MAMA XI 116 (Akmoneia) 
Funerary doorstone of Zotion
- Type of monument:
- Funerary doorstone.
- Location:
- Ahat (Akmoneia): in a lane beyond the bridge, at the foot of the acropolis.
- Description:
- Marble doorstone (Waelkens 1986: 162, Typ C Akmonia 1). Twin door with four large panels; between upper and lower panels, a pair of small panels with concave sides. In upper right panel, key-hole; in lower right panel, door-knocker; upper and lower left panels blank. Ivy-scroll pilasters to right and left. Frame above the door, beveled below. Archivolt with three fascias (outer fascia beveled below); in the tympanum, bevel, round knife, and awl. Inscription on the middle fascia of the archivolt, continuing onto the tympanum and the frame above the door.
- Dimensions:
- Ht. 0.85 (doors 0.49); W. 0.73 (doors 0.45); Th. 0.25; letters 0.012-0.025.
- Record:
- MB notebook copy; photograph (1955/103).
- Publication:
- None.
- Date:
- c. AD 175-250 (doorstone type)
Πέδιος Τερκουᾶτος Ζωτ̣ί̣ωνι ἀδελφῷ μνήμη|ς
χάριν
εἴ τις αὐτὸ ἄρῃ, πενθήσετο τοὺς ἰδίους.
Pedius Torquatus, for his brother Zotion, in memoriam. If anyone moves it (the tombstone), may he mourn his family.
Illustrations:
Photograph of MAMA XI 116 (Akmoneia 18: 1955-103)
Drawing of MAMA XI 116 (Akmoneia 18: 1955-103)
The gentilician Pedius is extremely rare; a certain Pedia Secunda is attested as a mint-magistrate at Eukarpeia in the Pentapolis during the reign of Hadrian (BMC Phrygia 203-4, nos. 1-5; 206, no. 15; Coll. Wadd. 5987, 5989, 5994; SNG Von Aulock 3575; SNG Cop. [Phrygia] 369). For the spelling Τερκουᾶτος, compare MAMA IX 187 (Aizanoi); Robert 1969: 300, no. 12 (Laodikeian delegation to Claros). The tools depicted in the pediment suggest that Zotion was a leather-worker (σκυτότομος).
The curse formula does not seem to be paralleled elsewhere. For the phrase εἴ τις αὐτὸ ἄρῃ (‘if anyone moves it’, with ἄν omitted), compare e.g. SEG 34, 1231 (near Saittai), ὃς ἂν τοῦτο ἄρῃ ἢ κατεάξῃ; I.Kyzikos I 192, ὃς ἂν τοῦτο ἄρῃ, πάθοιτο πᾶν κακόν. I assume that πενθήσετο represents πενθήσαιτο, ‘may he mourn’; for the prevalence of the aorist optative middle in funerary imprecations, see Robert, OMS V 711.