Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity 2004

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148. Epitaph of Aurelia Dionysia

Description

• Monument: Three joining fragments of a white marble sarcophagus front, which was fluted, with a central tabella ansata, flanked on either side by a smoother area with curving outlines.
• Text: i, which is cut on the simple flat moulding along the top of the tabella, must have begun on an upper feature, and must represent all that remains of a previous inscription, erased from the tabella. ii is cut on the tabella and beyond it on the right.
• Letters: i, standard 2nd-3rd century lettering, 0.02; ii, in a rough cursive hand, letters 0.02-0.03.
• Date: i: Second/third century (lettering); ii: Third/fourth century (formulae, penalty).

Text

Translation

b. The coffin and the place beneath it are (the property) of Aurelia Dionysia, daughter of Stephanus, in which (i.e. coffin) if anyone else should wish to bury (anyone) he will give (?) of a penalty to the shrine of Aphrodite two ounces of gold.

Apparatus

The left end fragment of the block was found in 1989, adding about one letter at the beginning of each line to the text published in ALA.

ii, l.1. The final sigma of ὑποκείμεν[ο]ν is written as epsilon.

The end of l.3 and the beginning of l.4 are very uncertain.

Photographs

Left end fragment (1989)	Centre fragment (1981)	Right end fragment (1983)

Commentary

See discussion at IX.7; for the penalty, and its implications for the date, see IX.5.

Locations

• Found: No provenance: found in the Museum.
• Original: Unknown.
• Last Recorded: Museum.

History

• Recording: Recorded by the NYU expedition; main pieces before 1980, the third fragment in 1989.
• Bibliography: Two fragments published by Roueché, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity no. 148 a and b whence PHI 575, 436.
• Text constituted from: Transcription (Roueché).

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