Description
Plain white marble block, broken above, left, and below; complete at right.
Commentary
The editio princeps of this inscription (Drew-Bear 1978, IV 7) was based on an inferior copy of the stone, with incorrect readings in lines 1, 3, and 11. Although Drew-Bear left the text unrestored, he suggested several restorations in his commentary, most of which should be rejected (line 2, ποιησαμένων; line 3, σπεῖρας ἕως; lines 4-5, χρησαμένων; lines 7-8, ἄρχοντος; lines 8-9, εὐεργέτου; line 9, τῆς πόλεως). The monument appears to be a statue base in honour of a certain ... Rufus (line 7), the funding for which was met by his two natural sons (lines 9-10) and the local civic strategos (or perhaps ‘first strategos’: see the commentary to [MAMA XI 26] [Barnett 1954/1]). The approximate line-length (c. 10-11 letters missing at left) is provided by the standard formula in lines 5-6, τῆς κατασκευῆς |καὶ ἀναστάσεως τοῦ ἀνδρ|ιάντος. Lines 3-5 are non-formulaic, and my restoration is intended merely to capture the sense; the restoration in line 3 seems rather too short.