Amathus bilingual
The Amathus bilingual was an inscription on black marble from ancient Cyprus.
It features a bilingual dedication inscribed in both Eteocypriot and Greek. Discovered and published in 1914 by Ernst Sittig, the inscription has been important to the decipherment of Eteocypriot, thought to be related to Luwian. The monument was lost during its transport to the United States.
The inscription is thought to date to shortly after the expulsion of Amathus’s last king, Androkles, around 312–311 BCE.
Discovery and Provenance
[edit]Ernst Sittig discovered the inscription in an antique shop in Limassol, in the region of ancient Amathus. The inscription is engraved on a slab of black marble, broken into two parts. After its publication with photographs in 1914, the artifact was lost — possibly during transport to America, as later suggested by Sittig in correspondence with Olivier Masson.
Description
[edit]The Greek text is inscribed in two lines and reads:
Ἡ πόλις ἡ Ἀµαθουσίων
Ἀρίστωνα Ἀριστώνακτος εὐπατρίδην
Translation: "The city of the Amathusians (has dedicated) the (statue of) Ariston, son of Aristonax, of noble birth."
The Eteocypriot text is written above the Greek, in a different script, in retrograde direction and smaller lettering. Though longer, it broadly conveys the same message.
a na | ma to ri | u mi e | sa i mu ku la i la sa na | a ri si to no se | a ra to va na ka so ko o se ke ra ke re tu lo se ta ka | na o mu so ti | a lo | ka i li po ti
Translation: “Under the authority of the town of the Amathusians, I, Ariston, son of Aristonax, of noble birth, have dedicated (the memorial for) the victorious army.”
The Eteocypriot version uses a-ri-si-to-no-se and a-ra-to-wa-na-ka-so-ko-o-se to correspond to the Greek personal name Ariston Aristonaktos.
The appositive phrase ke-ra-ke-re-tu-lo-se likely corresponds to Greek εὐπατρίδην (“of noble birth”).
A possible “damnation formula” appears at the end of the text, characterized by third-person present/future verb endings in -ti.
Bibliography
[edit]- Sittig, Ernst. "Ἀμαθοῦντος δίγλωσσος ἐπιγραφή." Ἀρχαιολογικὴ Ἐφημερίς (1914): 1–2.
- Masson, Olivier. Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques. Paris, 1983.
- Woudhuizen, Fred C. "The Amathus Bilingual Inscription." In: De Hattuša à Memphis, Cahiers Kubaba, Paris, 2012, pp. 193–199.