An Unpublished Epigram in Oxford

Extract

In the Sculpture Gallery of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is exhibited an inscribed tombstone, bearing the following description: “Tombstone of Demetrios from Smyrna. Late Hellenistic or early Imperial period. Smoke-discoloured marble. Presented by J. W. Burgon, 1858.” As this has remained, to the best of my knowledge, unpublished, I sought the permission of the Keeper of the Museum, Mr. E. Thurlow Leeds, to publish it: I am grateful to him for his ready acquiescence. While I was engaged in studying the inscription and a squeeze of it actually lay on my table, I received from Freiherr F. Hiller von Gaertringen a letter asking whether I could trace the inscription referred to in a slip, now in the possession of the Prussian Academy, bearing, in the handwriting of August Boeckh, a copy of the text together with the following note: “Auf einem Grabstein von Athen, im Besitz des Herrn Burgon. Über die Inschrift ein Basrelief. Eine sitzende männliche Figur, deren Oberteil abgebrochen ist, in dem Sessel eine kleine, wunderlich gestaltete männliche Figur. Vor den Sitzenden zwei weibliche Figuren. Die Inschrift: [here follows a copy of the text]. Forchhammer versichert diese letzte Inschrift genau gelesen zu haben. Von Forchhammer durch [K.O.] Müller in England copirt.” Upon learning that the stone is now in the Ashmolean Collection, Freiherr von Hiller, with characteristic generosity, waived in my favour his claim to publish the inscription. He has also kindly read this article in manuscript.