The Authorship of the Inscribed Pillar of Xanthos

Abstract

The Inscribed Pillar of Xanthos is the most elaborate example of the Lycian pillar tombs. It is important for its reliefs preserved in London and Istanbul but particularly for the long historical inscription in Lycian which covers the south, east, and half of the north side of the pillar shaft. This is followed on the north side by a Greek epigram and a moderately long inscription on the remainder of the north and the whole west side in Lycian B or Milyan. The date of the pillar is generally placed around 400 B.C. This is based on the style of the reliefs of the upper burial chamber and on the analysis of the historical inscription. The name of the author of the pillar appeared three times in the inscriptions – twice in the Lycian historical inscription (south side or a lines 1 and 29/30) and once in the Greek epigram (north side or c line 24, epigram line 5). Yet in the Lycian the name is missing entirely in both cases and in the Greek only the last two letters are preserved: [ … ]ις. The fact that he is called in the Lycian and Greek the son of Harpagos does not help identify him because this Harpagos is otherwise known only from two inscriptions, one still unpublished. Recently it has been argued by Laroche that the author of the inscription cannot be the formerly favoured Kherẽi (χerẽi) because the space for the name must have contained six letters. Bousquet has also shown that a plausible restoration of the name of the author of the inscription in the Greek epigram is [Gerg]is, the Greek equivalent of Kheriga (χeriga).

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