900. Funerary inscription of M. Fydel and F. Thesylgum
- Description:
- Block of limestone originally placed above the door of the second mausoleum in the group nearest the habitations.
- Text:
- Inscribed on one face within a tabella ansata (surviving w: 0.835 x h: 0.38) with plain raised border. Outside the border, on each of the four sides, were two simply moulded volutes.
- Letters:
- Rough capitals, l. 1, 0.03; l. 2, 0.025; ll. 3-5, 0.03; ll. 6-10, 0.025.
- Date:
- Fourth century A.D. (coinage)
- Findspot:
- Wadi Zemzem: Ghirza (map ref. W 7052), near 901, 902. Seen and described by Denham and Clapperton in 1824 beside one of the mausolea at Ghirza. Goodchild identifies the mausoleum as that illustrated by De Mathuisieulx, Nouvelles Archives, XII (1904) pl. VII. The left-hand part was later removed to Istanbul; the right-hand part was rediscovered at Ghirza in 1952 by Prof. E. Vergara.
- Original Location:
- Unknown
- Last recorded location:
- Right-hand part in Tripoli Castle; left-hand part remains inaccessible in the vaults of the Cinili Kösk, Istanbul.
- Bibliography:
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, VIII:22661=10970=III:743. This edition taken from J. M. Reynolds and J. B. Ward-Perkins, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, Rome: British School at Rome, 1952; including revisions from J. M. Reynolds, 'Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: A Supplement', Proceedings of the British School at Rome 23 (1955), 124-147
- Text constituted from:
- Previous publications and transcription (Reynolds, Ward-Perkins)
pater et mater M stop Metusanis
(sic) qui eis hec memoriam fecit
discussi ratiocinio ad ea erog-
5atum est sumptos mercedes
(sic) in numo follis ṃ[·· c. 7··] milia
(sic) preter cibarias o[perant]ibus
feliciter legan[t et] uissite-
nt filos et nepotes meos
10 et tales faciant
8, uissitent: sic:
Translation:
Marchius Fydel and Flavia Thesylgum, father and mother of Marchius Metusan who had this memorial made for them, and have reckoned that there was spent on this, in coin [·· ? ··] thousand folles, and in addition the food for the workmen. May my sons and grandsons read (this) in good fortune and build others like it.
Commentary:
The text of ll. 4-10 may be restored, by comparison with 898:
The names are Libyan; for Fydel see also 899, at Ghirza. For Thesylgum it would be possible to read Thefylgum, neither form being otherwise attested. M. and F. are presumably abbreviations for Marchius, as in 898 and 899, and for Flauia.
The reference to folles shows that the date cannot be earlier than the reign of Diocletian. the mising word may perhaps be ṇ[onaginta].
The text is closely related in form and content to 898, and the ornament on the two stones is also very similar; but, since the workmanship of this one is of rather better quality, it is likely to be the earlier of the two. This accords also with the position of the mausoleum in the group.
- Photographs:
- none.
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