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Inscribed Block (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Inscribed Block: Funerary Inscription for a money collector
- Date
- 1st century AD (Herrmann)., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN64.059
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Funerary Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
[ ]δου κομάκτωρ ἑαυτῷ [τὸ μνημεῖον κατεσκε]ύασεν καὶ Σωτείρῃ γυναι- [κὶ καὶ τῷ ] ὑῷ μου ἑαυτῷ 4 [? καὶ ἐκγόνοις καὶ θρέ]μμασίν μ̣ου, ὅσα ἂν ἡ τύχη [ - - - ὃς δ᾿ ἂν] τοῦτο τὸ μνημεῖον πω- [λήσῃ ἢ ἐξαλλοτριώσῃ ᾡδ]ηποτεοῦν τρόπῳ, ἀποδώ- [σει τῷ φίσκῳ .. ταύτ]ης τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς ἀν- 8 [τίγραφον ἀπόκειται] ἐν τῷ ἀρχείῳ.
- Inscription Translation
- “[ (name), son of - - -]des, coactor, has built [the tomb] for himself and for his wife Soteira [and] for my son, for himself [and for the descendants and] for my foster-children, how many Fortuna [will give me(?). Whoever] sells or [alienates] this tomb in whatever way, will have to pay [to the fiscus x (denarii)]. A copy of this inscription is [kept] in the archive.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- HoB
- Trench
- MTW
- B-Grid Coordinates
- W30 / S170 ca 0.40 from surface
- Findspot
- House of Bronzes sector, Middle Terrace West.
- Description
Block of marble, which perhaps served as the closing stone of a tomb; only the right half is preserved, and the left portion broken off. The inscription stands in a recess.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.45, W. 0.59, Th. 0.15, H. of letters 0.015–0.017.
- Comments
Mostly Herrmann’s restorations. Summary of Herrmann’s commentary:
1 The deceased had been collector of money, κομάκτωρ (also attested in the form κωμ-), a term explained in the Glossaries by argentarius and coactor (see A. von Premerstein, RE IV, 1 [1900], col. 126); the only other epigraphical attestation seems to be I.Magnesia no. 217 (first century BC). It is not specified under whose order he did his job. Attestations of κομάκτορες and κομακτορία in papyri suggest a connection with auctions; see D. Hagedorn, PKöln II (1978), pp. 96–97, no. 83 comm.
1–3 The words ἑαυτῷ…μου ἑαυτῷ: switch from the third to first to third person; the second ἑαυτῷ seems awkward.
3 The words τῷ ὑῷ μου, written in stretched letters (with ΛΛ instead of M) with large spatia on a rasura, probably replace a name written there before (traces of the earlier script are visible). The replacement may have been due to a change in the family’s composition.
4–5 “soviele das Schicksal [mir noch schenken wird(?)],” Herrmann.
6 [ᾡδ]ηποτεοῦν supplevi; cf. IGRR IV 915c = IGSK 60 [Kibyra], no. 43a, 12 καθ᾿ ὁνδηποτεοῦν τρόπον; Unpublished. Herrmann, ms., 12.1205, l. 9 ἐπ(ε)ὶ ἀπαλλοτριώσει ᾡδήποτε τρόπῳ.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Unpublished. Herrmann, ms.
- Author
- GP