Support: Fragmentary limestone panel, broken off at upper right and lower left and right, probably keeping a punctual part of its right edge and a short section of its lower edge (w: 0.29 × h: 0.281 × d: 0.055).

Layout: Inscribed on front face, with space between letters varying at each line.

Letters: 0.01; nearly no serifs, alpha with dropped bar, pi with wide prominent upper bar, non-slanting and wide sigma, widely open upsilon, phi with small round loop.

Date: 108-107 BC (internal date, reign).

Findspot: Found probably between 1936 and 1942 at Ptolemais ➚: exact findspot unrecorded.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Tolmeita Museum, inv. number unknown. Seen in 1960 by G. Pugliese Carratelli in Ţulmaythah: Tolmeita Museum. Not seen by IGCyr team.

Text constituted from: Transcription from previous editor.

Apparatus

French translation

La 10e année du roi Ptolémée Dieu Sôter, Pe[isis] fils de Lôinikos et petit-fils d'Yratthis, Pamphilos fils d'Antikratès, Dèmètrios fils d'Epigénès, [---]arkhos fils d'Itthallammôn, Paraibatas fils d'Ial, [---]s fils d'Akésis, étant pédonomes, [---] ont consacré la [---].

English translation

In the 10th year of king Ptolemy God Soter, Pe[isis] son of Loinikos and grandson of Yratthis, Pamphilos son of Antikrates, Demetrios son of Epigenes, [---]archos son of Itthallammon, Paraibatas son of Ial, [---]s son of Akesis, being paidonomoi, [---] dedicated the [---].

Italian translation

Nell'anno 10 del re Tolemeo Dio Sotere, Pe[isis] figlio di Loinikos e nipote di Yratthis, Pamphilos figlio di Antikrates, Demetrios figlio di Epigenes, [---]archos figlio di Itthallammon, Paraibatas figlio di Ial, [---]s figlio di Akesis, quando erano pedonomi, [---] hanno dedicato la [---].

Commentary

The fact that this inscription, neither published by Oliverio, who left Cyrenaica in 1935, nor included into the finds of the American mission of Kraeling, who worked in 1954 and again in 1956-58, allows to think that it was found during Caputo's excavations in the period 1936-1942, unless it was a chance find. This being so, it is impossible to know its exact provenance inside the city.

The date is year 10 of Ptolemy IX Soter II (108/7 BC) and in Laronde's view shows that he was then reigning alone over Cyrenaica, no queen Cleopatra being mentioned.

The word παιδονομοῦντες gives a clue for an ephebic inscription (so Luni 1976, pp. 257-258). At Cyrene many inscriptions concerning the ephebes are dedications to Hermes and Heracles. The gap at the end of line 9 might allow to restore the former, but there is no room for the latter. The first letter readable at line 10 might be an iota or a nu. So παλαίστρα is impossible. τὰν στώιαν might be a good guess, but this should not be pushed too far ahead.

At l. 2, the only possibility for a name beginning with ΠΕ is the group of Πεισι- for which we have few occurrences in Cyrenaica. Two compounds are attested, Peisikles and Peisistratos. The first one is from Ptolemais in another ephebic inscription one century later (IRCyr2020 P.79). However the space available does not allow for a long name. Between the two short forms, Peisis and Peision, we choose the first one, which is also better attested.

At l. 8, a thorough examination of the photograph shows the three ends of a sigma before the small gap that precedes the fathers' names, as at ll. 5, 6, 7. It is thus clear that one more man is mentioned here with name and father's name. His own name was very short (some exist in the region, such as Βαῖος), so that the surviving name at the genitive seems to be cut in the middle of the line. This is probably why Marengo (Marengo 1991, pp. 377, 483) took it as a grandfather's name, to be compared with the other occurrence at ll. 2-3. Following our new reading, there were 6 paidonomoi at Ptolemais at the time.

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Images

Fig. 1. Face of igcyr102700 Dedication by the paidonomoi

Maps