AIUK8 no. 4 Funerary stele for Aphrodisia of Salamis together with a curse (?)

Funerary stele for Aphrodisia of Salamis together with a curse (?)

AIUK 8 (Broomhall) no. 4 Date: early 3rd century AD

Aphrodisia, daughter (?) of Olympos, of Salamis.^[1]

PATANAGATHA ROSDNEAM(?)^[2]

Relief^[3]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 8 (Broomhall) no. 4 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG II² 10182 (PHI)

Conze IV no. 1966

von Moock no. 412

Translation by: Peter Liddel, Polly Low

AIO Images: 1

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Funerary

Findspot: Athens/Attica (Broomhall 4)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This funerary monument commemorates Aphrodisia, daughter (?) of Olympos, of Salamis (this is the city of Salamis on Cyprus, not the island of Salamis in the Saronic Gulf). The iconography of the monument (see below) suggests that she was an official or initiate of the cult of Isis at Athens. It is also possible, given the role of the Isis cult in sacred manumission, that she was a freedwoman who was a devotee of the cult. On the interpretation of the widespread phenomenon of funerary monuments depicting women in dress associated with Isis see most recently L. A. Mazurek, Hesperia 90, 2021, 605-640. [2] It seems likely that this jumble of letters to the right, given their rather different and mixed style, are a later addition. They were inscribed with less care than the inscription to the left. In the second "word", the first symbol appears to be a rho (Ρ) written backwards. Various explanations of these "names" have been suggested. One is that they might have been added by later appropriators of the stele; on this view, PATANAGATHA might be an Egyptian name. Alternatively, it could be a variant of Pantagathe, attested elsewhere in the Greek world but not in Attica. "ROSDNEAM" might represent a jumbled name, a typical feature applied to names when written on curses. The original name might be Mena⟨n⟩dros or Meandros. The appearance of nonsense strings of letters in curse tablets and magical papyri, usually thought to convey supernatural or magical power, may well also be relevant. It is quite possible that PATANAGATHA is a variation of the “magical word” PATATHNAX, which appears occasionally on papyri setting out spells and also on a lead curse tablet discovered in the Athenian Agora (Agora IL 72). This interpretation gains support from the fact that curse-tablets were often deposited in burial-places. Perhaps the most likely scenario, therefore, is that the second inscription was added at a later date by someone making a cryptic curse against a certain Menandros or Meandros. [3] This monument with a so-called naiskos ("little temple")-style panel represents two female figures standing frontally in high relief. The smaller figure to the left perhaps represents a servant. The taller figure to the right, in addition to wearing a chiton, mantle (knotted over her chest) and sandals, raises a sistrum in her uplifted right hand and holds a simple cup-like bucket (situla) in her left. These features identify her as a devotee of Isis. Depictions of devotees of Isis were common on Attic funerary monuments from the first century BC until the start of the fourth century AD. For another example, see AIUK 2 (BSA), no. 13. For a fuller discussion of this monument, see AIUK 8 (Broomhall), no. 4. On the Attic inscriptions at Broomhall see AIUK 8, no. 1. For more information about private Attic funerary monuments, see AIUK 3 (Cambridge), section 3.

Added: 21 Oct 2019
Updated: 11 Feb 2022
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ID: AIO_1963