13.406. Funerary inscription for Marcus Aurelius Glykon and Alexandros
- Description:
- White marble sarcophagus W. 2.35 × H. 1.00 × D. 1.03 and lid W. 2.385 × H. 0.42 × D. 1.12. Decorated with victories and putti holding garlands, with a bust above each garland. In the centre, a tabella ansata; for a full description, see Isik 137.
- Text:
- Inscribed on the tabella.
- Letters:
- Poorly designed, under the influence of cursive forms, 0.03; lunate epsilon, sigma, cursive omega
- Date:
- Perhaps middle of the third century (lettering, formulae).
- Findspot:
- Necropolis, South: south of the south city wall, a little way east of the area excavated in 1975, south of 8.114 (=MAMA 424)
- Original Location:
- Necropolis
- Last recorded location:
- Fragments in the Museum.
- History of discovery:
- Recorded by Gaudin (153); by the NYU expedition; broken in the 1990s.
- Bibliography:
- Published from Gaudin's squeeze, T. Reinach, REG 19 (1906), 264-265, no. 159, whence M.Squarciapino, La scuola di Afrodisia (Rome, 1943) 11, no. 3; from the MAMA records, J.M.R. Cormack, MAMA VIII. 574, whence BullEp 1961.666, McCabe PHI Aphrodisias 450 ; from the stone, K.T.Erim and J.M.Reynolds, 'Sculptors of Aphrodisias in the inscriptions of the city', Festschrift Jale Inan (Istanbul, 1989), 517-538, no. 24, whence SEG 1990.944; Reynolds and Isik 137.
- Text constituted from:
- Transcription (Reynolds); publications. This edition Reynolds (1991).
- 1 ζῶσιν
- 2 αὑτή ἐστιν ἡ
- 3 σορὸς καὶ τὸ ὑ-
- 4ποκάτω μνῆ-
- 5μα Μάρκου Αὐρ-
- 6ηλίου Γλύκω-
- 7νος ἀγαλματο-
- 8γλύφου καὶ Ἀλε-
- 9ξάνδρου πιμε-
- 10νταρίου leaf
- 1ΖΩΣΙΝ
- 2ΑΥΤΗΕΣΤΙΝΗ
- 3ΣΟΡΟΣΚΑΙΤΟΥ
- 4ΠΟΚΑΤΩΜΝΗ
- 5ΜΑΜΑΡΚΟΥΑΥΡ
- 6ΗΛΙΟΥΓΛΥΚΩ
- 7ΝΟΣΑΓΑΛΜΑΤΟ
- 8ΓΛΥΦΟΥΚΑΙΑΛΕ
- 9ΞΑΝΔΡΟΥΠΙΜΕ
- 10ΝΤΑΡΙΟΥ leaf
Translation:
They are (still) living. This is the sarcophagus, and the memorial monument below it, of Marcus Aurelius Glykon, sculptor, and Alexandros, dealer in paints (and/or unguents).
Commentary:
The inscription, which was cut when the two owners were alive, concerns, as many do, a tomb consisting of a sarcophagus standing on a substructure, but omits the normal detailed provisions for its use and for protection against misuse. The combination of two craftsmen - one who made statues, with a pigmentarius, who perhaps dealt in paint, is of real interest, reminding us of the widespread use of paint on ancient sculptures. It suggests a moderate social - and no doubt artistic - level. The sculptor had Roman citizenship, probably as a result of the Edict of Caracalla, but does not cite any ancestors; the pigmentarius is not credited with citizenship, and was surely a dependent of the sculptor - fosterchild or perhaps freedman.
- Photographs:
- none.
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