Dedication of an altar
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: Probably second century
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

[...], 156.1, fig 115 (drawing only, from T. XXI, 7-10); [...], whence [...] 50.1637; [...], 1 whence [...] 57.2018, [...], 2008.604.

τῷ θεῶν ἀρρήτῳ

[^a1: at 1: ? [θε]ῷ | [τ]ῷ | [Ἑρ]ῷ]

Translation

For the Unspoken of the Gods.

Commentary

All the altars in this set that can be legible contain unusual elements. There is a discussion by Pugliese-Carratelli (1963).

a.l.2 Perhaps [θε]ῷ θεῶν; an inscription from Yarsuvat in Cilicia, θεῷ θεῶν / Διὶ / μεγίστωι JHS (1898) 310 (at PHI 285771, or Macr.Sat. 1.9.16 (available at Penelope) where Janus is described as quasi deorum deum.

b.l.3 The idea of the ἄρρητος θεός and of ἄρρητα τέλεα is especially associated with mystery cults cf. e.g. Eurip. fr. 63 of Κορε or Plut, Περι Ἰσ. καὶ Ὀσ., 25.360f. of Isis, in connection with Ares. αἱ δε Ἀρεως εἰσι πρακτικαι θαλασσομαχοι ἀφηγηται καὶ εὐψυχεις, περὶ ἀρρητα ποιητικαι; but here the explanation might be that there is an easy transition from the selection of one god as the highest to the thought, perhaps originally due to Jewish influence, that his name must not be spoken. For another instance of this in Cyrene - but in a christian context - cf. Synesius, Hymn IV (II) 226, πάτερ ἄγνωστε, πάτερ ἄρρητε, ἄγνωστε νόω, ἄρρητε λόγω, νόος ἐσσί νο/ων, ψυχᾶν ψυχά, φύσις εἰ φυσίων.