Good evening,
I was at an ancient history museum abroad and while there I saw a very interesting 12" long x 8" high x 2" thick marble slab. According to the museum it was a 3rd century (or so) Hellenistic storefront sign for a business that sold oil lamps. I was not allowed to take a picture, but I did write down the inscription on the marble. It was two lines of text, like this:
ΑΦΝΑΕΙΦΩΣΦΟΡΩ
ΛΑΜΓΩΝΓΑΕΙΤΟΣ
In the second line, it is possible that either the first or the second gamma (or both) identified above are a Pi.
I wrote the letters exactly as they appear, but keep in mind, the words were not separated by spaces to make it easier.
Some people think that it translates to:
ΑΦΝΑΕΙΦΩΣΦΟΡΩ
"[person's name] the light-bringer"
ΛΑΜΓ(or Pi)ΩΝΓ(or Pi)ΑΕΙΤΟΣ
"maker of lamps."
I am happy to hear your thoughts!
Help with ancient Greek transcription!
-
- Textkit Neophyte
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:16 pm
-
- Administrator
- Posts: 2744
- Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2011 1:51 pm
- Location: ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως λίθος, London, Europe
- Contact:
Re: Help with ancient Greek transcription!
This post got lost when there was a hiatus in the moderation of new posts - sorry.DitrasetMan wrote:Good evening,
I was at an ancient history museum abroad and while there I saw a very interesting 12" long x 8" high x 2" thick marble slab. According to the museum it was a 3rd century (or so) Hellenistic storefront sign for a business that sold oil lamps. I was not allowed to take a picture, but I did write down the inscription on the marble. It was two lines of text, like this:
ΑΦΝΑΕΙΦΩΣΦΟΡΩ
ΛΑΜΓΩΝΓΑΕΙΤΟΣ
In the second line, it is possible that either the first or the second gamma (or both) identified above are a Pi.
I wrote the letters exactly as they appear, but keep in mind, the words were not separated by spaces to make it easier.
Some people think that it translates to:
ΑΦΝΑΕΙΦΩΣΦΟΡΩ
"[person's name] the light-bringer"
ΛΑΜΓ(or Pi)ΩΝΓ(or Pi)ΑΕΙΤΟΣ
"maker of lamps."
I am happy to hear your thoughts!
I do wonder if it could be λαμπρότατος ie most radiant.
λονδον
- jeidsath
- Textkit Zealot
- Posts: 5332
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:42 pm
- Location: Γαλεήπολις, Οὐισκόνσιν
Re: Help with ancient Greek transcription!
I think it wound up getting posted under a new user account: http://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-foru ... =2&t=64049
“One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato." "In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.”
Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com
Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com