DOI article:
Hussey, George B.: Greek sculptured crowns and crown inscriptions
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8678#0164
GREEK CROWSS AND CROWN INSCRIPTIONS,
HO
Be Bos, n, 1338. When a crown-inscription consists of a noun in
the dative case, it is naturally to be understood of the receiver. The
few cases that occur are late and for the most part from near the out-
skirts of Greek civilization : <j-TpaTr\yy]\(javTi, C.I.G., 2097 (Tauric
Chersonese), 5053 (Nubia), Bull, de corr. hellen., xn, 483 (Phrygia),
C.I. G., 3614 (Troad). These irregular nominatives and datives show
that the original function of the crown-inscription is becoming ob-
scured. In a small class of equally late inscriptions, the words within
the crown lose still more their proper function of explaining the crown
to which they belong. Thus, in C.I.A., m, 1177 (pl. x-4a, b), the
lines of the crown-inscription are to be read across from one crown to
the other. In Mittheil., m, 144 (pl. x-6a), one of the crowns con-
tains a date. Bull, de corr. hellen., vn, 132 gives a case where the
last two words of the phrase vea>Kopo<; \ tov 'A|7ro\Xja>z>o9 are inclosed
in a wreath. Perhaps the most peculiar case of irrelevancy in a crown-
inscription is Le Bos, iii, 722. In this, a sepulchral inscription from
Asia Minor, the lines of the text run across the crown and lie also on
both sides of it, so that the sentence, o? av dvvgei, drfaei | et? to raplov
Brjvdp\ia %t'A,fa, has the words dvv^et, raplov and the letters -Xia in-
closed within the crown.
Crown-inscriptions in which a word is divided next call for notice.
This division of words has a somewhat close relation with the ratio
between the size of the crown and the size of the inclosed letters. For,
where a word is placed in an inclosed space, the number of lines it
occupies must largely be controlled by the size of its letters, and by
the amount of space in which it can extend itself. Consequently, when
the ratio, considered above, shows a tendency to decrease, the number
of divided words ought at the same time to increase. From the last
column of the dated crowns of table ii, it can be seen that before
200 b. c. the division of a word is merely sporadic. During the last
two centuries before our era it shows considerable increase, and under
the Roman Empire becomes almost an established rule. Among the
classes of sigma, the frequency of divided words is as follows: 65
crown-inscriptions of the S class give 9 with divided words, 95 of
the 2 class give 49, and 17 of the C class give 13; making 14,
52, and 76 per cent, respectively for the three s^ma-classes. In
these instances of the division of a word, the general rules for the
separation of syllables in Greek are pretty strictly followed. A single
consonant (including a mute + a liquid) goes with the following vowel,
HO
Be Bos, n, 1338. When a crown-inscription consists of a noun in
the dative case, it is naturally to be understood of the receiver. The
few cases that occur are late and for the most part from near the out-
skirts of Greek civilization : <j-TpaTr\yy]\(javTi, C.I.G., 2097 (Tauric
Chersonese), 5053 (Nubia), Bull, de corr. hellen., xn, 483 (Phrygia),
C.I. G., 3614 (Troad). These irregular nominatives and datives show
that the original function of the crown-inscription is becoming ob-
scured. In a small class of equally late inscriptions, the words within
the crown lose still more their proper function of explaining the crown
to which they belong. Thus, in C.I.A., m, 1177 (pl. x-4a, b), the
lines of the crown-inscription are to be read across from one crown to
the other. In Mittheil., m, 144 (pl. x-6a), one of the crowns con-
tains a date. Bull, de corr. hellen., vn, 132 gives a case where the
last two words of the phrase vea>Kopo<; \ tov 'A|7ro\Xja>z>o9 are inclosed
in a wreath. Perhaps the most peculiar case of irrelevancy in a crown-
inscription is Le Bos, iii, 722. In this, a sepulchral inscription from
Asia Minor, the lines of the text run across the crown and lie also on
both sides of it, so that the sentence, o? av dvvgei, drfaei | et? to raplov
Brjvdp\ia %t'A,fa, has the words dvv^et, raplov and the letters -Xia in-
closed within the crown.
Crown-inscriptions in which a word is divided next call for notice.
This division of words has a somewhat close relation with the ratio
between the size of the crown and the size of the inclosed letters. For,
where a word is placed in an inclosed space, the number of lines it
occupies must largely be controlled by the size of its letters, and by
the amount of space in which it can extend itself. Consequently, when
the ratio, considered above, shows a tendency to decrease, the number
of divided words ought at the same time to increase. From the last
column of the dated crowns of table ii, it can be seen that before
200 b. c. the division of a word is merely sporadic. During the last
two centuries before our era it shows considerable increase, and under
the Roman Empire becomes almost an established rule. Among the
classes of sigma, the frequency of divided words is as follows: 65
crown-inscriptions of the S class give 9 with divided words, 95 of
the 2 class give 49, and 17 of the C class give 13; making 14,
52, and 76 per cent, respectively for the three s^ma-classes. In
these instances of the division of a word, the general rules for the
separation of syllables in Greek are pretty strictly followed. A single
consonant (including a mute + a liquid) goes with the following vowel,