DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15099#0169
]30
from another, even if nothing were allowed for the probability of
an Athenian carver mistaking the orthography of aThracian town.
It should be observed too that the word Byzantium upon coins
frequently reads HY, and that the two towns were not far distant.
This stele is decorated with two disks below the inscription,
the import of which is not clearly apparent. At first sight they
might be supposed to be paterae, symbolical of the sacred rites
performed upon the death of the deceased, but they have not the
exact form of any known object of that description. They have
somewhat of the appearance of the large round Grecian shield,
and may perhaps indicate the profession of the deceased. The
ornament which surmounts this monument varies singularly in
its arrangement from those represented in the last plate; the
component parts are the same in all, but in this object the orna-
ment has been divided into parts, which have been inverted,
and the outward edges turned towards each other; or it may be
described as consisting of the adjoining halves of two separate
ornaments.
Fig. 2. Height 10 in. Width 9 in. Old No. 150. New No. 331.
Is the fragment of a sepulchral stele found near Athens, or-
namented at the top with a block similar in form to those upon
plate XXIX. fig. 1. but sculptured with a butterfly resting upon a
small pile of fruit. On the architrave is inscribed, in letters
of a rather late period, the name MOYSQNIAS, the final 2 being
nearly obliterated. Upon the proper face of the stele are remain-
ing the letters N£2N; the word following has been entirely and pur-
posely cut out; then follows ONTOS TAP, and all these letters
are well cut, and of the usual form of a period anterior to those of
the name already mentioned ; so that it may be doubted whether
the person named Musonia was at all referred to originally upon
the stone, and whether that name has not been substituted at a
later period for the one obliterated. It may however be observed
from another, even if nothing were allowed for the probability of
an Athenian carver mistaking the orthography of aThracian town.
It should be observed too that the word Byzantium upon coins
frequently reads HY, and that the two towns were not far distant.
This stele is decorated with two disks below the inscription,
the import of which is not clearly apparent. At first sight they
might be supposed to be paterae, symbolical of the sacred rites
performed upon the death of the deceased, but they have not the
exact form of any known object of that description. They have
somewhat of the appearance of the large round Grecian shield,
and may perhaps indicate the profession of the deceased. The
ornament which surmounts this monument varies singularly in
its arrangement from those represented in the last plate; the
component parts are the same in all, but in this object the orna-
ment has been divided into parts, which have been inverted,
and the outward edges turned towards each other; or it may be
described as consisting of the adjoining halves of two separate
ornaments.
Fig. 2. Height 10 in. Width 9 in. Old No. 150. New No. 331.
Is the fragment of a sepulchral stele found near Athens, or-
namented at the top with a block similar in form to those upon
plate XXIX. fig. 1. but sculptured with a butterfly resting upon a
small pile of fruit. On the architrave is inscribed, in letters
of a rather late period, the name MOYSQNIAS, the final 2 being
nearly obliterated. Upon the proper face of the stele are remain-
ing the letters N£2N; the word following has been entirely and pur-
posely cut out; then follows ONTOS TAP, and all these letters
are well cut, and of the usual form of a period anterior to those of
the name already mentioned ; so that it may be doubted whether
the person named Musonia was at all referred to originally upon
the stone, and whether that name has not been substituted at a
later period for the one obliterated. It may however be observed