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Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Block: Funerary Inscription for Aurelius Antoninus, diakonos, and his family
- Date
- 3rd century AD? (no date propsed by Herrmann)., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx99.003
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Funerary Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
Αὐρή. Ἀ̣ντωνεῖ- νος δ̣ιάκων κατε- σκεύα[σ]α τὸ ἡρῶιον, 4 ἐν ᾧ εἰσ̣ιν λεττεῖκες δύω κα̣ὶ κατ᾿ αὐτῶν πύργος καὶ τρικλεί- νιον καὶ κοιτώνιον, 8 ἐμαυτῷ καὶ τέκνοις καὶ ἐκγόνοις τοῖς ἐν πί- στει. εἰ δέ τις ἕτερος θελή- σῃ κηδεῦσαι, ἔσται αὐτῷ 12 πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
- Inscription Translation
- “I, Aurelius Antoninus, diacon, have built the grave, in which there are two tombs and a tower under them and a triclinium and a sleeping room, for me, my children and grandchildren, who share the (Christian) faith. If anybody else wants to bury (here), he will have to deal with the Last Judgment.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- CW30
- B-Grid Coordinates
- ca. E100 - E150 / S220 - S260
- Findspot
- Near CW30, west of Upper Terrace, in excavation stone heap.
- Description
Block of marble; damaged on the right side. On the upper left surface is a clamp hole with the remains of an iron clamp and lead. The inscribed area is surrounded by a recessed frame ca. 0.037 m wide.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.57, W. 0.55, Th. 0.11, H. of letters 0.02–0.04.
- Comments
Herrmann’s text and restorations.
1 My reading; Αὐρή[λ. Ἀ]ντωνεῖ/νος, Herrmann.
4 λεττεῖκες: see no. 693, 5–6 comm.
6 Shape and function of the “tower” are unclear; see Kubińska, Monuments funéraires, pp. 158–59. Its location “underneath” (κατά) the tombs (lecticae) is strange (Herrmann); κατά may mean “upon” (for the ambivalence see IGSK 23 [Smyrna], no. 232, 6 comm.). - For the funerary triclinium, see Kubińska, Monuments funéraires, pp. 148–49 and IGSK 23, no. 192, 4–7 comm.; see also SEG 45, 1698.
7 κοιτώνιον: For the funerary term κοιτών (“sleeping room”), see IGSK 23, no. 192, 4–7 comm.
9–10 τοῖς ἐν πίστει: see G. Petzl, EpAnat 38 (2005), p. 32, no. 11 (SEG 55, 1431), ll. 6–8 comm. Herrmann compares the formula τοῖς ἐν τῇ ὀρθῇ πίστει (see D. Feissel, Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de Macédoine [1983], no. 234; no. 714, 3–5). The present inscription seems to antedate dogmatic conflicts (Arianism, etc.).
10–11 θελήσῃ: see no. 691, 6 comm.
11–12 ἔσται αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ: for the formula, see L. Robert, Hellenica XI–XII, pp. 381–413 (notably p. 399); and Petzl, EpAnat 38, pp. 32–33, no. 11 (SEG 55, 1431), ll. 10–11 comm. - κρίσις τοῦ Θεοῦ means the Last Judgment (Herrmann). Cf. Sardis VII 1, no. 164: ἔσ[ται] αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν [Θεόν].
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Unpublished. Herrmann, ms.
- Author
- GP