Support: Three pieces of a white marble slantering stele: the main fragment (b) re-cut on top for a later use in a curved and moulded shape, broken off below, chipped off at both sides and partly hammered off on the inscribed face (w: 0.51-0.54 × h: 0.8 × d: 0.22); . one small non-adjacent fragment (a) from the left edge of an upper part otherwise lost (w: 0.04 × h: 0.05 × d: 0.22); and one small fragment (c) adjacent to the left side of (b) (w: 0.04 × h: 0.13 × d: 0.22).

Layout: Inscribed on whole width at lines a.1-2 and b.1-13; inscribed on two columns from line 14 on, where spaces of one line divide the successive groups of entries.

Letters: 0.014, but at lines 47 and 48 of column ii 0.013; carefully cut with serifs, sigma with parallel outer bars, rho with small loop, wide eta; at line 41 delta as a figure has a line above.

Date: Probably second half of second century BC (lettering).

Findspot: Fragment b: found in 1925 at Cyrene ➚: Sanctuary of Apollo, near the Temple of Apollo. Fragments a and c: found in 1928 at Cyrene ➚: pronaos of the Temple of Hekate.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Cyrene Museum, 31. Fragment b only: seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1979 in Shahat: Cyrene Museum.

Text constituted from: Transcription from stone and from other editors (CDL).

Apparatus

French translation

[---] le prêtre [---

---] , si ce n'est dans le sanctuaire d'Apollon lors des jours de fêtes fixes en l'honneur du dieu et lorsque le corps civique se réunit <sous> un portique ou près de (scil. la statue de) Lysis ou que des assemblées de magistrats mangent au prytanée. Défense de remettre un vase à quiconque, que ce soit la cité, un magistrat en fonction ou un particulier, et d'en emporter un à l'extérieur ou de l'accepter. Défense aussi de s'en servir à la faveur d'une ruse, d'une tromperie ou d'un prétexte quel qu'il soit. (10) Si quelqu'un contrevient à ces règles, il sera coupable de sacrilège et exposé à tous les pires malheurs qui frappent les impies.

Ce sont [12] vases à boire : dont un d'un poids de [---] drachmes; (15) un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes;(20) un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [---] drachmes; un autre de [--- drachmes]; un autre de [--- drachmes]; (25) un autre de [--- drachmes].

Des vases de quatre kotyles, [6]: dont un d'un poids de [--- drachmes]; un autre de [--- drachmes]; un autre de [--- drachmes]; (30) un autre de [--- drachmes]; un autre de [--- drachmes]; un autre de [--- drachmes].

Des vases de trois kotyles: [6, dont un d'un poids de] 138 drachmes; (35) [un autre] de 139; [un autre] d'au moins 140; [un autre] d'au moins 130; [un autre] d'au moins 140; [un autre] de 138.

(41)[Des vases de deux kotyles?], 4, [dont un d'un poids d'] au moins 90 drachmes; [un autre d'] au moins 90 drachmes; [un autre de tant]; (45)[un autre de tant] de plus de 80 drachmes.

[Vase] d'un cotyle et demi [---].

[Autre récipient?] de [tant?]. [.. ? ..]cotyles, [3?], (50)[dont un de] 390 drachmes; [un autre] de 370 drachmes; [un autre] de [.]32 drachmes.

English translation

[---] the priest [---]

[---], except in Apollo's sanctuary during the fixed holidays in honour of the god and whenever the civic body meets <under> a portico or near Lysis' (scil. statue) or whenever assembled magistrates are eating in the prytaneion. Neither the city, nor an officer on duty, nor a private person, should provide a vase to anyone, nor take any outside nor receive any. Be it forbidden to anyone to use one by whatever trick, deceit or pretext. (10) If anyone should act against those rules, he will be guilty of sacrilege and should endure the worst calamities that hit impious men.

There are [12] drinking vases: amongst which one, weighing [---] drachmas; (15) another, of [---] drachmas; another, of [---] drachmas; another, of [---] drachmas; another, of [---] drachmas; another, of [---] drachmas; (20) another, of [--- drachmas]; another of [--- drachmas];; another, of [---] drachmas; another, of [--- drachmas]; another, of [--- drachmas]; (25) another of [--- drachmas].

