Dedication and hymn to Isis and Serapis
created: Transcription from stone (CDL).
source date: 102/103 AD
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/)

[...], n. 1, pp. 209-211, photo pl. XXXII, 1, whence [...], 9.192; [...] 042. Cf. [...], pp. 149-151; [...], pp. 128-131; [...], p. 803; [...]; [...], pp. 201-202; [...], n. 701/0103 and pl. CXXIX; [...], pp. 51, 186.

❧ Ἀγαθὴ τύχη ἔτους ρλγ· Ἴσιδι · καὶ · Σεράπιδι · Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων νεωκόρος ἀνέθηκε.

Ἐγὼ τύραννος Εἶσις αἰῶνος μόνη
πόντου τε καὶ γῆς τέρμονας τ’ ἐπιβλέπω
καὶ σκῆπτρ’ ἔχουσα καὶ μί’ οὖσ’ ἐπικρατῶ·
καλοῦσι δή με πάντες ὑψίστην θεὸν
πάντων μεγίστην τῶν ἐν οὐρανῶι θεῶν·
αὐτὴ γὰρ εὗρον πάντα καὶ εἱλόμην πόνον·
γραφὴ δ' ἐπὶ σφραγεῖσι δηλώσει σαφὴς
δεικνῦσα τἀμὰ πᾶσιν ἐξευρήματα
ἃ καὶ βροτοῖς ἔδειξα καὶ καρποὺς βίου·
πόλεις τε σεμνοῖς περιβόλοις ἐτείχισα
βροτοῖς τ’ ἔνειμα ταῦτα τρανῶς εἰδέναι·
ἐμοῦ δὲ χωρὶς γείνετ’ οὐδὲν πώποτε·
οὐδ’ ἄστρα γὰρ φοιτῶσι τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν
ἂν μὴ ἐξ ἐμοῦ λαβῶσιν ἐντολὰς πάρος,
οὐ μή τε γαῖα καρπὸν ἦρι τέξεται,
ἂν μὴ ἐπινεύσω πάντα [...]
τίς ἂν δύναιτο τἀμὰ [...]
ἢ τίς μαρᾶναι τ[...]
τὰ μὲν βίου [...]
τὸ πᾶν [...]

Ἀγαθὴ Τύχη[^a1] ἐπικρατῶ[^a2] τέξεται[^a3] [...][^a4] τἀμὰ[...][^a5] τ[...][^a6] βίου[^a7]

[^a1: Ἀγαθὴ Τύχη | Ἀγαθῇ Τύχῃ]

[^a2: ἐπικρατῶ | ἐπιβλέπω]

[^a3: τέξεται | [...]]

[^a4: [...] | [...] | τ' αὐξήσω καλῶς]

[^a5: τἀμὰ[...] | ταν[...] | τἀμὰ καταβαλεῖν κράτη]

[^a6: τ[...] | [...] | τῶν ἐμῶν ἔργων σθένος;]

[^a7: βίου | τὰ μὲν βίος]

Bonne fortune. L'an 133. Agathos Daimôn néocore à consacré à Isis et Sérapis.

Moi Isis je suis la seule maîtresse du temps.

Je surveille les limites de la mer et de la terre

et moi seule, sceptre en main, exerce sur eux ma puissance.

Tous de fait me nomment déesse suprême,

la plus grande de tous les dieux du ciel.

Car j'ai moi-même découvert toutes choses et j'en ai assumé la peine.

(10) L'écriture, claire sur les sceaux, le prouvera,

montrant à tous mes inventions,

que j'ai révélées aux mortels aussi bien que les fruits de la vie.

J'ai fortifié les cités par des enceintes vénérables

et aux mortels j'ai assigné de connaître ces savoirs distinctement.

Sans moi, rien jamais n'exista:

ni les astres ne se meuvent sur le même parcours,

s'ils n'ont pas d'abord reçu l'ordre de moi,

ni la terre au printemps ne risque de porter des fruits,

si je n'ai pas approuvé tous les [...].

