Support: Rectangular block of local limestone with the face emerging from a larger base; recut at left (measured from the photograph w: 0.40 × h: 0.106).

Layout: Inscribed on the protruding face in two lines.

Letters: 0.021; alpha with the bar reduced to a dot, epsilon with three equal bars, eta with transitional value, straight iota, slantering mu; holes were made along the lines of the letters and then crudely joined.

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

Findspot: Found in 1997, re-used in a garden wall near a tomb to which it plausibly belonged, near Cyrene ➚.

Place of origin: Between Bayyadah and Cyrene, in the Useita, the plain below Cyrene ➚, at Mirad Ejarab, in the vicinity of a large circular tomb.

Last recorded location: J.M. Reynolds received a photograph and provided a description, but did perhaps never see the stone. Not seen by IGCyr team.

Text constituted from: Transcription from photograph and discussion with J.M. Reynolds per epistulam (CDL).

French translation

Je suis (scil. la tombe) de [---]os fils de [---]damos.

English translation

I am (scil. the tomb) of [---]os son of [---]damos.

Italian translation

Io sono (scil. la tomba) di [---]os figlio di [---]damos.

Commentary

This inscription is known only from a photograph taken at the place of discovery. From it one might wonder at the shape of the stone, which seems rather intended for a horizontal placement. Was it a sarcophagus lid with a reduced slope or a plaque placed on the summit of the tumulus tomb?

The measures given above are based on the supposition that the standard shown on the photo is in inches.

J.M. Reynolds at first glance thought that the last letter at l. 2 was an omega, which would have been very surprising as opposed to the omicron at line 1. Moreover, the use of eta + epsilon for the long e of εἰμι (see IGCyr001100²) cannot be contemporary with the use of omega. A better examination of the photograph shows that the two small furrows at the bottom of the discussed letter are caused by erosion, as it occurs often in the soft local limestone. Similarly, a dot is to be seen inside the first omicron, but not in the centre. This is probably no part of the letter; similar holes may be seen elsewhere on the surface.

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Images

Fig. 1. Face of igcyr132900 Epitaph

Maps