Greek and Latin Inscriptions on a Funerary Stele from the Excavations at Parion
Keleş Vedat, Mustafa Sayar, Zaytsev Anton V., Ivantchik Askold I.
This article publishes the inscriptions preserved on the funerary stele from Parion, discussed in the preceding article. The stele was used twice, and the Greek inscription, carved at the same time as the stele was created in the late second – early first century BC, was partly erased when it was re-used. It was reconstructed using 3D-modeling and computer visualization. The inscription contained the name of the deceased and testified that he had been honored by the city; part of his name in the accusative and the full patronymic can be read: Εִ ὐִ[. . .ο]ν Μ ηִνִοִδִότου. A Latin inscription was added to the lower part of the stele during its second use in the late first – early second century AD. It was made for a freed people couple. The husband received from his master the rare name Lesbonax, after the famous philosopher from Mytilene, which apparently testifies to the master’s tastes and his connections to Lesbos. The wife bears the common slave name Sumpherusa, the spelling (u instead of y) reflects the pronunciation of Greek loanwords in colloquial Latin. Both names, as usual, became cognomina upon receiving Roman citizenship. On the same lower part of the stele, two Latin letters have been preserved, likely belonging to another inscription that was never completed.
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