III 122. Chersonesos.Dedication of altar, late IV - 1st half of III century B.C.Е.
Monument
Type
Altar.
Material
Marble.
Dimensions (cm)
H.38.0, W.62.0, Th.55.0.
Additional description
Rectangular altar with moulded base and cornice (badly damaged). The top surface is slightly inset. All vertical sides are adorned with relief rosettes, bucrania, and laurel garlands swathed with ribbons (partly missing). In secondary use, a bowl-like cutting with jagged edges (Diam. 45,5 cm, depth 19,5 cm) was made in the bottom surface. Three lines of text on the front, asymmetrically arranged (line 1 below the cornice, off-centre, to the right, line 2 between the two rosettes, line below the garland, off-centre, to the left). Subsequently (secondary use in Christian cult?), the inscription was deliberately defaced.
Place of Origin
Chersonesos.
Find place
Sevastopol (Chersonesos).
Find context
Unknown.
Find circumstances
Uknown; in 1926, the monument was already in the exhibition of the Chersonesos Museum.
Modern location
Sevastopol.
Institution and inventory
National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos, 4809.
Autopsy
Non vidi. The monument is temporarily inaccessible in the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the front.
Lettering
Alpha with straight crossbar, slightly curved hastae of some letters, slight flaring of the ends of letterstrokes.
Letterheights (cm)
1.8
Text
Category
Dedicatory inscription.
Date
Late IV - 1st half of III century B.C.Е.
Dating criteria
Palaeography.
Editions
НЭПХ II (Solomonik 1973) 125.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἀρ<unclear>κεσὼ</unclear>
Ἱπ<gap reason="lost" quantity="6" unit="character" precision="low"/><unclear>ο</unclear>ς
<lb n="2"/>Σ<unclear>ωπ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ό</supplied>λιο<unclear>ς</unclear>
γ<unclear>υν</unclear>ά
<lb n="0"/><space extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
<lb n="3"/><gap reason="lost" quantity="3" unit="character"/><orig><unclear>αι</unclear></orig>
<unclear>Σωτ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ε</supplied><unclear>ί</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ρ</supplied><unclear>α</unclear>ι.
</ab>
</div>
Commentaries
Vinogradov1975, 172; Античная скульптура Херсонеса1976, 167, № 532; Solomonik1988, 64.
Apparatus criticus
Leg. ed. pr.
;
Ἱπ[- c.6 -]ος scripsi (cf. LGPN IV);
Ιπ[....λ[ι]ος ed. pr.
2:
ἱε[ρ]ᾶ[ι] ed. pr.;
Ἥ[ρ]α[ι] ? Виноградов (на основании
фото)
Translation
Arkeso, (daughter of) [- - -], wife of Sopolis, (dedicated to) [- - -] Soteira.
Commentary
Ed. pr. suggested that the appearance of a cult of a goddess characterised as Soteira could be linked to the increase in Scythian pressure on Chersonesos in the III century B.C.E.
On the female name Ἀρκεσώ and its variant Ἀρχεσώ, attested in Chersonesian epigraphy, see Masson 1957, 166; Bechtel, HPN, 84. See also commentary on III 225.
© 2017 Igor Makarov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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