Dedication to the Dioscuri
created: Transcription from photograph (SMM).
source date: Las third of seventh century 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/)

[...], pp. 26-33 (ph., dr.) (= [...], pp. 120-127) and [...], 2010.631, whence [...], 58.1838; [...] 110100. Cf. [...], whence [...], 65.2015; [...], p. 185; [...], whence [...], 66.2329; [...], p. 168-169; [...], p. 164; [...], p. 382, number 108 (text).

τοῖς Διοσϙόροις Μ[...]σαρχος ἀνέθεκε [...]

Μ[...]σαρχος[^a1]

[^a1: Μ[...]σαρχος | Μνάσαρχος | Μνάσαρχος | [...]σαρχος]

[...]sarkhos a consacré cette coupe aux Dioscures.

[...]sarchos dedicated this cup to the Dioscuri.

[...]sarchos ha dedicato questa coppa ai Dioscuri.

[---] سارخوس كرَّس (هذه الكأس) للديوسكوري.

The very short vertical stroke preserved at the beginning of the dedicant's name might be part of a mu or a san. So the very common Cyrenaean name Μνάσαρχος would be a favourite, but Σώσαρχος, suggested by Marengo, would also fit the gap perfectly.

This graffito has demonstrated the place of the Dioskoureion already mentioned by Pindar (Pyth. 5. 9-11).

The trident-shaped chi, along with other letters already attested in the archaic alphabet of Cyrene, was probably brought by Rhodian immigrants. Two other instances of that chi occur at IGCyr001920 and IGCyr000430 (see now [...], pp. 69-70). This fact has chronological implications. The Rhodian immigration has been traditionally linked with Battos II's invitation to all Greeks around 580/570 BC. However, [...] argues that besides Herodotos' story exists a strong Rhodian tradition of participating in the foundation around 630 BC., of which the trident-shaped chi would be a proof, whence a possible date of this dedication already in the last third of the seventh century BC. Moreover, this shape of chi belongs, amongst the three cities of Rhodes, to Lindos only and bings new light into the foundation of Cyrene.