Support: A rock-cut tomb, half-buried, with part of one arched door still visible; two large niches on both sides above the door and a small one in the middle, touching the summit of the door-arch; the facade, which had been roughly smoothened, is now badly worn out above, with a large hole at left (dimensions unknown).

Layout: Inscribed on the facade above the entrance. A former inscription (text a) was cut and erased, leaving only one line legible. The verse-inscription (text b) was cut above the preserved line of a and extends on a much larger space (w: 4.00 × h: 0.40).

Letters: Text b: 0.15-0.18, but for the second omicron and the third iota (in ligature) of l. 1 (0.06); lunate epsilon, sigma and omega, phi with tall hasta; letters irregularly spaced.

Date: Perhaps second half of first or first half of second century AD (lettering).

Findspot: Copied by J.-R. Pacho in 1825 at Taucheira ➚: Quarry East 3 of Oliverio's grid.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Seen by H. de Cou in 1911 in situ. Seen by G. Oliverio before 1935 in situ. Studied by Khaled El Haddar repetedly up to 2018 in situ at Tocra in Quarry East 3. Not seen by GVCyr team.

Text constituted from: Transcription from previous editors and photograph (CDL).

Apparatus

French translation

A. [---](scil. L'an) [---], le cinq Phaôphi.

B. Ci gît Theupropos, qui parfait par excellence atteignit l'âge de dix-huit ans dans une sagesse universelle.

English translation

A. [---](scil. In year) [---], the fifth of Phaophi.

B. Here rests Theupropos, who excellent amongst the first reached the age of eighteen years being wise in all matters.

Italian translation

A. [---](scil. Nell'anno) [---], il cinque di Phaophi.

B. Qui giace Theupropos, che eccellente tra i primi raggiunse l'età di diciotto anni, saggio in tutto.

Commentary

The date cut in smaller letters should not be linked to the verse above. It is the result of a former ordinary funerary inscription, which was erased when the surface was smoothened for the new inscription, as observed by Prof. Khaled El Haddar (personal communication, 2018).

For the personal name, Pacho's copy, although inaccurate, records some letters that were completely lost already in 1913 (De Cou's copy, whence Robinson). Of them we can keep the pi and guess that theta is misread for omicron. Welcker's different arguments are more far-fetched, although he was certainly right in restoring the full name Θεύπροπος, for we now know of a Cyrenaean bearing that name honored at Delos and also of two women from Cyrenaica named Θευπρόπα (see Fraser – Matthews 1987, p. 222).

Metrical analysis: one elegiac couplet. The final syllable of κεῖται is shortened before vowel, even in the caesura.

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All citation, reuse or distribution of this work must contain a link back to DOI: https://doi.org/10.60760/unibo/igcyrgvcyr2 and the filename (IGCyr000000 or GVCyr000), as well as the year of consultation.

Images

Fig. 1. View of gvcyr010 Epitaph of Theupropos

Fig. 2. Face of gvcyr010 Epitaph of Theupropos

Maps