• m14-438-10
    Inscribed Stele Fragment (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Inscribed Stele Fragment: Votive Stele Dedication to a Goddess

Date
2nd–3rd century AD?, Roman
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
IN67.043
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Stele, Inscription
Inscription Type
Religious Inscription
Inscription language
Greek
Inscription Text
		[ -  ]Ι̣ανὴ εὐαμ̣[ένη ?]
		[ -  ]ι̣ θεᾷ Ανδ[-          ]
		[ὑπ]ὲρ τ⟦υ̣⟧ῆς ὁλο[κληρί]-
	4	[ας] ἀνέθηκα. vacat
Inscription Translation
“I, [- -]ane, after having made a vow, have dedicated (the stele) to the goddess And[- -] for my health.”
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
Syn
Trench
Syn 67
Locus
Syn FC Above Floor
B-Grid Coordinates
E108 / N1.26 *96.33
Findspot
Synagogue, Forecourt.
Description

Fragment of a stele of white marble; the original width is preserved, but the beginning and the end of the lines are damaged. On the upper side there are remains of a molding. The script runs between guidelines. Squared lunate sigma.

Dimensions
H. 0.30, W. 0.30, Th. 0.08, H. of letters 0.017–0.02.
Comments

Herrmann’s supplements. Commentary mostly after Herrmann:

1 The vertical stroke is separated from the following ANH by a larger spatium: I or T? - εὐχ̣αμ̣[ένη ?]: X is written, perhaps under the influence of Latin “X,” over a deleted letter. Intended was probably εὐξαμένη.

1–2 Herrmann considers the supplement [Μη/τρ]ὶ θεᾷ Ἀνδ[ίσσῃ] (he refers to MAMA VI 398 [Midas City] and J. and L. Robert, BE 1939, 415). If this is correct the dedication was made to the Mother Goddess Angdistis (for her cult in Sardis, see no. 434, 11); her name is transmitted in many variants; see J. Keil, ÖJh 18 (1915), pp. 73–76, and L. Robert, Asie Min., pp. 236–40, amongst which Ἀνδισσι, Ἀνδισσῃ, Ἀνδιξεος, Ἀνδξι (Robert, op. cit., p. 239). Her cult is also known in the neighboring city of Philadelpheia, TAM V 3, 1539, 51.

Other candidates are θεὰ Ἀνδηνή, who is known from the area of Maionia (SEG 56, 1253 and Malay and Petzl, New Religious Texts, no. 193); also Μήτηρ Ἀνδιρηνή, μάκαιρα θεά, ἡ θεός, from Karakoca near Taza(?), northeastern Lydia, to whom the poetical confession inscription Malay and Petzl, op. cit., no. 188, is addressed.

3 τ⟦υ̣⟧ῆς: the Y, which was presumably written erroneously, is deleted.

3–4 ὁλοκληρία and related terms replace the word ὑγίεια in the second–third century AD, see L. Robert, Hellenica X, pp. 96–103 and Petzl, Beichtinschriften, no. 62, 4–6 comm.

See Also
Bibliography
Unpublished. Herrmann, ms.
Author
GP