Support: Fragment of the bottom of a marble block broken off at left, right and above; anathyrosis on part of the lower side (w: 0.10 × h: 0.10 × d: 0.062-0.075).

Layout: Inscribed on the face in one line.

Letters: Letters (average 0.025-0.035) carefully cut, but not regularly aligned: omicron is hanging higher than the top of mu and phi (with flattened loop) is smaller than mu.

Date: Probably end of second or first half of first century BC (lettering).

Findspot: Plausibly found before World War II at Cyrene ➚: exact findspot not registered.

Place of origin: Findspot.

Last recorded location: Cyrene Museum, 92. Seen in 1979 by Dobias-Lalou in Shahat: Cyrene Museum.

Text constituted from: Transcription from stone (CDL).

French translation

Intraduisible.

English translation

Not usefully translatable.

Italian translation

Intraducibile.

Commentary

This puzzling fragment has a lettering too carefully cut to be taken as a simple graffito, in spite of some irregularities. Morevoer, it is not quite clear whether we have here the beginning of a text. If so, one might think of two readings: on one side, we might have the word ὀμφαλός and the inscription would be a label for a stone omphalos (at least one such sculpted piece was found in the Sanctuary of Apollo). Alternatively, we might have one of the rare personal names derived from the already mentioned word or from ὄμφαξ, although none is up to now attested in Cyrenaica.

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