Vases of four kotyles, [6]: amongst which one, weighing [--- drachmas]; another, of [--- drachmas]; another, of [--- drachmas]; another, of [--- drachmas]; (30) another, of [--- drachmas]; another, of [--- drachmas].

Vases of three kotyles: [6, amongst which one weighing] 138 drachmas; (35) [another], of 139; [another], of at least 140; [another], of at least 130; [another], of at least 140; [another], of 138.

(41)[Vases of two kotyles], 4: [amongst which one weighing] at least 90; [another], of at least 90; [------], [---], (45) [weight] at least 80 drachmas

Vase of[---] one cotyle and a half, [---].

[Other vessel of so much?]. [.. ? ..]cotyles, [3?]: (50)[amongst which one weighing] 390 drachmas; [another], of 370 drachmas; [another], of [.]32 drachmas.

Italian translation

[---] il sacerdote [---

---], tranne che nel santuario di Apollo durante i giorni di festa fissati in onore del dio e quando il corpo civico si raduni <in> un portico o presso (scil. la statua di) Lysis oppure quando i magistrati riuniti mangino nel prytaneion. Che né la città né alcun magistrato in carica né un privato fornisca alcuna coppa a nessuno, o ne porti una fuori o ne prenda una. Che nessuno ne faccia uso con qualche inganno o frode o qualsivoglia pretesto. (10) Se qualcuno agisce contro queste regole, sarà colpevole di sacrilegio ed esposto alle peggiori calamità che colpiscono gli uomini empi.

Ci sono [12] coppe per bere: di cui una, del peso di [---] dracme; (15) un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [---] dracme; (20) un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [---] dracme; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; (25) un'altra, di [---] dracme.

Coppe da quattro cotili, [6]: di cui una del peso di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; (30) un'altra, di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme]; un'altra, di [--- dracme].

Coppe da tre cotili, [6]: [di cui una del peso di] 138 dracme; (35) [un'altra], di 139; [un'altra], di almeno 140; [un'altra], di almeno 130; [un'altra], di almeno 140; [un'altra], di 138 dracme.

(41)[Coppe da due cotili], 4: [di cui una del peso] di almeno 90 dracme; [un'altra], di almeno 90 dracme; [un'altra, del peso dic. 1 - 2]; (45) [un'altra], di almeno 80 dracme.

[Coppa] da una cotile e mezzo [---].

[Un altro vaso, del peso di?]. [---]cotili, [3?]: (50) [ di cui una, di] 390 dracme; [un'altra], di 370 dracme; [un'altra], di [.]32 dracme.

Commentary

The main fragment b was found and published by Ferri in 1925, whereas the two small fragments a and c were found in 1928 by Oliverio and published by him in 1930. He joined them to the main fragment in his republication of 1936. However, the two small fragments were erroneously republished in SEG9.321 and the error was carried on in our first edition as IGCyr030510. Following Rosamilia's due notice, we are now deleting the duplicate.

Moreover, fragment a might not be different from a fragment known to Pugliese Carratelli from Oliverio's notebooks and edited as IGCyr097160². However, the dimensions given are slightly different and the reading at line 2 is also different. As it was impossible to check either fragment, we did not push the joining forward.

The content of this inscription has been much debated. One point is the authority responsible for the first part. Many commentators spoke of a decree of the city. As pointed out by Dobias-Lalou, BE, 2005.620 and again at IGCyr, the use of the koine clearly shows that we have here no decision of the city, but a regulation imposed by the Ptolemaic authority, contrasting for instance with the civic decree about the cult of the rulers in the first part of IGCyr011100². The city's autonomy was clearly limited in this affair, although it was related to the traditional cults or events of the city. Now Rosamilia 2023 (preliminary insights in Rosamilia 2020) strongly supports this view and shows that the mentioned vases were a gift by a Ptolemy to the Cyrenaeans, who probably had asked for it. The king was thus in a position allowing him to order that the vases should be used on such and such occasion. Within a span of time suggested by the lettering, either Ptolemy VIII or Ptolemy IX at the beginning of his reign might be responsible for the gift. The precision about the meeting places at line b.4 would be, in Rosamilia's view, a clue in favour of Ptolemy VIII, who knew the topography of Cyrene very well.

