Dedication and artist's signature
IGCyr125700
Trismegistos ID: 738806
Source Description
Repository
Cyrene Museum, 152.
Support
Part of a white marble panel, broken off at left and right and above (0.28; 0.215;0.07).
Layout
Inscribed on the face.
Letters
Line 1-2: 0.04; line 3: 0.015; carefully cut, with small serifs; smaller circular letters, not really slanting sigma, upsilon with tall vertical stroke and open upper part.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Perhaps second half of third or rather beginning of second century B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Found probably before World War II at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : place unrecorded, but plausibly from the Sanctuary of Apollo .
Last recorded Location
Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1979 in Shahat : Cyrene Museum .
Text constituted from
Transcription from stone (CDL).
Bibliography
Dobias-Lalou-Rosamilia, 2016 Dobias-Lalou, C., Rosamilia, E., 2016, Cirene "Atene d'Africa", VII-VIII. Addenda et corrigenda, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica, 44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, Roma, 381-382 - see in bibliography (ph.)
Apparatus
French translation
[---] (a consacré) à Apollon au titre de la d[îme?].
[Oeuvre d'Untel] fils de [---] oniskos.
English translation
[---] (dedicated) to Apollo as a t[ithe?].
[Work of So-and-so] son of [---] oniskos.
Italian translation
[---] (ha dedicato) ad Apollo come d[ecima?].
[Opera del tale] figlio di [---] oniskos.
Commentary
Although very fragmentary, this inscription consists clearly of a dedication with an artist's signature in smaller characters below.
At line 2, the restoration was chosen on behalf of its high frequency in Cyrenaean inscriptions. It is associated with an artist's signature in IGCyr019000. At first view it is not quite impossible that the text read [ἐκ τῶ]ν ἰδ[ίων] 'at his own expense', which would be used for honoring a person with a statue. However such formulas occur only later and exclusively for building or reparing works.
At line 3, we restore the most common formula. There also exists at Cyrene at least one instance with ἔ[ργον] (see IGCyr108400 with the commentary). In the latter case, the ending of genitive would belong to the sculptor's name. In the preferred reading, the father's name of the sculptor ended with -ονίσκος. No such name is hitherto attested in Cyrene. As no ethnic is mentioned, thie sculptor was plausibly a Cyrenaean.
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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.
