Description: Sandstone block (w:
0.45 x h:
1.11, depth not measurable).
Text: inscribed on the exposed face which is badly worn,
especially at the left side. The block may have been trimmed down at the right side when adapted
for reuse, but more probably formed part of a composite monument, the
inscription being completed on an adjacent block to the right.
Letters: Probably second century; line 1, 0.06; line 2, 0.04; line 3, 0.035; lines 4, 6f, 0.025; line 5, 0.02; lunate sigma and epsilon
in Greek text; stops in the shape of downward-facing arrowheads in lines 2, 3.
Date: Probably second century CE
Findspot:
Taucheira:
Byzantine 'fortress', reused in the North wall, facing the street;
found in 1966.
Original location: Probably Gymnasium
Last recorded location:
Findspot.
English translation
Translation by: Charlotte Roueché
(Latin) Heracl[ius? . . . ] lived 22 years, [?] months. (Greek) . . . ] aged 22 years, [? months . . .
Commentary
The text is clearly funerary but may, none the less, come from the Gymnasium which is a known source of stone for this building: so T.19, T.20, T.22, T.23.
a.1: Either the name of the dead man (e.g. Heraclius, Heracleides, Heraclitus) or a reference to Herakles, god of the Gymnasium, as his patron.
a.2: Perhaps ex numine but this is not paralleled; another possibility might be ex Numidia?
a.3: Perhaps pro[consulis.
Bibliography:
Text constituted from: Transcription (Reynolds).
Images
Fig. 1. Face (Reynolds, SB.V.302)