Support: Monumental base covered with white marble. The base has a double grade crepis below; on top, on all four sides, a projecting moulding surmounted by (a) two blocks from a rectangular pedestal bearing the plinths of at least four statues (block ii w: 2.08 × h: 0.30 × d: 0.31; block iii w: 1.03 × h: 0.295 × d: 0.495); (b) under the moulding the main part of the base (width 10.08 without crepis) was cladded with marble panels of which several fragments are preserved, now recomposed; some fragments, being adjacent, are pasted together, others are loose; in Roman times, the left part of (a) was re-used as IRCyr2020 C.121 and other statues were added on higher bases behind the former ones on the same pedestal.

Layout: Inscribed (a) on the Southern face of the pedestal; (b) on the Southern side of the base under the moulding.

Letters: (a) 0.05; (b) 0.12; very slight serifs, careful lettering, slightly slanting sigma.

Date: Between ca. 280 and ca. 220 BC (Rosamilia) (lettering, reign).

Findspot: Fragments found in different places and at various dates from 1930 on at Cyrene ➚.

Place of origin: Cyrene ➚, agora, Monument to the Gods.

Last recorded location: Seen by C. Dobias-Lalou since 2001, in situ, on the recomposed Monument to the Gods. Seen by Emilio Rosamilia in 2012, recomposed in situ.

Text constituted from: Transcription from stone (CDL).

Apparatus

French translation

(a) [---] Cyrène. Apollon. [---] (scil. Telle autre divinité). Libye. [---]

(b) A Zeus Sôtèr [et ---] à tous les dieux [---] [] les Cyrénéens ont consacré (scil. ce monument).

English translation

(a) [---] Cyrene. Apollo. [---] (scil. Such-and-such deity). Libya. [---]

(b) To Zeus Soter [and] to all the gods [---] [] the Cyrenaeans dedicated (scil. this monument).

Italian translation

(a) [---] Cirene. Apollo. [---] (scil. La tal divinità). Libia. [---]

(b) A Zeus Sotere [e] a tutti li dèi [---] [] i Cirenei hanno dedicato (scil. questo monumento).

Commentary

The base, which stood in front of the North Stoa, was restored by Stucchi and his team in 1976 and the fragments of (b) have been placed so as to be in agreement with the restoration suggested by Gasperini, who only mentioned the formula at Gasperini – Stucchi 1965, p. 219 as a matter of comparison with the dedication of the North Stoa before which it stood. There has been no publication either of the inscription or of the recomposition of the monument.

Besides, the fragments of marble of this base and of the two monumental altars standing on the agora further to the South, re-used or simply thrown down, were intermingled and scattered all around, so that it was difficult to distinguish amongst them before the careful restoration of all three monuments made by the Italian archaeologists. So the dedication (b) was first thought to belong to the Western Monumental Altar of the Agora (so Oliverio 1931, p. 20, Gasperini – Stucchi 1965, Marengo 1988, p. 97, footnote 39).

Laronde 1987, described the monument and pointed out that the fragment iii, being loose, might be placed elsewhere; however he did not suppress Gasperini's θεοῖσιν, a poetical form out of place here.

In the first edition of IGCyr C. Dobias-Lalou offered a restoration mentioning Gods Soteres, who were thought to be Ptolemy I and Berenice I on Laronde's idea. The latter argued that at least one statue was later on replaced by that of a Roman emperor (see IRCyr2020 C.121), whereas a statue of Livia was added. This replacement would hide a sort of continuity. Moreover, he suggested that also Magas was mentioned, καὶ βασιλῆι Μάγαι fitting well the gap (Magas, having a priest (IGCyr020000²) was a θεός; that he was also Σωτήρ was a pure hypothesis. The proposed date was thus ca. 275 BC.

While arguing again the Gods Soteres on behalf both of the space available and and of the absence af such mention in Hellenistic times, Rosamilia 2023 endorses the displacement of fragment iii and offers an excellent reading [παῖ]σιν 'all' for it. In order to fill the preceding gap, he suggests the gods of the agora; however the formulation without any article would sharply contrast with the three occurrences already known at IGCyr019900², IGCyr020000² and IGCyr020100² (see also IGCyr100200², b.7-8). As Rosamilia himself points out, the statues standing on the monumental base were those of Apollo, Cyrene, Libya and at least one other (Poseidon? Ammon?), all being especially linked to the local myths. Thus our suggestion of θεοί ἐπιχώριοι. At any rate, it is impossible to be sure of the position of fragments ii, iii and iv unless a thorough publication of all archaeological data occurs.

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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.

Images

Fig. 1. View of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter et cetera

Fig. 2. Section a, block II of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Fig. 3. Section a, block III of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Fig. 4. Section b, fragment I of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Fig. 5. Section b, fragments II-III of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Fig. 6. Section b, fragment IV of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Fig. 7. Section b, fragment V of igcyr100000 Dedication to Zeus Soter etc

Maps