IRCyr   Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica

P.317. Prayer to the Highest God

Description: Column drum of limestone, broken at the back (diam. h: 0.40 x diam.: 0.295)
Text: Inscribed within a rectangular panel outlined by an incised line (w: 0.30 x h: 0.40).
Letters: Probably first to second century: lunate epsilon, lunate sigma, cursive omega between guidelines; traces of red paint in the letters.

Date: Probably first to second century

Findspot: Ptolemais: Village,lying loose on the seashore, east of the old police station; found in 1968.
Original location: Unknown
Last recorded location: Findspot.

Interpretive

Λ(ούκιος) Ἀντώνιοϲ
θεῷ ὑψίϲτ̣ῳ̣
εὐχήν ( vac. 3)

Diplomatic

ΛΑΝΤΩΝΙΟϹ
ΘΕΩΥΨΙϹ..
ΕΥΧΗΝ      

English translation

Translation by: Charlotte Roueché

L(oukios) Antonios (i.e. L(ucius) Antonius), to the Highest God, a prayer

Commentary

The absence of a cognomen suggests a date not later than the mid first century CE.

For the cult of the Highest God see Stephen Mitchell, "Hypsistos", with bibliography, in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (Berlin 2016), available at Academia.

Bibliography:
Text constituted from: Transcription (Reynolds).

Images

   Fig. 1. Left end (1970, Joyce Reynolds, 26)

   Fig. 2. Left end (Joyce Reynolds, IV.58)

   Fig. 3. Above, P.167; below P.317, front view (1970, Joyce Reynolds, 28)

   Fig. 4. Right end (1970, Joyce Reynolds, 30)

   Fig. 5. Right end (Joyce Reynolds, IV.57)