Support: Rectangular lead tablet slightly chipped off at upper edge, (dimensions not given, depth probably similar as IGCyr081100)²; found rolled up, unrolled after discovery.

Layout: Engraved on one side, along the broader axis.

Letters: Height not given; taller letters at ll. 1 and 7; beta, rho and phi with triangular loop, slantering mu and sigma, slightly dissymmetrical nu, xi without vertical hasta, tailed upsilon, omicron and omega smaller, in some cases angular; see detailed study of the ductus by editor princeps.

Date: Between 390 and 371 BC (lettering, prosopography).

Findspot: Found in 1964 at Cyrene ➚: in a deposit on the agora, near the northern wall of the Temple of Apollo Archegetes.

Place of origin: Findspot

Last recorded location: Not seen by IGCyr team.

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

Apparatus

French translation

Sous le secrétaire Iasôn fils de Iasôn, prêtre Agonis fils de Timoklès.

Sous (scil. le prêtre) Philôn, Korinthios et ses collègues ont déposé huit mines, dix statères, 14 drachmes 3 oboles.

Sous (scil. le prêtre) Hermèsandros, Ménippos et ses collègues (scil. ont déposé) quatre-vingt-dix-sept mines, 15 statères, 5 drachmes 1 obole.

Ithyllis et ses collègues (scil. ont déposé) mille trois cent vingt-huit mines, 43 drachmes 4 oboles. Prêtre Philèkis.

Sous la prêtrise d'Anaxandros, Theudôros et ses collègues (scil. ont déposé) mille sept cent sept mines, 23 drachmes, 3 oboles 1/2.

Sous la prêtrise d'Agônis, le groupe dont Praxis était le secrétaire (scil. a déposé) mille soixante-douze mines, 6 drachmes, 2 oboles 1/2.

Total: quatre mille deux cent treize mines, 93 drachmes, 4 oboles.

Les neuf dont Praxis était le secrétaire: dîme sacrifiée deux cent soixante mines, 17 drachmes, 2 oboles 1/2.

Paiement supplémentaire de Khaulos, déposé par Thrasylliôn et les autres hiaromnamones: 11 mines 12 drachmes.

En outre, argent trouvé par Agônis: cinq mines d'Eubée.

English translation

Under secretary Iason son of Iason, priest Agonis son of Timokles.

Under (scil. priest) Philon, Korinthios and his colleagues deposited eight mines, ten staters, 14 drachmas 3 obols.

Under (scil. priest) Hermesandros, Menippos and his colleagues (scil. deposited) ninety seven mines, 15 staters, 5 drachmas 1 obol.

Ithyllis and his colleagues (scil. deposited) thousand three hundred twenty eight mines, 43 drachmas 4 obols. Priest Philekis.

Under priest Anaxandros, Theudoros and his colleagues (scil. deposited) thousand seven hundred and seven mines, 23 drachmas, 3 obols 1/2.

Under priest Agonis, those for whom Praxis was secretary (scil. deposited) thousand seventy-two mines, 6 drachmas, 2 obols 1/2.

Total: four thousand two hundred thirteen mines, 93 drachmas, 4 obols.

The nine for whom Praxis was the secretary: tithe sacrificed two hundred sixty mines, 17 drachmas, 2 obols 1/2.

Chaulos supplementary payment, deposited by Thrasyllion and the other hiaromnamones: 11 mines 12 drachmas.

Furthermore, silver currency found by Agonis: five mines from Euboea.

Italian translation

Sotto il segretario Iason figlio di Iason, sacerdote Agonis figlio di Timokles.

Sotto (scil. il sacerdote) Philon, Korinthios e i suoi colleghi hanno depositato 8 mine, 10 stateri, 14 dracme 3 oboli.

Sotto (scil. il sacerdote) Hermesandros, Menippos e i suoi colleghi (scil. hanno depositato) 97 mine, 15 stateri, 5 dracme 1 obolo.

Ithyllis e i suoi colleghi (scil. hanno depositato) 1328 mine, 43 dracme 4 oboli. Sacerdote Philekis.

Sotto il sacerdozio di Anaxandros, Theudoros e i suoi colleghi (scil. hanno depositato) 1707 mine, 23 dracme, 3 oboli e 1/2.

Sotto il sacerdozio di Agonis, quelli di cui Praxis era segretario (scil. hanno depositato) 1072 mine, 6 dracme, 2 oboli e 1/2.

Totale: 4213 mine, 93 dracme, 4 oboli.

I nove di cui Praxis era segretario: decima sacrificata 260 mine, 17 dracme, 2 oboli e 1/2.

Pagamento supplementare di Chaulos, depositato da Thrasyllion e dai colleghi hiaromnamones: 11 mine, 12 dracme.

Inoltre, argento trovato da Agonis: 5 mine euboiche.

