Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Abstract:

This article offers a new account of the funerary stele of the Phoenician Shem/Antipatros (IG II2 8388, CEG 596). Following early symbolic readings of the monument, it adopts a comparative approach in order to explain the difficult symbolism of the relief, as well as the obscure expressions of the Greek epigram, by considering their likely Semitic (and more widely Near Eastern) background. In particular, the article offers the first full commentary on the epigram, the two hapax legomena of which (ε{ἰ}χθρολέων and σποράσαι, line 3) may be better understood by assuming that they represent Greek adaptations of Semitic expressions.