13.154. Funerary inscription for Menippos
- Description:
- White marble garland sarcophagus (W. 2.40 × H. 0.99 × D. 1.20) with tabella ansata; for full description see Isik 84.
- Text:
- Inscribed within the tabella and on its lower moulding (ll. 20, 21); the text must have begun on the lid.
- Letters:
- Quite well designed in the second-to-fourth-century style, but uneven in height, 0.02-0.0225. Ligatured ΜΗ (l.2), ΜΗΝ (l.21), ΝΗ (l.20), ΤΗ (ll.13, 17). Star for denarius. Slant stroke before both figures (incorrectly in l. 20). Erasures at the end of l. 2 and beginning of l. 3.
- Date:
- Mid third century (lettering, stephanephoros).
- Findspot:
- Necropolis, North-east: 'Bagharassi, dans les vignes, extra muros' (Gaudin); 'in a field 10 min. east of the Heraclean Gate' (MAMA)
- Original Location:
- Unknown
- Last recorded location:
- Museum (1978)
- History of discovery:
- Recorded by Gaudin (149); by the MAMA expedition; by the NYU expedition (Sarcophagus catalogue 4).
- Bibliography:
- Published from Gaudin's squeeze, Reinach, REG 19 (1906), 274-276, no. 169 (l.3 discussed by L.Robert, BCH 1928, 411); from the MAMA records, Cormack, MAMA 8. 555, whence McCabe PHI Aphrodisias 509; Reynolds and Isik 84
- Text constituted from:
- Transcription (Reynolds); publications This edition Reynolds (2007).
- 0 [·· ? ·· ?ἐν ᾗ κεκήδευται αὐτὸς ὁ]
- 0a[?Μένιππος ?καὶ ?κηδευθή]-
- 1σεται καὶ Μένιππος Με-
- 2νίππου τοῦ τειμητοῦ [[[··]]]
- 3 [[[···]]] ὁ υἱὸς καὶ κληρονό-
- 4μος τοῦ Μενίππου καὶ
- 5 οὓς ἂν βουληθῇ Μένιπ-
- 6πος ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Μενίππου
- 7 ἕτερος δὲ οὐδεὶς ἕξει
- 8 ἐξουσίαν ἐνθάψαι τινὰ
- 9 ἢ ἐκθάψαι ἐπεὶ ὁ παρὰ ταῦ-
- 10τά τι ποιήσας ἔστω ἀσε-
- 11βὴς καὶ ἐπάρατος καὶ τυμ-
- 12βωρύχος καὶ προσαποτει-
- 13σάτω τῇ θεῷ Ἀφροδείτῃ καὶ
- 14 τοῖς χρυσοφόροις νεο-
- 15ποιοῖς ἀργυρίου (δηνάρια) ͵γ ὧν
- 16 τὸ τρίτον ἔσται τοῦ ἐγδι-
- 17κήσαντος τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς
- 18 ἀπετέθη [ἀ]ντίγραφον εἰς
- 19 τὸ χρεοφυλάκιον ἐπὶ στε-
- 20φανηφόρου τὸ ςι´ Ἀτταλίδος τῆς
- 21Μενεκράτους μηνὸς Καίσαρος scroll
- 0[ - - - ·······················]
- 0a[········ ··········]
- 1ΣΕΤΑΙΚΑΙΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣΜΕ
- 2ΝΙΠΠΟΥΤΟΥΤΕΙΜΗΤΟΥ[[[··]]]
- 3 [[[···]]]ΟΥΙΟΣΚΑΙΚΛΗΡΟΝΟ
- 4ΜΟΣΤΟΥΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΥΚΑΙ
- 5ΟΥΣΑΝΒΟΥΛΗΘΗΜΕΝΙΠ
- 6ΠΟΣΟΥΙΟΣΤΟΥΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΥ
- 7ΕΤΕΡΟΣΔΕΟΥΔΕΙΣΕΞΕΙ
- 8ΕΞΟΥΣΙΑΝΕΝΘΑΨΑΙΤΙΝΑ
- 9ΗΕΚΘΑΨΑΙΕΠΕΙΟΠΑΡΑΤΑΥ
- 10ΤΑΤΙΠΟΙΗΣΑΣΕΣΤΩΑΣΕ
- 11ΒΗΣΚΑΙΕΠΑΡΑΤΟΣΚΑΙΤΥΜ
- 12ΒΩΡΥΧΟΣΚΑΙΠΡΟΣΑΠΟΤΕΙ
- 13ΣΑΤΩΤΗΘΕΩΑΦΡΟΔΕΙΤΗΚΑΙ
- 14ΤΟΙΣΧΡΥΣΟΦΟΡΟΙΣΝΕΟ
- 15ΠΟΙΟΙΣΑΡΓΥΡΙΟΥ denarius ΓΩΝ
- 16ΤΟΤΡΙΤΟΝΕΣΤΑΙΤΟΥΕΓΔΙ
- 17ΚΗΣΑΝΤΟΣΤΗΣΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΗΣ
- 18ΑΠΕΤΕΘΗ[·]ΝΤΙΓΡΑΦΟΝΕΙΣ
- 19ΤΟΧΡΕΟΦΥΛΑΚΙΟΝΕΠΙΣΤΕ
- 20ΦΑΝΗΦΟΡΟΥΤΟΣΙ´ΑΤΤΑΛΙΔΟΣΤΗΣ
- 21ΜΕΝΕΚΡΑΤΟΥΣΜΗΝΟΣΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ scroll
Apparatus
ll. 2, 3, nothing seems legible in the erasures, which presumably removed a mistake
l. 20, the slanting stroke before the figure, which should indicate that what follows is in the thousands, is clearly an error.
Translation:
[E.g. The sarcophagus belongs to Menippos .. ? .. the censor and .. ? .. and Menippos his son; in it Menippos himself has already been buried] and Menippos the son of Menippos the censor, his son and heir, will be so, and anyone whom Menippos the son of Menippos may wish. No one else shall have the right to bury a body in it or to remove one from it, since whoever acts contrary to these provisions is to be (considered) sacrilegious, accursed and a tomb-robber, and moreover is to pay to the goddess Aphrodite and to the Neopoioi, wearers of gold, 3000 silver denarii, of which one third shall belong to the prosecutor. A copy of the inscribed text was deposited in the civic property-archive in the sixteenth stephanephorate of Attalis daughter of Menekrates, month of Caesar.
Commentary:
The sarcophagus belonged to a father and son, possibly also to the mother. The title of the deceased father should mean that he revised the membership of the city's council, so that this was an élite family. Since we do not have the full names of Menippos and his son, we do not know for certain whether or not they were Roman citizens and if so whether they became citizens under the Edict of Caracalla in A.D. 212, but if the date proposed is correct they may well have done so.The Neopoioi (treasurers of the funds of Aphrodite) figure occasionally as recipients of funerary fines (e.g. in 12.526=CIG 2826); their importance in civic life is symbolised by the wearing of gold, although this is not always mentioned. The inscriptions which reckon the fine in terms not simply of denarii but of silver denarii may show a reaction to a severely debased coinage, but this cannot be regarded as certain (see further Reynolds, loc. cit below). The stephanephoros died in the first century, probably in the reign of the emperor Vespasian, but held the office post mortem on a number of occasions.
Photographs:
- Face (1973)
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- Face (1978)
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