AIUK3 no. 7 Funerary columella of Kleopatra of Berytos

Funerary columella of Kleopatra of Berytos

AIUK 3 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) no. 7 Date: ca. 150-50 BC

Κλεοπάτρα Γοργίου Βηρυτία

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Translated text

References:

AIUK 3 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) no. 7 (Translated text) (AIUK) (AIO)

IG II² 8408 (PHI)

SEG 68.96

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1 2 3 4

Monument type: Kioniskos

Inscription type: Funerary

Original location: Piraeus

Findspot: Said to be Taman (Hermonassa) (Clarke), but actually from Piraeus (Fauvel) (Fitzwilliam Museum GR.30.1865)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] A video about this inscription is available on the AIO Youtube channel.

This is an example of a funerary columella, a simple style of monument that became the norm in Attica for three centuries after Demetrios of Phaleron (317-307 BC) had outlawed more extravagant forms of figurative monument. For examples of this format of monument in the British Museum see AIUK 4.6 (BM Funerary) no. 57. The deceased can be linked to the commercial community from Berytos (modern Beirut) which flourished on Delos between the re-acquisition by Athens, thanks to the Romans, of control over Delos in 166 BC, and Athens’ break with Rome and consequent sack of the city of Athens by Sulla in 86 BC. On Delos the Berytian community formed a formal association, “the Poseidoniasts from Berytos”, the remains of whose “Établissement” on the island can still be visited. Like many Athenian citizens, it was apparently fairly common at this period for Berytians to divide their time between Delos and Athens (or the Piraeus), and Kleopatra's father may have been one of two Berytians named Gorgias attested on Delos at this period. For more detailed discussion of this monument, see AIUK 3 (Cambridge), no. 7 (SEG 68.96); for a general discussion of Attic funerary monuments, AIUK 3 (Cambridge), section 3; see also AIUK 2 (BSA) no.10 with notes.

Added: 3 Sep 2018
Updated: 1 Feb 2024
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