Support: Rock-cut (?) altar with two compartments (dimensions unknown).

Layout: Inscribed plausibly on the front (0.89 wide), below the compartments.

Letters: Height unknown; uspilon without hasta, flattened omega.

Date: Fourth or third century BC (lettering).

Findspot: Found by S. Ferri between 1919 and 1923 West of Cyrene: along the road leading to the West Necropolis, at El-Baggara.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Not found in 2003 by O. Menozzi, who explored the area. Not seen by IGCyr team.

Text constituted from: Transcription from previous editor (CDL).

Apparatus

French translation

(scil. Autel) d'Halios. (scil. Autel) d'Aug[eas].

English translation

(scil. Altar) of Halios. (scil. Altar) of Aug[eas].

Italian translation

(scil. Altare) di Halios. (scil. Altare) di Aug[eas].

Commentary

This inscription offers some unclear points. The only information is a drawing by Ferri, who described the support as 'une doppia eschara fornita inferiormente di bothros, in rozzi caratteri non più recenti certo del IV secolo'. As to the date, C. Dobias-Lalou, from the drawing, suspects a later date.

Ferri also described the whereabouts: at Baggara, a natural hole providing light to a cave. From this, Menozzi was able to identify the spot as a rocky sanctuary, but could not find the inscription.

As to the meaning, Ferri was very clear: he took the first word as the name of the god of the sun, Helios, and the second one as the name of another celestial deity, with an accent that should relate to the feminine Auge, daughter of the Arcadian king Aleos and mother of Telephos by Heracles. She later fled to Mysia and received protection from king Teuthras, being thus worshipped as a heroine both in Arcadia and in Asia minor. There is no reason for a link between her and Helios nor with Cyrenaica.

On the other hand the idea of two divine names would fit an altar with two compartments. Helios' cult, hitherto unknown in Cyrenaica was typically Rhodian before its development in the Lagids' Egypt later than Ferri's dating of the inscription (see Helios as warrant of the will of Ptolemy VIII IGCyr011200²). C. Dobias-Lalou suggests that Augeas would be a better candidate. One son of Helios is mentioned by Nonnos (14.44-45) with a name usually printed as Αὔγης. One might rather write Αὐγῆς, a contracted form usual in Ionian for names ending with -έας. Apollonius Rhodius (1.172), who has for metrical reasons the variant Αὐγείης is more explicit, as he mentions him amongst the Argonauts both as king of Elis (who obliged Heracles to clean his stables) and as a son of Helios. That both father and son were worshipped together seems to be reasonable. What is not quite clear is the exact suffix that could end this name in Cyrenaica. On this reading see again Dobias-Lalou 2020.

On the other hand Hondius for SEG implicitely interpreted the two words as a metrical segment when he compared it with a formula mentioned twice in one of Balbilla's poems cut on the Memnonion at Abydos (Bernand – Bernand 1960, p. 81) after Hadrian's visit in 130 AD Even if the lettering in Ferri's drawing might be slightly younger than he supposed, the poems of Balbilla cannot be taken as models. In fact the association of ἥλιος and αὐγή may be found at some places in Homer, but the words are never associated in traditional formula. There is no sound reason for inserting this text into the collection of verse-inscriptions.

Rosamilia 2023 is not convinced by the Augeas hypothesis and suggests rather a cult of divinised αὐγή, 'Light, Sunlight'.

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Images

Fig. 1. Drawing of igcyr033600 Unclear

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