L'Africa romana - UnissResearch - Università degli Studi di Sassari

118 Fadel Ali Mohamed - Joyce Reynolds
kal and, perhaps, Annikeris. Some of these names surely entered the
Greek onomastic repertoire as a result of marriages between Greeks and
Libyans 9 • Others may have resulted from the practice among high-status
Greeks of naming sons after foreigners with whom they had formed guestfriendshipslO.
Either way these Libyan names show that despite intermittent
tensions there were often amicable relationships between the leaders
of Cyrenaican Greek society and those of the Libyans; we may posit similar
relationships at all sociallevels, and probably an increasing degree
of intermarriage and of cultural interchange during the Hellenistic and
especially the Roman periods. At Cyrene itself the presence of Libyan
names is dear but not as extensive as e.g. at Ptolemais and Taucheira;
but there is other relevant evidence notably in the funerary portraiture ll ,
as in the minor example illustrated by our new inscription no. 1, for what
are generally held to be the Libyan features of many Cyrenaican faces.
In the country districts a type of stele with more or less schematic representation
of a human head was identified recent1y as probably Libyan l2 ;
we add a new example of this type from Kharsa (ancient Chersis) near
Derna (new inscription no. 2). Finally we offer the evidence of three new
texts (new inscriptions no. 3-5), probably all from the same rock-cut tomb
near Messa (ancient name controversial), a rural site in the territory of
Cyrene. These list several deceased members of a family in which the
Libyan name Aialas figures significant1y often, alongside Greek names
which are most of them standard names in the area, but in the use of
which there is some sign of imperfect control of Greek grammar. We
take this to be yet another pointer to the conclusion that in the Hellenistic
and Roman periods the population of Cyrenaica was a genuine ethnic
and cultural mixture in which the Libyan element was an important
factor.
Addendum. Dr. Fadel Ali brought to the colloquium a copy of a very
recent1y discovered inscription probably from the tomb of an immigrant
family. We publish it here as new inscription no. 6 to show how much
9 Cf. MASSON, cito n. 6, on the implications of the marriage of Archidamus and a
Libyan princess, PINDAR, Pyth. IX, 106.
IO See G. HERMAN, Patterns of Name Diffusion within the Greek World and beyond,
«Classical Quarterly», 40, 1990, pp. 349-363.
11 Cf. E. ROSENBAUM, Cyrenaican Portrait Sculpture, London, 1960, pp. 13-28.
12 J. REYNOLDS, L. BACCHIELLI, Catalogo delle stele funerarie antropomorfe, «QAL»,
12, 1987, pp. 489-522.
Some New Inscriptions from Cyrenaica 119
more complex in origin was the population of Roman Cyrenaica than
used to be assumed.
New inscriptions
1. White marble stele incorporating the bust of a young male (width 0.34
x height 0.96 x depth 0.34) inscribed on one face, which is damaged on
both sides. Found in the area of Cyrene; now i·n Cyrene Museum. Plate I
Letters, probably I cent. AD: 0.025; square sigma (C-); L for È'trov.
Fadel Ali and Reynolds, forthcoming in «Libya Antiqua».
[? ... ] BUA11ç BaAEv
vacat 'toç (È'trov) l' vacat
Valens son of Valens
Aged lO years
The hairstyle of the portrait is consonant with a date in the second
half of the first century AD.
The name common to father and son is, of course, transliterated
Latin (such names are fairly common in roman Cyrene); but the style
of the portrait is greek, while the features suggest a libyan element in
the family. We seem to see anice combination of three cultures in this
boy and his memorial.
2. Limestone stele with rudimentary head above (width 0.25 x height 0.36)
inscribed on one face. Found at Kharsa (ancient Chersis); now in Derna
Museum. Plate II
Letters, very irregular, 0.02-0.04; lunate epsilon except in l. 4, sigma
and omega; probably L for È'trov, with superscript bar.
È'trov ?year
vacat yv' 53
'Iaarov Jason