Greek Inscriptions from Egypt

Extract

The inscriptions here published are for the most part in the Ghizeh Museum, where I copied them last year when assisting in the preparation of the catalogue of the Graeco-Roman rooms. They do not appear to have been edited previously, and offer some points of interest. The numbers given are those of the new catalogue.

The inscription is on a columnar statue-base of limestone ·88 metres high and ·53 in diameter, one side having been cut flat to receive it; the remainder of the surface is decorated with acanthus leaves. The letters are, in the first seven lines, ·026–·031 high: in the rest, ·015–·02. Date: 181, June 25th.

The stone was seen by Dr. Petrie about 1886 lying at Sakha (Xois), where he copied it, and appears to have been removed to the Museum three or four years ago. It is quoted by S. de Ricci in Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. 1900, vol. xxii. p. 381.

The name of Commodus has been deliberately erased in 1. 5, every vestige of the letters being cut away. A similar erasure has taken place of the name of the prefect in l. 15, but the work has been much less thoroughly done there, by merely digging a line through the letters. The traces which remain are, however, insufficient to make the restoration of the name possible. The nearest in date of the known prefects is Flavius Pris[cus], mentioned in a Berlin papyrus of the year 181/2: but his name will not suit.