(20) Qui serait capable de [...] mes [...]

ou d'épuiser [...]?

Les [...] de la vie [...]

[...]

Good fortune. Year 133. Agathos Daimon neocoros dedicated to Isis and Serapis.

I Isis am the only ruler of time,

sole inspector of the limits of the sea and the land,

and, with sceptre in hand, their sole master.

In fact all name me supreme goddess,

the greatest of all gods in heaven.

For I myself have discovered everything and took on the toil.

(10) The writing, clear on the seals, will prove it,

revealing to all my inventions,

which I disclosed to mortals as well as the fruits of life.

I have fortified the cities with reverend walls

and to the mortals I have allotted to know those skills distinctly.

Without me, nothing has ever come to existence:

neither do the stars move on the same journey,

without having first received from me the instructions,

nor will the earth bear fruit in spring

if I did not not approve all the [...].

(20) Who would be able to [...] my [...]

or to exhaust [...]?

The [...] of life [...]

[...]

[J. Alvar's translation with some changes]

Buona Fortuna. Anno 133. Agathos Daimon neokoros ha dedicato a Iside e Serapide.

Io Iside sono la sola padrona del tempo,

sorveglio i confini del mare e della terra,

e io sola, scettro alla mano, esercito su di essi il mio potere.

In effetti mi chiamano dea suprema,

la più grande di tutti gli dèi del cielo.

Io stessa infatti ho scoperto tutte le cose e mi sono sobbarcata la fatica.

(10) La scrittura, chiara sui sigilli, lo proverà,

mostrando a tutti le mie invenzioni,

che ho rivelato ai mortali, come pure i frutti della vita.

Ho fortificato le città di cinte venerabili

e ai mortali ho assegnato di conoscere questi saperi distintamente.

Senza di me nulla è mai esistito:

né gli astri si muoverebbero sulla stessa traiettoria,

se non avessero prima ricevuto l'ordine da me,

né la terra in primavera porterebbe frutti,

se io non avessi approvato tutti i [...].

(20) Chi sarà capace di [...] miei [...]

o di distruggere [...]?

I [...] della vita [...]

[...]

This poem offers the topics of a hymn and praises the goddess Isis for her virtues in the same way as aretalogies (for those see [...] and [...]). Like the one from Kyme, it offers the formulation of self-speaking ('self-predication', cf. [...], p. 186, footnote 121, who improperly mentions this text as a 'prayer'). The one from Andros is also a verse-composition of dactylic rhythm, as hymns are in general. This is the only one in iambic rhythm, nearer to ordinary talk, as stressed by Peek. The reason might be that the offering was more important than the hymn in the dedicant's mind. See more about GVCyr025.

Isis is here presented as the creator of everything and as the author of all inventions, an idea developed by the Evemerists. Peek's restorations for ll. 20-21 convey plausible ideas, but it has seemed too hazardous to fix them in the text. Conversely, his supposition that the end of l. 6 was erroneously modelled on that of l. 5 seems convincing, as the repetition would be very awkward. Other commentators did not follow him on this point.

The dedicant evidently made the offering after some favour received from the goddess (cf. [...], p. 6). He acts during year 102/103 (133 Actian era) as a neocoros and might be identified with a priest mentioned in another dedication to Isis (IRCyr2020 C.153), which should thus be slightly later.

We take l. 4 as a sentence with the subaudible verb 'to be' and l. 5 as another sentence. Some translators adopted another construction, taking the whole as one sentence, but this does not fit well with the particles of line 5.

Two occurrences of iotacism are Εἶσις (4) and σφραγεῖσι (10).

Metrical analysis: the iambic trimeters are regularly composed. Only one occurrence of a dactyl for -μνοῖς περι- (4th foot, 13) and one of an anapaest for -τ καὶ εἱ- (3d foot, 9), both substituted for a iamb.

For the sake of rhythm, we have γείνετο instead of γένετο (15). As to hiatus, the result of contraction is written in the crasis τἀμά (11, 20), whereas synizesis should be admitted for μὴ ἐξ (17) and μὴ ἐπι- (19).