previous MAMA XI 285 (Northern Lykaonia) next

Funerary inscription of Mith[radates]

Type of monument:
Funerary inscription.
Location:
Zengicek (Koçyaka) (Northern Lykaonia): in a house-wall.
Description:
Grey marble block, rough-picked at left and above, with shallow sunken panel carrying the inscription. Broken right and behind.
Dimensions:
Ht. 0.67; W. 0.55+; Th. 0.30+; letters 0.030-0.040.
Record:
Line drawing; MB notebook copy; photograph (1956/132).
Publication:
None.
Date:
Roman imperial period.
 
 

hed. Μιθ[ραδάτης (?) ζῶν]
φρονῶ[ν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς]
γονεῦσ[ι μου· ἐκ τῆς γ]-
ῆς γενν[ηθεὶς εἰς γῆν]
5νῦν ἀν[αλύω, τῆς ζοῆς]
ἀποδο̣[ὺς τὸ δάνειον.]
Mith[radates, while living and] in my right mind, (set this up) [for himself and for my] parents. Bo[rn from d]ust, [to dust] I now de[part,] return[ing the loan of life].

The name in line 1 is likely to be either Μίθ[ρης] or Μιθ[ραδάτης]; the latter name is attested on the territory of Perta in MAMA XI 312 (1956/182: Burunkuyu). The inscription is not formulaic, and cannot be restored with certainty. However, lines 3-6 could tentatively be reconstructed on the parallel of a funerary inscription from the nearby city of Savatra: γεννηθεὶς ἀπὸ γῆς ἰς γῆν π[ά]λι νῦν ἀναλύω τὸ ζῆν μου παραδοὺς τῷ δ̣[α]νίσαντι χρόν̣ῳ̣ (MAMA VIII 250: Karadona). The restoration tentatively offered above is constructed on this basis.

For the phrase [τῆς ζοῆς] ἀποδο̣[ὺς τὸ δάνειον], compare IGUR II 626, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀποδοὺς τὸ δάνειον τῆς ζοῆς. For the intransitive ἀναλύω, ‘to depart/die’, cf. LSJ s.v. III.

Illustrations:

MAMA XI 285 (Northern Lykaonia 11: 1956-132)

MAMA XI 285 (Northern Lykaonia 11: 1956-132)

Line drawing of MAMA XI 285 (Northern Lykaonia 11: 1956-132)

Line drawing of MAMA XI 285 (Northern Lykaonia 11: 1956-132)