[ἐνθάδε κεῖ]μαι
Ζήσα[ς ἐν θνητοῖσι] κύκλους πισύρω[ν λυκ]αβάντων
καὶ μήνης ἱερᾶς ἓξ ἐπὶ τοῖσι κύκλους·
ἀλλ ̓ ἔτι νηπίαχόν με Τύχη κατεθήκατο μήτηρ
τῷδ ̓ ἐνὶ λαϊνέῳ τυμβῷ, μέγα πένθος ἔχουσα
[ENTHADE KEI]MAI
ZESA[S EN THNETOISI] KYKLOUS PISYRO[N LYK]ABANTON
KAI MENES HIER[A]S HEX EPI TOISI KYKLOUS
ALL ETI NEPIACHON ME TYCHE KATETHEKATO METER
TOID ENI LAINEOI TUMBOI MEGA PENTHOS ECHOUSA
Translation
HERE I LIE
HAVING LIVED AMONG MORTALS DURING THE CYCLES OF FOUR YEARS
AND IN ADDITION TO THEM SIX CYCLES OF THE HOLY MOON
BUT WHILE I WAS STILL A CHILD MY MOTHER TYCHE LAID ME
IN THIS STONE TOMB SUFFERING GREAT GRIEF
Description
This dedication has been written in a lyric poetry form. After the first two words there follow an elegiac couplet (hexameter and pentameter) and then two hexameters.
Funerary epitaph for the unnamed son of Tyche
Italy, AD 1-400, found on the Via Latina, south-east of Rome, 1800-1857
formerly in the collection of Giambattista Guidi, acquired by Sir Charles Nicholson in Rome, Italy, 1857-58, donated 1860
NMR.1090