The second part of the inscription, laid out in two columns, consists in a list of vases. A first group is mentioned as ποτήρια, 'drinking-vases'. From line 26 on, others are described through their capacity a number of kotyle and are registered from the largest to the smallest; on the whole, they were larger than the drinking-vases. All of them were used for banquets on occasions that were not, as the text shows, especially sacred. The list itself is no local record, but emanates also from Alexandria, as shown by the use of koine for ὁλκῆς at l. 14.

Rosamilia 2023 amended considerably the whole text. He convincingly argued that line 13 already belongs to the list with its layout in columns, as Oliverio already thought and against Wilhelm's view, followed at IGCyr. He managed better the compound adjectives indicating the capacity of the vessels with a number of cotyles. Their weight was mentioned in drachmas and they were most probably made of silver. For parallels of royal gifts consisting in vessels, see the commentary at Rosamilia 2023.

Interpreting the vestiges of letters at line b.1 has been a challenge since the first publication. Whereas Ferri did not hazard a reading, Oliverio suggested an obscure ἄνυσις, which is rejected by Rosamilia 2023, who did his best from the available photograph. A new collation of the photograph, dating to 1930, with the squeeze made by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1979 shows that the condition of the stone had not changed in the interval. As only the lower part of letters is preserved, there are many possibilities, which we choose not to encode in the text nor in the apparatus and provide here, numbering the four first letters and listing the possibilities in alphabetical order: 1) epsilon or sigma; 2) gamma or iota; 3) alpha or lambda; 4) gamma, iota, mu, nu, tau or upsilon. From these we are not able to produce a convincig reading.

At l. b.2, Ἀπολλωνιείωι is a queer form combining iotacizing and traditional spelling of Ἀπολλωνίωι, the 'sanctuary of Apollo'. This spelling occurs elsewhere, as shown by Rosamilia.

At l. b.4 a decisive solution is now offered by Rosamilia for the phrase ΣΥΝΑΓΗΙΣΤΟΑΝΗΠΕΡΙΛΥΣΙΝ. As to στοά, a 'portico' hosting banquets might be situated either on the agora or inside the sanctuary of Apollo (with perhaps a more religious aspect of the meeting). The fact that the inscription has been found in the sanctuary does not prove anything, as this is the very place where regulations should be exposed and where perhaps the vases were kept. Furthermore, the stone has been re-used and its original place is unknown. Through the mention περὶ Λῦσιν, we have to do, as suggested by Rosamilia, with a prestigious monument bearing the statue of a man named Lysis, which was a reference point in the city. This hypothesis should replace former ones.

At line b.5, Oliverio read a mu before the deleted segment and Rosamilia follows him. However both the ancient photograph and the squeeze show only the upper part of a triangular letter, which might be either alpha, delta or lambda, whence our reading, already suggested in IGCyr. However, we accept Rosamilia's cutting out of the sentences and now add a δέ, which matches the length of the gap. The phrase with πλήν should therefore belong to the preceding sentence.

Lines b.47 sqq. are cut in slightly smaller characters and were probably not scheduled in the initial device. We agree with Oliverio's scepticism about Ferri's suggestion of Zeus Polieus, not otherwise attested at Cyrene. If so, even 'Polieus', kept by Oliverio, should be avoided. We suggested at IGCyr, as a possible parallel, the vases mentioned in inventories at Delos are with an adjective in -εῖος derived from the personal name of the donor. Alternatively, as now proposed by Rosamilia, we might have here the adjective meaning 'of one kotyle', known from papyri, appended to the lost name of a vase of a different kind. The last letter of line 47, read as an alpha by Ferri and Oliverio, is not checked on the stone. Line 49 seems to open a new category where κότυλοι might be this simple word, precede by another word, perhaps with καί, or the second element of a compound with the first member as a multiplicator or divisor. Hence a convincing restoration at lines 50-52, parallel with the rest of the inscription.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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

Maps