8.11. Graffiti of a ?pyrrhic dancer

Description:
Wall of stage building. The blocks were left rough, with a smooth outline along the edges.
Text:
Cut on a small space which has been smoothed, on an otherwise rough surface, but is not filled by the inscription (W. 0.12 x H. 0.13).
Letters:
Small letters, 0.01-0.018; rough, irregular, and difficult.
Date:
First to sixth centuries A.D. (context).
Findspot:
Theatre: on the front face of the stage buildings, on the stretch of wall between the fifth and sixth doorways from the north
Original Location:
Findspot
Last recorded location:
Findspot
History of discovery:
Recorded by the NYU expedition.
Bibliography:
Published by Roueché, PPA 7.e
Text constituted from:
Preliminary transcription (Reynolds, Roueché). This edition Roueché and Bodard (2007).
1 ?
2 Αὐρ(ήλιος)Συμ[·· ? ··]
1?
2ΑΥΡΣΥΜ[ - - - ]
<ab>
<lb n="1" />
?
</ab>
<ab>
<expan>
<abbr>
πυρριχ
</abbr>
<supplied reason="abbreviation" >
ιστής
</supplied>
</expan>
ὁ
<num value="1" >
α
</num>
<lb n="2" />
<expan>
<abbr>
Αὐρ
</abbr>
<supplied reason="abbreviation" >
ήλιος
</supplied>
</expan>
Συμ
<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character" />
</ab>

Apparatus

...

Translation:

?The first pyrrhich(istes), Aur(elius) Sym[ . ..

Commentary:

The reading and interpretation of this text is extremely uncertain; but it does seem likely to be a reference to the Pyrrhiche, a kind of war-dance which was very popular in the Roman imperial period, and is attested in contests at Aphrodisias (11.305.IV.i.5, 11.21.iii.9; see also Robert, Hell. I, 151-2, J. and L. Robert, Claros I, 58-9, W. Slater, ‘Orchestopala’, ZPE 81 (1990), 215-20). ὁ α´ can probably be taken as ὁ πρῶτος ‘the first’. If the phrasing has been interpreted correctly, the performer’s name was never completed. See Performers and Partisans, ad loc..

Photographs:

Face (1983)
 Face (1983)
Face (1976)
 Face (1976)

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