IRCyr   Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica

C.218. Dedication to ?Aphrodite

Description: Lower part of a limestone altar, moulded above and below; w: 0.53 x h: 0.69 x d: 0.35
Text: Inscribed on one face.
Letters: Probably second century CE.

Date: Probably second century CE

Findspot: Cyrene: Byzantine Baths: found in 1926, re-used in the paving of the frigidarium.
Original location: Unknown.
Last recorded location: Findspot.

Interpretive

-------
-τ̣ρ̣ό̣-
φῳ

Diplomatic

------
...
ΦΩ

0: [Κουρο]τρ[ό]φω Oliverio, 1928; [Πολυ]τρ[ό]φῳ Marengo, 1985; [Κωρο]τρ[ό]φῳ Dobias-Lalou, 2000

English translation

Translation by: Charlotte Roueché

. . . -]nourisher

Commentary

Monument and letter forms closely recall the series of altars C.323 C.324, C.325, C.326, C.327, C.328; on this see Marengo, art. cit.

Line 1: Oliverio (loc. cit) proposed [κουρο]τρ[ό]φω , known as a title of Hekate (Hesiod Th. 450), Artemis (D.S. V 73), Lochia (SEG III, 400.9, available at PHI 239257), Rumina (Plut. II. 278D), and especially of Aphrodite (Homer, Epigr, 12). If the altar is to be associated with C.323 ff., the last seems the most likely subject here.

Line 1: From the drawing in the 1963 publication it is clear that Oliverio saw part of the curve of O.

Bibliography: Oliverio, 1928, 6 p.327 and fig 12, whence SEG 9.116, PHI 323970; SECir, 1961-1962, 91 and fig 70 (drawing only), from T. A(nti?) III 38), on which Marengo, 1985, 153-6, whence Dobias-Lalou, Bulletin Épigraphique, 1988.1011; discussed, Dobias-Lalou, 2000
Text constituted from: Read from the photograph. (Reynolds).

Images

None available (2020).