• m14-582-10
    Clay Cinerary Urn with Painted Inscription (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Clay Cinerary Urn with Painted Inscription: Augustan Funerary Inscription for Daughter of Aischrion

Date
In Augustus’s reign?, Roman
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
P59.398
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Inscription
Inscription Type
Funerary Inscription
Inscription language
Greek
Inscription Text
			[Ἐπὶ στε]φανη-
			φόρου Καίσαρ[ος],
			μηνὸς Ξανδ̣ι̣κοῦ̣·
		4	[ . . ]άτη Αἰσχρίωνος
			τ̣ο̣ῦ̣ Αἰσχρίωνος
			[ . . . ]ΝΛ̣Δ[     ]
Inscription Translation
“In the year when Caesar held the office of the stephanephoros, in the month Xandikos: [- -]ate, daughter of Aischrion, son of Aischrion [- -].”
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
HoB
Trench
HoB 59
B-Grid Coordinates
W10 / S60 *97.63
Findspot
House of Bronzes, Grave N, beneath original tomb floor.
Description

Cinerary urn of clay with painted inscription.

Dimensions
H. 0.37, max. Diam. 0.29, H. of letters 0.02–0.025.
Comments

1–2 For emperors taking over the (costs of the) office of stephanephoria see L. Robert, Et. épig. philol., pp. 144–50; R. K. Sherk, ZPE 96 (1993), pp. 285–88; Th. Boulay and A.-V. Pont, “Trajan éponyme à Iasos et les éponymies impériales en Asie mineure occidentale,” in Chalkètôr en Carie (2014), pp. 81–113; cf. no. 599,1–2 comm.

The Καῖσαρ of l. 2 was probably Augustus; he is mentioned as stephanephoros in I.Didyma, no. 234B II, 2–3 (17/16 BC): ἐπὶ στεφανηφόρου Καίσαρος, cf. L. Robert, Hellenica XI–XII, p. 487; and again when he was stephanephoros for the second time, in I.Didyma, no. 346, 6–7 (7 BC): στεφανηφοροῦντος Καίσαρος τὸ δεύτερον. Cf. here nos. 444 and 574 comm.

4 [ . . ]άτη: [Ἐλ]άτη? On that name, attested for a woman from Lydian Thyateira (IGSK 62 [Sultan Dağı], no. 1), see L. Robert, Noms indig., pp. 214–15; the name “tire son origine d’une comparaison avec le sapin.” Or [Ἀπ]άτη? The name is attested in Lydia: see SEG 56, 1264 (northeastern Lydia, 88–89 AD); and F. von Saldern in Blaundos, ed. A. Filges (2006 = IstForsch 48), pp. 331–32, no. 18 (early Imperial period).

6 [ . . . ]ΝΛ̣Δ[ ]: [ἐτῶ]ν λ̣δ´?

See Also
Bibliography
Unpublished. [Plate 9]
Author
GP