DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4945#0136
Silver. 125
It may be said here, once for all, that the photographs are unsafe
guides in the corroded spaces of this inscription, and that it is only on the
plate itself that one can judge whether a line or mark has been really
incised. In the present space the photograph certainly seems to show,
after the breakage, (1) alpha with an upright crossing its right-hand angle ;
(2) the cross-stroke of the alpha continuing to meet a second upright, and
making Dr. Keifs eta; (3) a kappa, which is larger than it ought to be
and of confused outline in the lower part. From close study of the plate,
however, I am convinced that the only parts due to the engraver are the
right-hand upright of the eta and the higher part of the upright and lower
oblique stroke of the kappa. The former character should therefore be
iota, and the latter is more likely to be R than k.
1. 6. Five or six letters lost at the beginning, together with ten or more lost
at the end of 1. 5, leave room for considerable restoration. I shall make
a suggestion later, and give also a different one of Dr. Keil's. The latter
half of the line is hopelessly corroded.
1. 7. So far as I can see there is nothing before SeWa ; and I believe there
never was anything except a punctuation mark after aA.09.
Face B.
This face, which was the outer one, as the crumpled plate lay in the
dSris, is, unfortunately, in worse condition, and has been less carefully
engraved, several mistakes having been made in the process, and, in
most cases, corrected without more than perfunctory obliteration of the
first hand. These pentimenti make parts of 11. 2, 3 particularly hard to
read. The underlying characters are omitted in the facsimile for the sake
of clearness.
1. 1. The first group of letters is too doubtful to admit of any very probable
restoration. In the latter half of the line, kkttoa]Opat[Oc is a reasonable,
but not certain, restoration on the analogy of A. 3.
1. 2. In the obscure first part, which precedes -[ivr\io k.t.X., about twenty-
three letters occurred. The indications, which I can discern, are given
in the facsimile. Dr. Keil, reading from the photograph, differs from me
on all of these indications except the m, and he restores apy~]vpo (though
he reads o) [e/SSoJ/xrf<p[ojufa ^/zij/^io. But the letters £IN are quite clear
on the original plate, and there is certainly a round letter next but one
before the sigma. The three final letters of 77/^1/^7710 are a secunda manu.
The engraver seems originally to have inscribed ah.
It may be said here, once for all, that the photographs are unsafe
guides in the corroded spaces of this inscription, and that it is only on the
plate itself that one can judge whether a line or mark has been really
incised. In the present space the photograph certainly seems to show,
after the breakage, (1) alpha with an upright crossing its right-hand angle ;
(2) the cross-stroke of the alpha continuing to meet a second upright, and
making Dr. Keifs eta; (3) a kappa, which is larger than it ought to be
and of confused outline in the lower part. From close study of the plate,
however, I am convinced that the only parts due to the engraver are the
right-hand upright of the eta and the higher part of the upright and lower
oblique stroke of the kappa. The former character should therefore be
iota, and the latter is more likely to be R than k.
1. 6. Five or six letters lost at the beginning, together with ten or more lost
at the end of 1. 5, leave room for considerable restoration. I shall make
a suggestion later, and give also a different one of Dr. Keil's. The latter
half of the line is hopelessly corroded.
1. 7. So far as I can see there is nothing before SeWa ; and I believe there
never was anything except a punctuation mark after aA.09.
Face B.
This face, which was the outer one, as the crumpled plate lay in the
dSris, is, unfortunately, in worse condition, and has been less carefully
engraved, several mistakes having been made in the process, and, in
most cases, corrected without more than perfunctory obliteration of the
first hand. These pentimenti make parts of 11. 2, 3 particularly hard to
read. The underlying characters are omitted in the facsimile for the sake
of clearness.
1. 1. The first group of letters is too doubtful to admit of any very probable
restoration. In the latter half of the line, kkttoa]Opat[Oc is a reasonable,
but not certain, restoration on the analogy of A. 3.
1. 2. In the obscure first part, which precedes -[ivr\io k.t.X., about twenty-
three letters occurred. The indications, which I can discern, are given
in the facsimile. Dr. Keil, reading from the photograph, differs from me
on all of these indications except the m, and he restores apy~]vpo (though
he reads o) [e/SSoJ/xrf<p[ojufa ^/zij/^io. But the letters £IN are quite clear
on the original plate, and there is certainly a round letter next but one
before the sigma. The three final letters of 77/^1/^7710 are a secunda manu.
The engraver seems originally to have inscribed ah.