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Painted Inscription on Tympanon of Barrel-Vaulted Masonry Chamber of Subterranean Tomb (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Painted Inscription on tympanon of tomb of Flavius Chrysanthios
- Date
- 3rd–5th century AD., Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- IN76.008
- Material
- Plaster
- Object Type
- Inscription
- Inscription Type
- Funerary Inscription
- Inscription language
- Greek
- Inscription Text
Θ(ε)ὲ βοήθει αὐ- τοῖς, Φλ(αβίῳ) Χρυσανθίῳ δουκηναρίῳ φαβρικη- 4 σίῳ καὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ· κατεσκεύασεν τὸν λετ- τεῖκα σὺν τῇ γοινεκὶ αὐτοῦ 8 καὶ τέκνοις. leaf
- Inscription Translation
- “Lord, help them: Flavius Chrysanthios, ducenarius weaponsmith and his household; he built the tomb together with his wife and his children.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Nec
- Trench
- Tomb 76.1
- Locus
- Tomb 76.1 Walls
- Findspot
- Tomb 76.1, south wall.
- Description
Painted inscription within a wreath on the tympanon of a small barrel-vaulted masonry chamber in a subterranean tomb with wall paintings (south lunette; see also nos. 694 and 695).
- Comments
5–6 λετ/τεῖκα: the inscription; λεκτείκα J. and L. Robert. With ὁ λεκτίξ (no. 696) and the accusative τὸν λεττεῖκα (nos. 693 and 694), compare ἡ λεκτεῖκα (= lectica, -ae) PBerl. Möller 11, 3 = SB 7348, 3 (first century AD); also λεκτικάριος (lecticarius, “bearer at funerals”), IG X 2, 475 (Thessaloniki, second–third century AD) and MAMA IV 32 (λεκτεικαρ‹ί›ῳ; “Phrygie, époque chrétienne,” Robert); in the latter inscription the meaning could be “porteur de litière” or “croque-mort” (J. and L. Robert, BE 1948, 102, p. 165, no. 9). Cf. also PIand 8, 154 (sixth–seventh century AD), ITyr 29B (LSJ Suppl.). Foss, M4, p. 110 n. 12 is certainly right in interpreting Sardis VII 1, no. 167 ΛΕΤΙC as λεκτίς, with a different ending of the nominative; for -κτ- = -ττ- see no. 666, 8 comm. Herrmann (ms., ad 696) refers to TLL VII, col. 1081, where, s.v. lectica, quoting the testament CIL XIII 5708, 4 (legtica fiat sub exedra et II subsellia), the meaning “cubile” is given.
6 γοινεκί: read γυναικί.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Mentioned in Archaeology 30, 1 (1977), p. 56; M. J. Mellink, AJA 81 (1977), pp. 309–10; and C. H. Greenewalt, jr., BASOR 229 (1978), pp. 61–64 (SEG 27, 789). Drawing in SPRT, fig. 297; N. Blanc in Peinture Murale Antique, ed. C. Allag (1990), pp. 95–96 (SEG 40, 1072). Edition of the text: J. and L. Robert, BE 1977, 453 (SEG 26, 1320); C. Foss, ZPE 35 (1979), p. 279.
- Author
- GP