AIUK46 no. 77 Funerary monument of Ploutarchos

Funerary monument of Ploutarchos

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 77 Date: iv-v AD

This is the grave of the prudent (saophronos) Ploutarchos, who came to Ausonia longing for toilsome renown (kudeos). There, far away from his homeland he underwent a succession of labours, although he was an only child dear to his own parents. (5)But, despite his very eager desire, he did not fulfil his yearning, for a Fate of an unkind death overtook him before that. (trans. Sironen, adapted)^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 77 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 12473 (PHI)

IG II² 13532 (PHI)

GIBM I 125

Peek, GVI, no. 639

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Fragment

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens (BM 1816,0610.236)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscribed block in the British Museum is part of the Elgin collection (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). The name Ploutarchos is common at Athens from the mid-second century AD onwards. Our Ploutarchos was likely a young man, his epigram lamenting his unfulfilled ambition and suggesting that his parents were still alive. References to only children are often found on funerary monuments, not only to emphasise the scale of loss to the surviving parents and other family members but also in the context of clarifying or asserting inheritance rights (cf. AIUK 3, no. 5). The verse bristles with epic resonances, and perhaps his labours and travails are meant to evoke the heroic trials (some of them in the west) of Herakles, Odysseus and Jason. The term used for Italy in l. 2 (Ausonia) is also poetic. The learning of the young man is also reflected in the representation on the stone of accents and breathing marks, not seen in Attic inscriptions until the second century AD and almost always found in metrical texts. For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 77.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 7 Apr 2022
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