We dedicate this article to Professor Benjamin Isaac, a friend and a colleague of many years. This article started its life at a conference held in his honour at Tel Aviv University on the occasion of his retirement. It was during that conference that Professor Angelos Chaniotis saved us from an egregious mistake and made us change the entire interpretation of the inscription discussed here. We wish to thank Avshalom Karasik (The National Laboratory for Digital Documentation, Israel Antiquities Authority) for the image produced using D.o.R. technique (= Drawing over Reliefs), which greatly helped in verifying the readings on the stone. On the technique see Gilboa, Tal, Shimshoni, Kolomenkin (2013). Last but not least we thank Yael Yolovitch of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ofer Pogorelsky of the Hebrew University for their kindness and assistance.

2The inscribed marble gable published here for the first time was found some twenty five years ago in the course of construction work northeast of the ancient city center of Ascalon (approximate map ref. 158206/619464), in the necropolis, about 700 meters outside the modern city of Ascalon. It disappeared shortly after its discovery, but recently it has resurfaced and reached the Israel Antiquities Authority. It is now on display at the Rockefeller Museum, in Jerusalem.

3The gable, of the Syrian type, is 132 cm wide, 65 cm high and 17 cm thick at its base, tapering to 10 cm thick at the top. The arch is 40 cm wide. The front, unlike the back, is chipped in some places, especially on the left-hand side. Its face is finely worked: a four-petal flower (12 × 12 cm) is placed right below the peak. Α six-line inscription occupies almost the whole surface. The seventh line runs along the top fascia of the base, on either side of the curved part of the fascia.

4The back, though preserved intact, is roughly worked with a stepped border cut to fit into a niche. Three sockets are carved into the top of the gable, a rectan­gular socket on each edge (5 × 3 cm, preserved depth: 4 cm) and a third trapezoidal socket in the center behind the apex (10 × 7 cm). Several decorative incisions, each ca. 20 cm long and 2 cm wide, run along the base; the space between these inci­sions was occupied by the capitals of four colonnettes or small pilasters.

6The text is almost complete, save for 3–4 letters on the left-hand side of l. 5, and 8–10 letters in the last line inscribed on the fascia. The letters are 4–6 cm high.

1 Μ · ΑΥΡ ^⁄ · ΜΑΡΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ
2 ΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΩΤΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΣ ΕΓΕΡΣΙ
3 ΘΕΟΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΤΗ ΟΥΡΑΝΙΑ ΘΕΩ ΣΚΟΡΠΩΝΟΣ
4 Ε̣Κ ΤΩΝ ΙΔΙΩΝ ΤΟΝ ΝΑΟΝ ΣΥΝ ΠΑΝΤΙ ΚΑ
5 [3–4 letters]ΡΓΩ ΕΞ ΕΝΤΟΛΗΣ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΠΑ
6 ΤΡΟΣ ΑΥΤΩΝ
7 [8–10 letters]ΛΩΤΑ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΕΤΟΥΣ · Γ Κ Τ · ΥΠΕΡΒΕΡΕΤΑΙΟΥ̣

Μ(ᾶρκοι) Αὐρ(ήλιοι) Μαρίων καὶ Λέων καὶ Φιλώτας καὶ Διονυσίος, ἐγερσίθεοι Διονυσίου, τῇ Οὐρανίᾳ θεῷ Σκόρπωνος ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων τὸν ναὸν σὺν παντὶ κα[ινού?]ργῳ ἐξ ἐντολῆς Διονυσίου πατρὸς αὐτῶν. [ἐπὶ ἱερέως Φι]λώτα Λέοντος ἔτους γκτ` Ὑπερβερεταίου̣.

• 4 Cf. LSJ: “Διονύσιον (scil. ἱερόν), τό, the temple of Dionysus, Th.8.93, Ar.Fr. 131, Paus.1.43.5, et (...)

M. Aurelius Marion and (M. Aurelius) Leon and (M. Aurelius) Philotas and (M. Aurelius) Dionysios, egersitheoi of the Dionysion,⁴ [erected] to the Goddess Ourania of Skorpon at their own expense the temple, with all novelty of work, according to the testament of Dionysios, their father. (In the year) when Philotas son of Leon was priest. Year 323 (of the era of Ascalon), in the month of Hyperberetaios (= mid-September to mid-October AD 220).

