Dedication for Aretaphila
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Probably first century BCE
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

[...], A.18, whence [...] 62.1795.9.

Δάματρι καὶ Κόραι Ἀντωνία τὰν Ἀρεταφίλαν ἀνέθηκε

Translation

To Demeter and Kore, Antonia dedicated the statue of Aretaphila.

Commentary

The dedicator names herself only by a Roman nomen, apparently without filiation or a cognomen. It is probable that she belonged to a family of Antonii who are attested among Cyrene’s leading citizens in the first century CE (see index)

Aretaphila, whose statue was dedicated, apparently lived in the first half of the first century BCE and played a decisive part in securing the overthrow of a tyrant of Cyrene: Plutarch Mulierum virtutes, no.19, (at Perseus); Polyaenus, Strat. VIII.38 (at Attalus), after which she is said to have withdrawn into private life, which would be compatible with engagement in a women’s cult, so that it may be that she was honoured here as a significant figure in the cult of Demeter and Kore. On the other hand, such evidence as we have seems to suggest that the city was erecting public honours in the Sanctuary in the first century BCE (C.446, C.447, C.448), perhaps always of women (although this is not certain given the condition of some texts, e.g.C.447, C.448); and Aretaphila may be honoured by Antonia for her public services which, no doubt, did not need to be stated.