Tithe

IGCyr130500

Trismegistos ID: 738852

Source Description

Repository

Cyrene Museum, 526.

Support

Fragment of a white marble rectangular panel, broken off at left and right (0.13; 0.065;0.035).

Layout

Inscribed on the face in two lines.

Letters

0.02 (but for the last omega 0.01)); space between letters 0.002 at line 1, 0.03 at line 2; very carefully cut, without serifs; non-slanting mu and sigma, not quite symmetrical nu.

Place of Origin

Findspot.

Date

Probably first half of fourth century B.C. (lettering)

Findspot

Found before 1977 at Cyrene : exact findspot unrecorded; possibly from the Sanctuary of Apollo .

Last recorded Location

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

Text constituted from

Transcription from stone (CDL).

Bibliography

Not previously published.

Text

[---]  [Τηλ]εμνάστω [δεκά]τ̣αν

Apparatus

French translation

[Un tel] fils de Tèlémnastos (a consacré ce monument) au titre de la dîme.

English translation

[So-and-so] son of Telemnastos (dedicated this monument) as a tithe.

Italian translation

[Il tale] figlio di Telemnastos (ha dedicato questo monumento) come decima.

Commentary

No name ending with -έμναστος is hitherto attested in Cyrenaica. However Τηλέμναστος is the only name provided through an online search in the database of Lexicon of Greek Personal Names. Furthermore, its being attested both at Rhodes and in Crete makes it a good guess for Cyrenaica.

The panel, although broken off at right, might have ended soon after the final omega of line 1, which is cut smaller, under the upper bar of the tau, as if space was lacking for a full size. The much contrasted space between letters at line 2 shows that only one word stood there. Furthermore, the space preceding alpha and a very faint trace of the end of an upper bar induce to restore a tau, hence the word for 'tithe'. We have here the minimal formulation of such dedications.

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