Lemnos stele

From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
Message: 5491
Date: 2001-01-14

It's not a whole lot of work to give the complete text of the Lemnos
stele, so here it is:


B [On the side]
1 holaie$i:phokiasiale:$eronaith:evistho:toverona (R->L, upside down)
2 rom:haralio:$ivai:epte$io:arai:ti$:phoke: (L->R)
3 $ivai:avi$:sialchvi$:mara$m:avi$:aomai (R->L)

A-I [On the front, left]
1 vanalasial:$eronai:morinail (down->up)
2 aker:tavar$io (down->up)

A-II [center]
1 $ivai (L->R)
2 evistho:$eronaith (R->L, above 1)
3 sialchvei$:avi$ (L->R, above 2)
4 mara$:mav (R->L, above 3)
5 $ia$i: (R->L, above 4)

A-III [right]
holaie$:naphoth (down->up)

(It's possible that A-II:1, $ivai, belongs with A-I, and A-II:5,
$ia$i, belongs with A-III)

<holaie-> is probably a name (cf. Grk. Kolaios the Samian who went to
Tartessos in Herodotus 4.152.1).
<phokia-> is probably Phocaea.
<$eronai-> might be a placename on Lemnos.
<evistho> a title/magistrature?
<toverona[rom]> cf. <tavar$io> ?
<$ivai> a name? (cf. ENETE: PAR SIPHAI on the Psychro stone).
<phoke> Phocaea?
<avi$> cf. Etr. avil-s "[at the] age"?
<sialchv(e)i$> cf. Etr. sealch(s) "[of] 60"(?)
<mara$m>, the -m might be a suffix: "and", or "minus" (cf. Etr. <ci-em
zathrum> "minus-3 20 = 17", <mara(s)> must then be a number, but Etr.
<mach> "5" (<muv-alch> "50") doesn't convince. <mara$:mav> = <mara$-m
av[i$]>?
<morina->, a placename on Lemnos (Murina).
<naphoth> may be compared to Etr. <neft$>, PIE *<nepot->.

The sense is not very clear. A man called $ivai ruled(?) $erona(?)
and Murina (for?) Holaie the Phocaean (?) whose <naphoth> he was ....
and died at age 65(??).

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...