11-12. Two Greek Memorials
(11) ‘Epagathus, good and blameless, farewell! He lived 70 years.’
Ἐπάγαθε | χρηστὲ | καὶ ἄμεμ- | πτε, χαῖρε | [ἔζη ἔ]τη ο’
This memorial stone has been roughly squared and the surface prepared for the inscription by chiseling. The letters are fairly well cut but poorly formed and there is extensive damage to the final line. Many inscriptions with similar wording have been recorded in the Inscriptiones Graecae from southern Italy. Greek colonies were established in Sicily from the archaic period and the Greek language remained prominent there, even after its incorporation into the Roman Empire. Epagathus’ name means ‘good.’
(12) ‘Naevia Chrysis, good and blameless. She lived 80 years, 2 months, 10 days.’
Ναιβία Χρυσὶ(ς) | χρηστὰ καὶ ἄ- | μεμπτος | ἔζησε ἔτη π’ | μῆνες β’ ἡμέ- | ραις ι’
Like the inscription for Epagathus, this memorial is roughly hewn from limestone and crudely carved. Evidence for the surface’s preparation is still visible in faint striations along the sides of the inscription. The two memorial inscriptions are so similar in form and wording that they must come from the same cemetery. The text itself is almost identical to that of Epagathus, describing the deceased as ‘good and blameless’ and listing her age, here with much more detail than the previous example. Her name is a combination of Latin and Greek. Ναιβία is the Hellenised version of Naevia, a Roman gens, probably indicating that this woman was an ex-slave of a member of this family. Like the Latin memorial for Gavia, above, Chrysis is Greek for ‘golden’ and was a common slave-name. The stone is decorated with two vine leaves, at the ends of the first and last lines.