Commentary

Lines 2–3: ΕΓΕΡΣΙΘΕΟΙ: The term ἐγερσίθεος is not recorded in LSJ, where we find only ἔγερσις ‘awaking’, ‘recovery’, ‘raising’ and ‘erection’, as well as ‘resurrection’ (i.e. from death: Matt. 27.53). Its meaning is clear though when one looks at the other combinations of ΕΓΕΡΣΙ with a noun in LSJ s.v. The word is found, however, in a papyrus from the mid-third century BC of the Zenon archive (P. Cair. Zen. 1, 59009 Fr. A: ἐγερσιθέ[ου]), where it is interpreted as a name or a title (Ἐγερσιθέ[ου]). An inscription from Philadelphia/Amman preserves part of this title as well, as it records an ἐγερσε[ίτην τοῦ] Ἡρακλε[ί]ου, [βουλ]ε[υ]τὴν καὶ πρ[όεδρο]ν (IGLS 21, 229). Hence, we suggest translating it as ‘god awakeners’ or ‘god resurrectors’.

7More relevant for the present discussion is the appearance of the title in two inscriptions, which like ours also come from Ascalon. They were edited by Werner Eck in the third volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (CIIP):

CIIP III 2337: [ἔ]τους ιβ’ Αὐτοκ[ράτορος | Κ]αίσαρος Κομμ[όδου | Ἀ]ντωνεί{νει}ν[ου Σε|β]αστοῦ τοῦ κυ[ρίου | α’ or β’] ἑξαμήνου [ἐπὶ Ἀπολ]|λοδότ{τ}ου το[ῦ Μι|λ]τιάδου ἐγερσ[ίτου] |προέδρου | ζ’

In the twelfth year of Imperator Caesar Commodus Antoninus Augustus, our Lord, in the first (or) second half of the year, when Apollodotus son of Miltiades was in charge of the works as prohedros. Seventh (column).

CIIP III 2338: [ἔτους ιβ’? Κο]μμόδου | [Ἀντωνείνο]υ Σεβαστοῦ | [τοῦ κυρίου] β’(?) ἑξαμήνο[υ | ἐπὶ] Ἀπολλοδό[του | τοῦ] Μιλτιάδου | [ἐγερσίτο]υ προέδρο[υ] | η’

In the twelfth year of Commodus Antoninus Augustus, our Lord, in the second(?) half of the year, when Apollodotus son of Miltiades was responsible for the work when he was prohedros. Eighth (column).

Lines 2–3: ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ: our punctuation, and consequently also our translation, ignores the absence of the definite article, τοῦ, before Διονυσίου, i.e. egersitheoi of the Dionysion, the temple of Dionysus, like the ἐγερσε[ιθέος τοῦ] Ἡρακλε[ί]ου, the egersitheos of the Temple of Heracles, in IGLS 21, 229. For the annual resurrection of Dionysus see Plutarch, Isis and Osiris 365. This is the first piece of evidence for the existence of the Egersitheoi of Dionysus in Ascalon.

Line 4: ΤΗ ΟΥΡΑΝΙΑ ΘΕΩ ΣΚΟΡΠΩΝΟΣ: for θεῷ in feminine cf. LSJ, s.v. Θεός ΙΙ.

14We have found only three other attestations of the name: in the third/second century BC in Karpathos, the second/first century BC in Rhodes, and in the first century AD in Stratonikeia in Caria. The relative proximity of these places, combined with the rarity of the name, makes it plausible that it originated in the Dodecanese islands or in southwestern Asia Minor.

15Are we in the presence of a private cult, i.e. one restricted to the family of the founder of the cult, namely Skorpon, or is the goddess worshipped by the general public as well? The answer is that we simply do not know, and so far have no way of finding out. Nor can we offer an explanation for the involvement of the egersitheoi of the temple of Dionysus with the cult/temple of Ourania of Skorpon.

17Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if this inscription indeed comes from a chapel dedicated to Aphrodite, then it constitutes the first — and so far only — tangible piece of evidence confirming the ancient ties linking Ourania-Aphrodite and Ascalon.

Illustrations