Support
On the plinth of a limestone statue of kneeled ram, (0.45; -; -).
Layout
Inscribed (?) on the plinth under the left side of the ram.
Letters
0.08; slanting mu.
Place of Origin
Date
Perhaps fourth century B.C. (lettering)
Findspot
Found before 1993 in a votive depot South of Cyrene pleiades; HGL : in the area of the Wadi el Aish .
Present Location
Studied from photograph by E. Rosamilia.
Text constituted from
Transcription from editor.
Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography , pp. 25-26 (fig. 10); Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique Dobias-Lalou, C.Bulletin Épigraphique in Études Grecques (REG)1987- - see in bibliography 2017.641.
1 Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography [Ἄ]μμω̣[νι] : Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography [Ἄ]μμω̣[νος] : Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography [Ἀ]μμώ̣[νιος] : Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography [Ἀρί]μμ[αν]
Intraduisible.
Not usefully translatable.
Intraducibile.
غير قابل للترجمة بشكل جيد.
E. Rosamilia could only study the inscription from a photograph. M. Montanari, who studied the statue, thought that other letters might have been worn out at both ends and especially at right, where the surface is really broken off. From the photograph one gets the impression that a chi was cut in the break, which would give no sense after two μ. Moreover, the place where the inscription would extend, if ever, would be strangely shifted, unless it ran on the whole plinth around. However so long a loss is far from plausible in view of the photographs.
The double mu was in fact a tantalizing clue for a mention of Ammon or of a personal name derived from the god's name or not. After having explored different restorations mentioned here in the apparatus, E. Rosamilia eventually suggested that those letters might be marks appended for helping the placement of the statue. He is now (personal information) even more prone to think so.
A supposed relation with Ammon relies on the very figure of a ram and on some other archaeological arguments. A chance find during building works brought to light this piece with a series of other sculptures and inscriptions, part of which do refer to Ammon (see Mohamed-Reynolds-Dobias-Lalou, 2007 Mohamed, F.A., Reynolds, J., Dobias-Lalou, C., 2007, Recently discovered inscriptions at Cyrene, in L. Gasperini, S. Marengo (eds.), Cirene e la Cirenaica nell'antichità: atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Roma-Frascati, 18-21 dicembre 1996, Ichnia9, Tivoli, 17-48 - see in bibliography , pp. 17-22 and IGCyr108400). In the vicinity, a building, never excavated, might have been related to the find and is hypothetically considered as the temple of Ammon hitherto missing at Cyrene (see Montanari, 2016 Montanari, M., 2016, Libi e Greci a Cirene: Zeus Ammon, in V. Purcaro, O. Mei, Cirene greca e romana II, Monografie di archeologia libica44, Cirene Atene d'Africa9, 15-26with a note by E. Rosamilia - see in bibliography , p.19). This supposed temple unfortunately now lies under the new city of Shahat.
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