Description: Fragment of a limestone block (w:
0.50 x h:
0.28 x d:
0.23).
Text: Inscribed on one face.
Letters: Second-third century: 0.04; lunate epsilon and sigma, cursive omega.
Date: 161-192 CE
Findspot:
Cyrene: Found in 1958 in
Valley Street, re-used in the late floor overlying Temple G.
Original location: Unknown.
Last recorded location:
Cyrene Museum.
English translation
Translation by: Charlotte Roueché
. . . ] of deified [ . . . ] Antoninus [ . . . ] metropolis [ . . .
Commentary
The elements of a text honouring the emperor; this could be Antoninus Pius (138 -161), Marcus Aurelius (161-180) or Commodus (172 - 192).
Lines 1-2: The titles could be recovered on the following lines: If Antonius Pius, [Αὐτοκράτωρ Καῖσαρ θεῶ Ἁδριανῶ ὑιὸ]ς θεῶ [Τραιανῶ υἱωνὸς] / [Τῖτος Αἴλιος Ἁδριανὸς Ἀν]τωνεῖνος [Εὐσεβῆς Σεβαστὸς]; if Marcus Aurelius [Αὐτοκράτωρ Καῖσαρ θεῶ Ἀντωνείνω ὑιὸ]ς θεῶ [Ἁδριανῶ υἱωνὸς] / [Θεῶ Τραιανῶ ἔκγονος Μ(ᾶρκος) Αὐρήλιος Ἀν]τωνεῖνος [Σεβαστὸς ....]; if Commodus [Αὐτοκράτωρ Καῖσαρ θεῶ Μ(άρκω) Αὐρηλίω ὑιὸ]ς θεῶ [Ἀντωνείνω υἱωνὸς] / [Λ(ούκιος) Αἴλιος Αὐρήλιος Κόμμοδος Ἀν]τωνεῖνος [Σεβαστὸς ..6..]
Line 3: perhaps referring to an oracle or to a miracle, but the verb θεσπίζω is also used of the issue of imperial decrees, cf. OGIS 521, line 9.
Line 4: Clearly part of the title ματρόπολις regularly given to Cyrene in the second half of the second century: C.119 (the earliest dateable example, of 161 CE), C.163, C.167, C.173, C.236, C.307, C.420.
Bibliography:
Text constituted from: Transcription (Reynolds).
Images
Fig. 1. Face (Reynolds VIII.59)
Fig. 2. View