MAMA XI 324 (Perta) 
Funerary inscription in verse for Balbilla and husband
- Type of monument:
- Funerary inscription in verse.
- Location:
- Mernek (Karakaya) (Perta): in the steps of a house in the lower part of the village.
- Description:
- Greyish-white marble block, broken above, right and behind.
- Dimensions:
- Ht. 0.27+; W. 1.52+; Th. 0.46+; letters 0.035.
- Record:
- Line drawing; MB notebook copy; photograph (1956/139).
- Publication:
- None.
- Date:
- Roman imperial period.
[. c. 3 .]λ̣εω . [. . . . . . c. 12 . . . . . .]ι̣ τ̣ὸν λεγόμενον
γῆ κατέχει γνώμαις ἄξιον ἡμιθέων vac.
καὶ τὴν δάμαρτα τοῦδε Βαλβίλλαν πάνυ
σωφροσύνῃ φι〚λ̣α̣ν̣〛λανδρίᾳ τε Πηνελόπῃ ἴσην.
...the so-called... the earth holds him, a man worthy of the demigods for his intelligence, and his wife Balbilla, entirely equal to Penelope in self-restraint and love for her husband.
Illustrations:
MAMA XI 224 (Perta 19: 1956-139)
Line drawing of MAMA XI 224 (Perta 19: 1956-139)
Line 2 forms an accurate dactylic pentameter, line 3 an accurate iambic trimeter. Τhe loyal wife’s emulation of Penelope is a common theme in verse funerary inscriptions, cf. e.g. IG XII 5, 65 (Peek 1955: 177, no. 693: Naxos, III AD), σωφροσύνης δ᾿ ἀρετῇ παρισουμένην Πηνελοπείῃ. The combination of σωφροσύνη and φιλανδρία is a standard one in prose honorific and funerary inscriptions for women in the Roman imperial period: see e.g. MAMA V 81 (Dorylaion); SEG 37, 1099bis (with SEG 40, 1197: Amorion).
For the name Βάλβιλλα, cf. MAMA XI 332 (1956/177, Giymir: Αὐρ. Βάλβος).