Arabic translation

في وقت أمين السر ياسون بن ياسون، الكاهن أغونيس بن تيموكليس. في وقت (الكاهن) فيلون، أودع كورينثيوس وزملاؤه ثمانية ميناي وعشرة استاتير و14 دراخما و3 أوبول. خلال فترة (الكاهن) هيرميساندروس، أودع مينيبوس وزملاؤه سبعة وتسعون ميناي و15 استاتير و5 دراخما وأوبول واحد. أودع إيثيليس وزملاؤه ألفاً وثلاثمائة وثمانية وعشرون ميناي و43 دراخما و4 أوبول. الكاهن فيلكيس. في وقت الكاهن أناكساندروس ، أودع ثيودوروس وزملاؤه ألفاً وسبعمائة وسبعة ميناي و23 دراخما و3 أوبول و½. في عهد الكاهن أغونيس ، بينما كان براكسيس أمينًا للسر أودع أولئك ألفًا وإثنين وسبعين ميناي و 6 دراخما واثنين و نصف من الأوبول. المجموع: أربعة آلاف ومئتان وثلاثة عشر ميناي و93 دراخما و4 أوبول. التسعة الذين كان براكسيس أمين سرًا لهم: عشر الأضاحي المقدمة يكون مئتان وستين ميناي و17 دراخما 2 أوبول و½. التبرع الإضافي لخاولوس أُوْدِع من قبل ثاراسليون والإيرومنامونيس الآخرين: 11مناي و12 دراخما. أضف إلى ذلك، العملة الفضية التي عُثِر عيها من قبل أغينوس: خمسة مناي من أيوبيا.

Commentary

This well preserved inscription is an inventory of cash from different origins. Found along with IGCyr081100², this tablet was perhaps related to it 1) if the priest Hermesandros mentioned in both is the same person; 2) because hiaromnamones are mentioned in both accounts. However this relation has been considered too hypothetical for different reasons: 1) the poor state of conservation of the other tablet, of which a great part might be lost if it was of the same shape as the present one; 2) the just mentioned priest: if his priesthood is recorded in the present tablet, he should not have been in charge many years before and this seemed inconsistent with the fact that the change of writing system, from archaic to Ionic standard, happened between the time when one and the other tablets were written. However, Rosamilia 2023 added a new argument for a short interval between them: the fact that all numbers of mines are written in full should correspond to a phase when the specific Cyrenaican numerals were in use only for the 'lower' amounts, i.e. amounts in drachmas. He therefore fixed the date of this tablet high in the fourth century BC.

In spite of some variation in the formulae, we have at lines 2-6 five similar mentions of a deposit made by a group of persons named after a representative (president? secretary?) in a year identified through the eponymous priest. Whether those years were separated by a span of time or not and whether the mentions are chronologically progressive or retrograde is not clear. However the responsability of registering those deposits on the tablet belongs to a secretary Iason under priest Agonis son of Timokles (l. 1), in the very year of the last mentioned deposit (l. 6). This proves that the secretary responsible for the whole account (Iason) is not the same secretary as the one who acted for the annual deposit (Praxis). Iason checked the total amount of the deposits at line 7. At the end come three sums of different origins also lying in the treasury for which Iason and Agonis were responsible (more on this point below).

The persons responsible for the deposits are described as τοὶ ἀμφί τινα, a Greek phrase for a group 'around' and including a more prominent person. Only at line 6 does a slightly different formulation occur with τοῖς Πρᾶξις ἔγραφε 'those for whom Praxis was secretary'. It is thus tempting to consider that in the other instances the group was also named after the secretary. Furthermore, Praxis is mentioned again at line 8 as secretary of nine persons, but not necessarily the same ones, as the matter is here the expense for a tithe. In Gasperini's view, nine being the number of nomophylakes in Ptolemy's diagramma (IGCyr010800²) in 321/20 BC, Praxis and his colleagues at line 8 should be nomophylakes. However this does not seem cautious, as we know nothing of nomophylakes before Ptolemy's diagramma. Besides, a sacrifice of a tithe does not seem so evident a task for nomophylakes. Moreover, Gasperini was inclined to guess the office of 'the nine' because of the 'supplementary payment' at line 9, which is said to be deposited by a group of hiaromnamones lead by Thrasyllion. The parallel is in no way advisable and the reason for Chaulos' supplementary payment is wholly obscure. We can only notice that in the older account (IGCyr081100²) hiaromnamones are mentioned, but the context is wholly obscure.

About the tithe, as mentioned here and more generally speaking, see Dobias-Lalou – Maffre 2018, p. 252.

Some names were not identified as such by Gasperini. Praxis (ll. 6 and 8) is a common name in Cyrenaica and gives the only possible interpretation of the phrase just mentioned. As for Χαῦλος, see already Arena 1990, pp. 37-38 and also Dobias-Lalou 2010, whereas Gasperini's idea of a variant of καυλός 'stem of silphium', is not plausible. Moreover, the same personal name is probably also mentioned in IGCyr115000² (a suggestive restoration by Rosamilia).

Another important aspect of this text is the Cyrenaean monetary system. Laronde 1987's, pp. 241-247, Gasperini 1986's (= Gasperini – Arnaldi – Marengo 2008, pp. 217-226) and Foraboschi 1996's explanations are now completed by Rosamilia 2023.

The question of the Euboic system mentioned at line 10 and the general meaning of that line were debated by Rosamilia 2016 and again Rosamilia 2023, who on some points does not agree with Dobias-Lalou's options retained above. He understands line 10 as a continuation of line 9, without taking into account the paragraphos which divides the two lines. This allows an easier interpretation of the final accusative and leads to a different meaning of εὑρίσκω. In that view the translation of ll. 9-10 would be: 'Thrasyllion and the other hiaromnamones deposited 11 mines 12 drachmas and also the silver that Agonis found having a weight of five Euboic mines'

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