V 280. Pantikapaion.Epitaph of Sophainetos (?), IVth century C.E.
Monument
Type
Panel.
Material
Coarse-grained limestone.
Dimensions (cm)
H.42.0, W.44.0, Th.13.0.
Additional description
On the front - image of Latin cross with flaring arms (shortened left arm); on the back - longitudinal groove. Weathered, broken at the bottom.
Place of Origin
Pantikapaion.
Find place
Kerch.
Find context
Glinishche, garden of K. Woerle.
Find circumstances
4 May 1897, chance find.
Modern location
Unknown.
Institution and inventory
Unknown.
Autopsy
Non vidi.
Epigraphic field
Position
All around the cross.
Lettering
Lapidary. Alpha with broken crossbar, delta with projecting right hasta, rectangular theta, omicron, sigma, and phi, the latter is also elongated.
Letterheights (cm)
4.0–7.5.
Text
Category
Epitaph.
Date
IVth century C.E.
Dating criteria
Palaeography, archaeological context.
Editions
L1. Shkorpil1898a, 207–208, № 17; 1.1. Diatroptov, Yemets1995, № 28.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ἐνθάδ<lb n="2" break="no"/>ε κατά<lb n="3" break="no"/>κειτ<lb n="4" break="no"/>αι
Σο<lb n="5" break="no"/>φαί<lb n="6" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost" cert="low">νετος</supplied>.
</ab>
</div>Translation
Here lies Sophai[netos] (?).
Commentary
The inscription was found together with V 267 and V 281, as well as with the Jewish tombstone of Simon (Shkorpil 1898b, 210, № 20).
1–4. On the formula, see Introduction IV.3.F.d.
5-7. The name Sophainetos is attested only in Greco-Roman classical literature and epigraphy: IG XII,9 249 (Euboea), 50 times in IG VII 3498 (Megara) and, closer to home, in a dedication of Chersonessians, dated to the IInd century (Kryzhitsky 1975, 115). Another restoration is possible, although less likely - Σοφέας (IG XII, suppl. 113).
See also commentary to V 267.
Images
© 2015 Andrey Vinogradov (edition), Irene Polinskaya (translation)
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