Support: Fragmentary white marble panel, broken on all sides (w: 0.18 × h: 0.33 × d: 0.06).

Layout: Inscribed on front face: a first part on the whole width with various spacing of letters and, at lines 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, a vacat between names and father's names, so as to give the visual impression of two columns; a second part (from l. 12 onwards) in two columns, each column being made of names and father's names, the letters of which are spaced so as to form two sub-columns and the initial letter of the lines in column b aligned with the father's names of the upper part.

Letters: 0.011 to 0.013 at lines 1-11; 0.08 at lines 12 -21; very carefully and handsomely cut; slight serifs, beta with larger lower part, theta with a small central bar, rho with small loop, non-slanting sigma, phi with flattened loop, large omega with apicated lateral tails.

Date: End of second or beginning of first century BC (lettering).

Findspot: Found before 1960 at Cyrene ➚: exact findspot unrecorded.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Cyrene Museum, 151. Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou in 1979 in Shahat: Cyrene Museum.

Text constituted from: Transcription from stone (CDL).

Apparatus

French translation

[---], le maître de cavalerie [Untel] fils de Philytas, les gymnasiarques [Untel] (5) fils de Theod[---], [Untel] fils de Lysis, [Untel] fils d'Etéarkhos, ainsi que celui des seniors [Untel] fils d'Anaxa[---], (10) les triakatioi: Kallias fils de [---],

a) (une colonne de noms et patronymes),

b) (22) Hérakleidas fils de [---], Hérakleitos fils de [---], Theudôros fils de [---], Theudôros fils de [---], Theudôros fils de [---], Theudotos fils de [---], [---]an fils de [---], [---]ès fils de [---], (30) [---]n fils de [---], [---].

English translation

[---], the master of riding [so-and-so] son of Philytas, the gymnasiarchs [So-and-so] (5) son of Theod[---], [So-and-so] son of Lysis, [So-and-so] son of Etearchos, as well as the one for seniors [So-and-so] son of Anaxa[---], (10) les triakatioi: Kallias son of [---],

a) (one column of names and fathers' names),

b) (22) Herakleidas son of [---], Herakleitos son of [---], Theudoros son of [---], Theudoros son of [---], Theudoros son of [---], Theudotos son of [---], [---]an son of [---], [---]es son of [---], (30) [---]n son of [---], [---].

Italian translation

[---], il maestro d'equitazione [il tale] figlio di Philytas, i ginnasiarchi [il tale] (5) figlio di Theod[---], [il tale] figlio di Lysis, [il tale] figlio di Etearchos, così come quello dei seniores [il tale] figlio di Anaxa[---], (10) i triakatioi: Kallias figlio di [---],

a) (una colonna di nomi e patronimici),

b) (22) Herakleidas figlio di [---], Herakleitos figlio di [---], Theudoros figlio di [---], Theudoros figlio di [---], Theudoros figlio di [---], Theudotos figlio di [---], [---]an figlio di [---], [---]es figlio di [---], (30) [---]n figlio di [---], [---].

Arabic translation

[---]، فراغ ...مدرب ركوب الخيل أو قائد الخيالة [فلان] بن فيليتاس ومشرفي الجمنازيوم [فلان] (5) بن ثيود [---] و[فلان] بن من ليسيس و[فلان] بن إيتارخوس، بالاضافة إلى آخر لتدريب كبارالسن [فلان] بن أناكسا [---] (10) ليس الترياكاتيوي: كالياس بن [---]، أ) (عمود واحد من اسماء اشخاص مع اسماء آبائهم) ب) (22) هيراكليداس بن [---] وهيراكليتوس بن [---] وثيودوروس بن [---] وثيودوروس بن [---] وثيودوروس بن [---] وثيودوتوس بن [---]، [---] بن [---]، [---] بن [---]، (30) [---] ن بن [-] -]، [---].

Commentary

This inscription belongs to the series of dedications by the ephebes to Hermes and Heracles in honour of their heads followed by a list of the ephebes, the most complete instance for the Hellenistic period being IGCyr015200².

The very careful layout of this inscription allows to calculate how many letters are missing of each father's name at lines 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and thus to restore some of them.

At line 5, the father's name might be either Θεόδωρος or Θεόδοτος.

At line 9, the father's name might be either Ἀνάξανδρος or Ἀναξαγόρας.

At line 28 the first letter might be a rho or a phi. Greek names ending in ρας known in Cyrenaica are all much longer than allowed by the four missing letters. Marengo suggested the Libyan name spelled Ιτθαννυρας or Ιθαννυρας. Even the latter seems rather long, but a shorter form Θαννυρας would be acceptable. Marengo excluded it for a reason of alphabetical order that does not seem to be relevant. On the other hand, if the first letter was phi, the Libyan name Αρταφαν would fill the gap perfectly; however it is up to now better attested only at Ptolemais and Arsinoe, and on the whole later than the present inscription.

The Philytas at line 3 was registered in Fraser – Matthews 1987 as dating between 31 BC and 14 AD upon advice of Reynolds. This seems impossible owing to the lettering and, as no other justification may be given there, her reasons remain obscure. The date given by Gasperini apud Luni 1976 is the second century BC, which seems much more plausible, although we prefer a slightly lower date. A Philytas whose father's name is lost was ephor about 150 BC (IGCyr063800²) and might have been the father of this master of cavalry.

Luni discussed the number of gymnasiarchs of the elders with the erroneous idea that line 10 contained a personal name, resulting in three of them. Marengo's restoration gives the more usual number of one. However in IGCyr103900², a nearly contemporary list, there were at least two of them.

For the usual syntactical display of those lists, see Dobias-Lalou 2000, pp. 241-246. For the special display of the first name of ephebe at line 11 Marengo suggests two explanations, either that this ephebe was also the dedicant of the monument or that he was the secretary of the ephebes.

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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.

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