Dedication to the Nymphs by Mego
created: Transcription from stone (CDL).
source date: 18/17 BC
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 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. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

G. Pugliese Carratelli in [...], n. 166; [...]; [...], 1964.572; [...] 024. Cf. [...], p. 112; [...]; [...], p. 141 (context of find); [...], p. 192, whence [...] 68.1745.

Μεγὼι Θεοχρήστω συνιαρειτεύοισα Διονυσίωι ❧ Σωτᾶ τὸν βωμὸν ταῖς Νύμφαις ἱδρύσατο.

Τὸν βωμὸν Νύμφαις Ἀχελωΐσιν ἁ Θεοχρήστω
καὶ Κριτολᾶς ἀγαθὰ παῖς ἀνέθηκε Μεγώι

συνιαρειτεύοισα[^a1] Ἀχελωΐσιν[^1][^a2]

[^a1: συνιαρειτεύοισα | συνιαριτεύοισα]

[^a2: Ἀχελωΐσιν | Ἀχελῷσιν]

[^1: iota on the stone; reading rightly suspected by Gallavotti and by J. and L. Robert in absence of photograph]

Mégô fille de Theochrestos, prêtresse en même temps que Dionysios fils de Sôtas, a dressé cet autel pour les Nymphes.

Aux Nymphes de l'Achélôos la vertueuse fille de Théochrestos

et de Kritola, Mégô, a consacré cet autel.

Mego daughter of Theochrestos, acting as priestess with Dionysios son of Sotas, established this altar for the Nymphs.

To the Nymphs of Achelous, the good child of Theochrestos

and of Kritola, Mego, dedicated this altar.

Megò figlia di Theochrestos, sacerdotessa insieme a Dionysios figlio di Sotas, ha edificato questo altare per le Ninfe.

L'altare alle Ninfe dell'Acheloo, di Theochrestos

e di Kritola la figlia virtuosa Megò ha dedicato.

The stone has clearly been re-used and once supported a statue. As the place where it has been found may be identified with probability as a shrine of the Muses (see IRCyr2020 C.317), the inscription should correspond to the second use, although the shape is not the most usual for an altar.

This is one instance amongst others of a woman mentioned as 'being priestess together with' an eponymous priest of Apollo. Marengo has demonstrated that they are priestesses of Artemis.

The year when Dionysios son of Sotas was eponymous priest (year 13 in the Actian era), he made transformations of the spring Kyra (IRCyr2020 C.316), so that Mego's interest in the ajdacent Nymphs' sanctuary is probably related to the same event.

Metrical analysis: one very regular elegiac couplet; the caesura at line 7, with a short stop between adjective and noun, emphasizes the 'goodness' of Mego.