
Support
Marble altar with plain mouldings on top and bottom (0.165; 0.12;0.11).
Layout
Inscribed on front face, axial layout not respected at right (0.235; 0.075;).
Letters
0.003-0.008; serifs, alpha with dropped bar, little omicron, pi with projecting upper bar, non-slanting sigma; delta erroneously duplicated at line 2.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Second half of second century B.C. (context, lettering)
Findspot
Found in 2010 at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : in the Southern Extra-Mural Sacred Zone , oikos in the Southern temple precinct (also called Apotropaion): room F1, sounding 18, SU 6.
Present Location
Not seen by IGCyr team.
Text constituted from
Transcription from photograph (SMM).
Bibliography
Marengo, 2011 Marengo, S.M., 2011, Inscriptions du sanctuaire de Déméter, Comptes rendus des séances: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (CRAI)2011, 247-258 - see in bibliography , pp. 249-252, fig. 7 (p. 238), whence SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden, then Amsterdam, 1923-1971, then 1979- - see in bibliography , 61.1554. Cf. Dobias-Lalou, 2013 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2013, Espace des dieux, espace des hommes, espaces des vivants, espace des morts dans les inscriptions de Cyrénaïque, in A. Inglese, Epigrammata 2. Definire, descrivere, proteggere lo spazio, in ricordo di André Laronde. Atti del convegno di Roma, 26-27 ottobre 2012, Tivoli, 165-195 - see in bibliography , pp. 190-191; Antonini, 2016 Antonini, R., 2016, Sulla dedica arcaica ai Dioscuri da Cirene, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei (eds.), Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica, 44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 27-64 - see in bibliography , p. 46; Marengo, 2016 Marengo, S.M., 2016, Scoperte epigrafiche a Cirene, in Rizzo, M.A., Macerata e l'archeologia in Libia. 45 anni di ricerche dell'Ateneo maceratese. Atti del Convegno Macerata, 18 marzo 2014, Monografie di archeologia libica40, Roma, 161-170 - see in bibliography , p. 169.
Apparatus
French translation
Damophilos fils de Damophilos (a consacré ce monument) à Apollon, Zeus et Athèna, (dieux) Apotropaioi.
English translation
Damophilos son of Damophilos (dedicated this monument) to Apollo, Zeus and Athena, (gods) Apotropaioi.
Italian translation
Damophilos figlio di Damophilos (ha dedicato questo monumento) ad Apollo, Zeus e Atena, (dèi) Apotropaioi.
Commentary
This dedication gives a decisive clue for IGCyr016700, ll. 4-7: the mentioned gates are the Southern ones and the Apotropaion is located along the road to Western Cyrenaica, in view of the gates.
The Doric genitive ending in -ω is preserved, but Athena is written in koine. At the presumed date of the inscription, this feature might be due to the influence of the koine rather than be a reflex of a non-Doric origin of the dedicant ( pace Antonini, 2016 Antonini, R., 2016, Sulla dedica arcaica ai Dioscuri da Cirene, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei (eds.), Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica, 44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 27-64 - see in bibliography , p. 46).
The worship of Apollo Apotropaios at Cyrene is documented in IGCyr016700, ll. 6-7 and IGCyr100200, ll. 3-4. No other mention of this epithet was hitherto known for the two other gods.
