AIUK46 no. 74 Funerary monument of Briseis

Funerary monument of Briseis

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 74 Date: ii AD

Homeland Alexandria . . . Briseis, shrewd . . . . . . heart laid low . . . . . . Eileithyia . . . (5) . . . ^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments) no. 74 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 10981 (PHI)

GIBM I 98

Peek, GVI, no. 1085

Translation by: Robert Pitt

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Fragment

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens? (BM 1816,0610.288)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This inscription in the British Museum is part of the Elgin collection (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). The form of this monument is difficult to reconstruct, but it may be part of a stele. From the few clear words, it appears to contain a funerary epigram in dactylic hexameter for Briseis from (Egyptian?) Alexandria. The reference to the goddess Eileithyia may indicate that she died in childbirth (on Eileithyia in Athens see AIUK 2, no. 6, with notes). Only one other Briseis (a famous Homeric name) is known from Athens (IG II² 6771, 2nd century AD). Over a hundred Alexandrian residents of Athens are known; which of the many cities named after Alexander the Great they were from is generally unclear, though it is assumed that the reference was usually to the most famous, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, with which Athens had close connections in the Hellenistic period (for similar problems identifying homonymous poleis, cf. AIUK 4.6, no. 66 and 68). For more detailed discussion of the inscription see AIUK 4.6 (BM, Funerary Monuments), no. 74.

Added: 6 Apr 2022
Updated: 6 Apr 2022
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