MAMA XI 320 (Perta)

Funerary stele of Agathangelos, with curse formula

Type of monument:: Funerary stele.
Location:: Giymir (Perta): in the wall of a house.
Description:: Coarse grey marble stele, broken into two parts. Inscription in recessed panel, with incised crescent (?) and vine-leaf below. Upper fragment (a) broken above, cut off at left, broken below; lower fragment (b) broken above, cut off at left.
Dimensions:: (a) Ht. 0.54+; W. 0.44+; Th. --; letters 0.025-0.032. (b) Ht. 0.70+; W. 0.44+; Th. 0.20; letters 0.028-0.035.
Record:: (a) Squeeze; line drawing; MB notebook copy (1956/176). (b) Squeeze; line drawing; MB notebook copy; photograph (1956/176a).
Publication:: None.
Date:: Roman imperial period.

Ἀγαθάνγελως
Π̣ασικράτωυς τει-
μ̣ῆς χάριν ἐποί-
η̣σεν ἑαυτωῦ καὶ
5[γ]υναικὼς Λαΐδος
hed.
ὃς δὲ ἂν κακὴν
[χ]εῖρα προσενέν-
[κ]ῃ̣, ἕξει Μῆνας κα-
[τ]α̣χθ[ονίους κε]-
10[χ]ολωμέ̣νου̣ς̣.

Agathangelos, son of Pasikrates, made this for the sake of honour, both of himself and his wife Laïs. Whoever lays an evil hand on it, he shall find the Mens of the underworld angered.

The mason regularly confused the letters omicron and omega (lines 1, 2, 4, 5). For the curse-formula in lines 8-10, compare MAMA XI 319 (1956/160: Küçük Boruk [Yenikuyu]). For the name Pasikrates at Perta, see the commentary to MAMA XI 323 (1956/174).

The funerary formula in lines 1-5 (ὁ δεῖνα τειμῆς χάριν ἐποίησεν τοῦ δεῖνα) is highly unusual. The verb τιμᾶν is regularly used in Lydian and Phrygian epitaphs (Robert, OMS II, 1344-6), and the formula τειμῆς χάριν is occasionally found in southern Lykaonia (Laminger-Pascher 1992: 37, no. 16; 45-7, nos. 39, 41, 44; 168, no. 254) and in Phrygia (MAMA IV 262; MAMA X 202).