Page images
PDF
EPUB

HALL OF GREEK AND LATIN

INSCRIPTIONS.*

SUBJECT: -GREEK AND LATIN INSCRIPTIONS; MISCELLANEOUS GRAECO-ROMAN SCULPTURES.

Among the selected inscriptions which are here exhibited, the most interesting are the following.

In the west (or left) half of the room :

80*. A tall marble slab from Sigeum, in the Troad, inscribed with the record of a dedication by Phanodicos of Proconnesos, and giving the name of an artist, Aisopos. The inscription is written boustrophedon; that is, alternately from left and right (see p. 6). It is given twice, in the Ionic character above, and in the Attic character below. It probably dates from the beginning of the sixth century B.C. The stone served in modern times as the seat in the porch of the church at Sigeum, until it was removed by Lord Elgin. It was specially resorted to by the sick, for its supposed magic influence, and the inscription has thus been nearly obliterated.

399-402.-Pier (parastas or anta) of the temple at Prienè, in Asia Minor, with inscriptions relating to Alexander the Great, and his successor Lysimachos. The large inscription at the top is the dedication of the temple to Athenè Polias by Alexander (circa 334 B.C.) mentioned above, p. 76.

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ

ANEOHKETONNAON
ΑΘΗΝΑΙΗΙΠΟΛΙΑ ΔΙ

Βασιλεὺς ̓Αλέξανδρος ἀνέθηκε τὸν ναὸν ̓Αθηναίῃ Πολιάδι.

This pier is crowned with a cast of the capital. The original is in the Mausoleum Room.

886. A decree passed in the names of the convention of the Halicarnassians and Salmakitians, and Lygdamis the tyrant, about 455 B.C., for the purpose of regularising and confirming the possession

* Most of the Greek Inscriptions have been published in the Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, Parts I.-IV. (£4). The greater part of the collection is only accessible to persons desiring to make special studies (p. 78).

of real property at Halicarnassos. The town of Halicarnassos was originally divided into the two sections named above.

81*. Treaty of alliance between Hermias (or Hermeias), ruler of Atarneus, and the people of Erythrae in Asia Minor (about 357 B.C.). Hermias, a slave and eunuch, succeeded to the sovereignty of Atarneus. He is best known as the friend and patron of Aristotle, who dedicated to his memory the Ode to Virtue, and also a statue at Delphi.

On the West wall, and on the right return face of the pier, is an elaborate series of documents relating to boundary disputes between Priene and Samos, inscribed for permanent record by the Prienians on the walls of the temple of Athenè Polias. The principal documents here preserved are (403) an award by the Rhodians who had been invited to arbitrate, and decided in favour of Prienè (circa 240 B.C.), and (405) a decree of the Roman Senate (about 135 B.C.) confirming the Rhodian award which had been set aside by the consul Manlius.

343. The square shaft opposite the middle of the West wall contains a copy of a decree concerning a national subscription in aid of the Rhodian navy, at a time of grave emergency-perhaps about 200 B.C. The decree occupies half a column, and is followed by the names of the subscribers with their respective contributions on the remaining three and a half columns. Presented by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, 1873.

On the North wall, the large upper inscription (No. 481), which formed the sloping wall flanking the south entrance in the Great Theatre at Ephesus, contains documents relating to gifts and bequests by one Caius Vibius Salutaris (A.D. 104) to the city of Ephesus. The gifts consist partly of gold and silver images of Artemis and other subjects, and partly of a capital sum of money to provide annual doles on the birthday of the goddess. Curious conditions are laid down as to the carrying of the images in procession from the temple to the theatre to attend assemblies or games. The images are to be taken by way of the Magnesian gate, and to return by way of the Coressian gate. From the topographical information thus given, Mr. Wood obtained the clue by which he found the temple site.

Below the inscription last mentioned are :— 448-476. Wall-stones from the temple of Diana at Ephesus, inscribed with grants of citizenship and other honours to benefactors of Ephesus.

113.* On the floor is a cast of an inscription in very early Latin. The original was excavated in May, 1899, in the Roman Forum. It was found, with other early remains, beneath a piece of black pavement, which some have identified with the niger lapis, supposed in antiquity to mark the position of the grave of Romulus. The inscription is Latin, written in Archaic Greek characters, and boustrophedon (see p. 112). The words easily identified, such as sacros, kalatorem (Calator, an attendant on a priest), and juxmenta

I

(= jumenta ?), seem to indicate that the inscription refers to animals used for sacrifice, but the sense has not been determined with any certainty. Presented by H.M. Queen Victoria.

In the East (or right) half of the room (on the North wall)

are:

(On the upper shelf)

522. An inscription in Greek and Latin, recording the rebuilding of the outer boundary walls of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus by order of Augustus, B.C. 6. The intentional erasure of the name of the proconsul, C. Asinius Gallus, recalls a tragedy of the reign of Tiberius. Gallus had offended the emperor by marrying his divorced wife, and by speaking too freely of his government. By command of Tiberius he was condemned unheard by the Senate at Rome, at the moment that he was enjoying the emperor's hospitality at Capri. He was there arrested, and after three years of rigorous imprisonment he was starved to death. His name was in consequence erased from the inscription.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

37. Epitaph in elegiac verse, on Athenians who fell in battle before Potidaea. Potidaea was a town in the Thracian peninsula, and tributary to Athens. With the help of Corinth it revolted in the summer of 432 B.C. The Athenians sent an expedition to Potidaea, which gained a victory; but only with the loss of the commander Callias and 150 men, who are here commemorated [Thucyd. i. 63; Grote, vol. iv. chap. 47]. The Peloponnesian war was an immediate consequence of the Potidaean campaign.

