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Inscribed Blocks (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College) -
Inscribed Blocks (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Blocks: Building Inscription from podium of the Marble Court Commemorating Renovation of Bath-Gymnasium Complex
- Date
- Ca. 570 AD (Merkelbach and Stauber)., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN61.004
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Architecture, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Building Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
(a) Verse 1 [Θαῦμ]ά μ᾿ ἔχει, πόθεν ἔργον [⏑ – ⏑⏑ –]ατο γαῖα 2 [δώμ]ατος ὑψορόφου χρυσαυγέος ἀπλετ[⏑ – – ] 3 [ . . ]ΡΟΝΙ Β̣ΟΥ [ . . . ]ΕΣΚΕΠΛ̣[ . . . ]ΤΟ γῆ[ρ]ας 4 Μ̣[εμ]νόνιος πάτρης γενετὴ̣[ρ] νῦ[ν – ⏑⏑ – –] 5 ὡς ἴδεν, ὡς κόσμ[ησε ⏑ – ⏑ καὶ αὐ]τίκα τεῦξεν vac. 6 κόσμον ἀεὶ ζώον[τ]α, τὸν οὐ φθόνος οἶ[δεν ὀλέσσαι ?] 7 ὤπασε δ᾿ εὐρὺ θέμιλον ἀναπτύξας [⏑⏑ – –] 8 αἰὲν ὀπιπευε[ . . . ]ΙΝ[ . . . ]ΧΡΥΣ[ ]. (b) Line 1 † Ἀνενεώθη ἡ χρυσόροφ[ος . . . ] τῆς πόλεως ἰνδ(ικτίωνι) η´, μη(νὶ) Ἰουλίῳ οὕτως σκουτλω[σ- - - - ] Line 2 στρώσε(ις) δὲ τοῦ ἐδ[άφους . . . ]ΙΝ δίχα τοῦ μουσίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλ[ων - - - ]
- Inscription Translation
- (a) “I am amazed how the Earth [was capable of bringing about] such a gigantic edifice with a high-vaulted, gold-shining roof; formerly it was an old, [dilapidated building]; but when Memnonios, the Father of the city, saw this, he set about restoring [the building] to its former beauty and turned it into an eternally living jewel that envy cannot [destroy]. He added a broad foundation, unfolding [ - - - ], always bearing in mind that [ - - - ].”
(b) “The [ - - - ] with the golden roof was refurbished [by - - - ] of the city in the eighth year of the indictio, in the month of July, in this way the revetment [ - - - ] the pavings of the floor [ - - - ] apart from the mosaic and the other [ - - - ].” - Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- B
- Trench
- BE 61
- Locus
- B Marble Court
- B-Grid Coordinates
- ca. E23 - E25 / N74 - N79
- Findspot
- Bath-Gymnasium Complex, Marble Court. Now incorporated in the building.
- Description
“Various pieces of an inscription carved on the podium of the Marble Court” (SEG 36). The verses 1–8 are written in one line (a); the prose part in two lines (b). Lunate epsilon and sigma.
- Comments
I have checked the inscription. The brackets indicating the lacunae are given according to F2; Foss’s editio princeps is less accurate.
(a) 1 [ ]ΑΤΟ: edd.; there is perhaps the lower part of an Y visible before A.
2 ἀπλετ[ ]: ἀπλέτ[ου ] edd.
3 . . ΡΟΝΙ Β̣ΟΥ . . .: only F2, the fragment is not built in the court. - ΕΣΚΕΠΛ̣[ ]: Π is followed by the lower left part of a triangular letter; ΕΣΚΕΠ edd.
4 Μ̣[εμ]νόνιος: (suppl. C. P. Jones in F2). Merkelbach and Stauber identify him with the father of the historian and poet Agathias (PLRE III 872/3). They think that Agathias (ca. 536–582 AD) may have been the author of the present poem; Anthologia Palatina VII 552 is a poem of Agathias on his mother Perikleia; another Memnonios in no. 550, 2. - γενετή̣[ρ]: Merkelbach and Stauber; γενέ̣τ̣η̣[ς]: Foss.
5 ὡς ἴδ⌞εν, ὡς κόσμ⌟[ησε] (the letters included in half brackets are now missing): see Merkelbach and Stauber’s commentary on this verse whose beginning is modeled on Homer Ξ 294. - [καί]: Merkelbach and Stauber.
6 οἶ[δεν …] F2. - [ὀλέσσαι ?]: Merkelbach and Stauber.
8 ὀπιπευε[ ]: perhaps -ΠΕΥΘ̣[ ].
(b) 1 ἀνενεώθη: see no. 540 comm. - πόλεως: the Ω is corrected from Ο. - Ἰουλίῳ: there is a small Φ written into the Λ. - σκουτλω[σ- ]: σκούτλω[σιν] F2 (SEG 36). For the term see no. 498 comm.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- C. Foss, M4, p. 114, no. 16 (SEG 26, 1316). C. Foss in R3, pp. 171–72, no. 8, figs. 122–23 (below: “F2”; SEG 36, 1099; R. Merkelbach and J. Stauber, Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten 1 [1998], p. 402, no. 04/02/04).
- Author
- GP