MAMA XI 17 (Apollonia) 
Funerary inscription with variant on Eumeneian formula
- Type of monument:
- Funerary inscription.
- Location:
- Uluborlu (Apollonia): in the porch of the Bahçe Camii.
- Description:
- Plain limestone cylinder, inscribed on one end face; inscribed face broken at left.
- Dimensions:
- Diameter 0.42; Th. 0.42; letters 0.020-0.028.
- Record:
- Squeeze; line drawing; MB notebook copy (1956/93).
- Publication:
- None.
- Date:
- Third century AD.
[τίς] ἂν κακὰς
[χεῖ]ρ̣ας προσοίσει
[τῷ ἡ]ρώιῳ τούτῳ
[- -]ι̣σεν οἰκοδόμημα
5[πρὸ (?)]ς τῷ τόπῳ ἢ ἐξ ὑπο-
[- -]ης τινος κακουργή-
[σει], [ἔ]στε αὐτοῖς πρὸς̣
[τ]ὴν κρίσιν τὴν
Θεοῦ.
Whoever brings wicked hands against this tomb, or... building near the place or causes harm (to it) through any... they shall have to reckon with God’s judgement.
Illustrations:
Squeeze of MAMA XI 17 (Apollonia 17: 1956-93)
Line drawing of MAMA XI 17 (Apollonia 17: 1956-93)
A similar version of the formula in lines 1-3 is found on the territory of Apollonia in MAMA IV 184: τίς ἂν τούτῳ ἡρώῳ κ[ακὴν] χρα προσοίσι, ἔστω κεχαρισμένος Δεὶ Εὐροδ[αμηνῷ].
I am unable to propose a plausible restoration in lines 4-7. In line 4, it is conceivable that we should restore an irrational aorist, [ἢ (ἐ)ποί]η̣σεν, on the parallel of MAMA VII 276c, [τίς κακῶς ἐ]ποίησεν, ἔσται αὐτῷ [π]ρὸς τὸν Θεόν; MAMA VII 360, τίς [ποτε? τοῦτ]ον ἀ̣δ̣ί̣κησεν, ἔστα[ι αὐ]τῷ πρὸς [τὸ]ν Θεό[ν]; MAMA VII 402, τίς δὲ τούτους ἠδίκησε, ἐνκεχαρισμένος ἤτω εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ νέκυεια. See also MAMA XI 181 (1955/24: Synnada).
The formula in lines 7-9 is a variant on the so-called Eumeneian formula, ἔσται αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, ‘he shall have to reckon with God’: for bibliography, see the commentary to MAMA XI 36 (1954/14). This precise formulation seems not to be attested elsewhere, but the term κρίσις (‘judgement’) frequently appears in funerary maledictions of this kind: see Robert, Hellenica XI-XII, 398-409. A close parallel is found at the neighbouring city of Apameia: Ramsay, Phrygia II 537, no. 394, ἔστε αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν κριτὴν Θεόν. For another new variant on the formula, see also MAMA XI 177 (1955/73: Prymnessos).