6

After a prose heading, 'Eu Ilorida K.T.λ.], These died in Potidaea,' and the first two couplets, which are very imperfect, the epitaph proceeds:

Αἰθὴρ μὲμ φσυχὰς ὑπεδέχσατο, σώ[ματα δὲ χθὼν]

τῶνδε · Ποτειδαίας δ ̓ ἀμφὶ πύλας ἔλ[υθεν.]
ἐχθρῶν δ' οἱ μὲν ἔχουσι τάφου μέρος, [οι δὲ φυγόντες]
τεῖχος πιστοτάτην ελπίδ ̓ ἔθεντο [βίου].

*Ανδρας μὲμ πόλις ήδε ποθεῖ καὶ δῆ[μος Ερεχθέως],
πρόσθε Ποτειδαίας οι θάνον ἐμ πρ[ομάχοις]
παῖδες ̓Αθηναίων, φσυχὰς δ ̓ ἀντίρρο[πα θέντες]

ἠ[λλ]άχσαντ ̓ ἀρετὴν, καὶ πατ[ρίδ'] εὐκλ[εϊσαν].

'Air received their souls, and earth their bodies. They were undone around the gates of Potidaea. Of their foes, some have their portion in the grave, others (fled) and made a wall their sure hope (of life). This state and people (of Erechtheus) mourns its citizens who died in the front ranks, before Potidaea, children of the Athenians. They cast their lives into the scales in exchange for valour, and their country's glory.'

On the East wall are selected Latin Inscriptions. The following may be mentioned :

[ocr errors]

(In the first bay from the left)

82*. Beginning of a poem, on a visit to Egypt (A.D. 134), in bombastic hexameters. From Nubia. [C. I. L. iii. 77.]

83*. Record of the building of a bridge, A.D. 90, by the Emperor Domitian, whose name is here erased. The inscription was found at Coptos in Egypt. We are told by Suetonius that after the assassination of Domitian a decree of the Senate was passed that his inscriptions should everywhere be erased, and all record of him abolished. [C. I. L. iii. 13580.]

(In the second bay)

84*. A small slab containing the name of Vitruvius Pollio, followed by the letters A R C H, which have been taken to mean 'Architectus,' and to connect the inscription with Vitruvius, the celebrated writer on architecture, to whom the surname Pollio is given on doubtful authority. But the name is not uncommon, and another proposal is to take these letters as an abbreviation of 'Archigubernus,' or commander of a ship. From Baiae. [C. I. L. x. 3393.]

The

2391. Greek sepulchral relief, with a recumbent corpse. spectator is asked whether he can tell if the deceased was a Hylas (the beautiful boy beloved of the Nymphs) or a Thersites (the ugly clown in Homer). [The Ionic columns (2564, 2565) which stand on each side of this bay were removed by Lord Elgin from a wall attached to the church of the Monastery of Daphnè on the road from Athens to Eleusis. They appear to have been derived from an ancient temple which occupied the same site.]

(On the South wall)

811, 812. Two tablets with objects of the toilet, dedicated by Anthusa and Claudia Ageta. For a further account, see p. 149.

[ocr errors]

171. A Greek inscription from Thessalonica, containing the names of certain civic magistrates, styled Politarchs,' an uncommon local title, accurately quoted by St. Luke (Acts xvii. 6, 8).

The inscription opens Πολεταρχούντων Σωσιπάτρου κ.τ.λ. It gives the names of six Politarchs, together with a steward and gymnasiarch.

A cast of an inscription forbidding gentiles to approach within the railing of the inner enclosure of the temple at Jerusalem, on pain of death (Acts xxi. 28, 29; Josephus, de Bello Jud. v. 5, 2).

A Greek inscription (4th to 5th cent. A.D.) from Mount Hermon, with the warning, 'Hence, by order of the God, those who do not take the oath'; probably referring to an oath taken before celebrating the mysteries in honour of Baal-Hermon, whose temple stood on the mount.

SCULPTURES.

This room also contains sculptures, mainly of a decorative character and subordinate interest.

Beginning on the left of the entrance are :—

1638. Statue of Ariadnè, the spouse of Bacchus, with Bacchic emblems.

1906. Statue of Marcus Aurelius, in civil costume. A feeble work, obtained by the British at the capitulation of Alexandria (1801).

2500. Marble vase (much restored) with a Bacchanalian dance of Maenads and Satyrs.

On the West wall are portrait busts of Greek philosophers. In most cases the suggested attributions are very conjectural, though the Demosthenes (1840) represents a well-known and authentic type.

On the North wall are:

1301. Statue of Nicocleia, from the temenos of Demeter at Cnidos (p. 15). The inscription on the base records that the statue was dedicated to Demeter, Persephonè, and the gods beside Demeter,' by Nicocleia, in pursuance of a vow.

Sir C. Newton suggested alternatively that this figure might be a figure of Demeter sorrowing, and seeking for her daughter, or a priestess. The goddess searching for her daughter is described in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter as like an old unmarried woman, a nurse or housekeeper. It is, however, probable that the statue is a portrait of Nicocleia herself.

1895. Hadrian in armour. His cuirass is richly decorated with reliefs.

-

In the middle of this half of the room is :2502. A large marble vase with reliefs representing Satyrs making wine. Found in the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli. In the right or East half of the room are:

1943, 1404. Two Roman portrait statues, unknown.
1873. Portrait bust, perhaps of Queen Cleopatra.

A series of Roman sepulchral cippi, square urns with the sepulchral inscription surrounded by decorative sculpture, often of

« PreviousContinue »