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Altar with bucrania and garlands, Manisa 244. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Cylindrical Altar: Altar Dedication to Meter Skepnou, by Noemon Tritos, son of Noemon
- Date
- 2nd century AD (Hanfmann and Ramage, probably correctly); late Hellenistic–early Roman Imperial period (Anabolu)., Roman
- Museum
- Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 244
- Museum Inventory No.
- 244
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- Manisa 244
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Altar, Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Religious Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
Νο[ήμων Ν]ο̣ήμονος Τρίτος̣ [ὁ σκ]η̣̣πτροφόρος Μητρὶ Σκεπνου ἀνέθηκε.
- Inscription Translation
- “Noemon Tritos, son of Noemon, the bearer of the scepter, has erected (this altar) to the Meter Skepnou.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Description
“Cylindrical altar of marble with bucrania and garlands and the moon’s crescent with a star in it. Upper part of the stone is partly damaged” (Malay).
- Dimensions
- H. 0.64, Diam. 0.36, H. of letters 0.02.
- Comments
1 For the name Νοήμων Herrmann refers to L. Robert, Stèles funéraires, p. 180.
2 Τρίτος̣ [ὁ σκ]η̣̣πτροφόρος: my reading; ΤΡΙΤΟ̣[ - - - ]ΠΤΡΟΦΟΡΟΣ, Anabolu; “the text seems to run: Νο[ήμων Ν]οήμονος / τρίτος̣ ὁ̣ [σκη]πτροφόρος…,” Herrmann (SEG 36). Τρίτος seems to be the second name of the dedicant Noemon (this interpretation is also considered in Herrmann’s manuscript). It may be of indigenous (Illyrian?) origin; see O. Masson, RPhil. 54 (1980), p. 231, with n. 6 (= OGS 2, p. 361); SEG 30, 1834; Masson, BCH 114 (1990), p. 509 (= OGS 3, p. 89); BCH 115 (1991), p. 358 (= OGS 3, p. 121); and in Grecs et Illyriens dans les inscr…d’Epidamne-Dyrrhachion… (1993), p. 78 (= OGS 3, p. 161); cf. B. Lörincz, Onomasticon provinciarum Europae latinarum IV (2002), p. 130. Or, more probably, Τρίτος is derived from the numeral “third” (like the Latin name Tertius); see Masson, ZPE 119 (1997), p. 69 (= OGS 3, p. 276), in the chapter “Anthroponymes grecs tirés de noms de nombre”; cf., e.g., IGSK 23 (Smyrna), no. 494 where the name Πρῶτος presumably corresponds to Latin Primus.
For the σκηπτροφόρος, Herrmann refers to OGI 245 (= IGLS 1184 [“prêtre nommé annuellement pour porter le sceptre”]; SEG 35, 1521; Seleukeia Pieria, second century BC), ll. 22 and 45. He underlines that in the religious inscriptions of the Imperial period from northeastern Lydia the god’s scepter plays an important role; see references in Petzl, Beichtinschriften, no. 3, 2–4 comm; id., “Keine Szepter an Gräbern,” ZPE 177 (2011), pp. 123–26.
3 Μητρὶ Σκεπνου: elsewhere unknown; Herrmann compares Μήτηρ Καλλίππου (SEG 28, 1183) and Μήτηρ Νουννου (SEG 44, 1063); cf. Malay and Petzl, New Religious Texts, no. 107 comm. The person whose name is added in the genitive may have been the founder of the particular Meter cult. Yet, a personal name formed on Σκεπν- seems so far to be unattested. Dot: ΣΚΕΠΝΟΥ· ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕ.
- See Also
- See also: R2, No. 160.
- Bibliography
- Malay, Manisa Museum, p. 59, no. 95 [no text]. - Without text: G. M. A. Hanfmann and N. Ramage, R2, p. 128, no. 160, fig. 307 (SEG 28, 927). - M. Anabolu in Archaeology and Fertility-Cult…, ed. A. Bonanno (1986), pp. 267–68 (fig. 35a–b and transcription in majuscules). The text is given here after P. Herrmann in the commentary on SEG 36, 1101 (De Hoz, Kulte, p. 255, no. 40.100); Herrmann, ms.
- Author
- GP