8.701. Funerary inscription for Eirenion, gladiator
- Description:
- A small white marble stele (H. 0.42 x W. 0.35 x D. 0.16) with a triangular pediment above, broken away, and a recessed central panel; The relief is of a facing gladiator with a loin guard and greaves. In his right hand he holds a palm, and the left rests on a shield, which has a helmet above it.
- Text:
- . Inscribed in the central panel, below the relief
- Letters:
- irregular, with lunate epsilon, sigma, omega, and cursive alpha.
- Date:
- First to fourth centuries A.D. (content)
- Findspot:
- Theatre Baths excavation
- Original Location:
- Unknown
- Last recorded location:
- Museum
- History of discovery:
- Recorded by the NYU expedition in 1974 (excavation inventory no. 74.227).
- Bibliography:
- Published by Roueché, PPA 43
- Text constituted from:
- Transcriptions (Reynolds, Roueché) This edition Roueché (2007).
- 1 Τροφίμη Εἰρηνί[ῳ]-
- 2 νι ἐσσεδαρίῳ μ̣[νεί]-
- 3[ας] χ̣ά̣ρ̣ι̣ν̣ vac.
- 1ΤΡΟΦΙΜΗΕΙΡΗΝΙ[·]
- 2ΝΙΕΣΣΕΔΑΡΙΩ·[···]
- 3[··]·····
Translation:
Trophime (put up this monument) to ?Eirenion, essedarius, in memory.
Commentary:
This is clearly an epitaph, in the form described by Robert as 'the gladiator in his glory' ( Gladiateurs, 47-9); the gladiator is presented holding a palm, with his helmet and shield beside him, as in very similar reliefs illustrated by Robert (Gladiateurs, 301, pl. xx; 119, pl. xxiii).
Trophime, who put up this epitaph, was presumably the wife of the man commemorated (for many other examples of such epitaphs see Gladiateurs, 43-4, with another Trophime, 227 no. 292). The essedarius fought from a chariot (Lafaye, 'Gladiator', 1588, no.8).
Photographs:
- Face (1978)
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