Sofular

77. Epitaph of Masas' mother and brother

Μασας ἐπέστησεν μητρὶ καὶ <ἰ̣>δίῳ ἀ<δ>ελ– φῷ μνήμης χάριν.

Masas set up (this memorial) for his mother and brother in memory.

Round molded funerary base of grey-white marble with a relief depicting two heads, seen by Naour in 1974 in the courtyard of the local Directorate of Forest Administration (Orman İşletme Şefliği) in Çameli. The stone had been brought there from the village Sofular, 7 km NW of Boubon (cf. no. 78).

Height: at least 120 cm; diameter: 42 cm; letters 2.5-3 cm.

Naour 1976, p. 114, no. 4 (pl. VI.4); SEG 26 (1976-77), no. 1420.

L. 1 : Robert 1963, p. 258 n. 1, suggested that the name Μασας in IGR III 474 from Balboura (Αὐρήλιος Μασας δὶς τοῦ Τρωΐλου, Βουβωνεύς, γεγονός ἀρχιφύλαξ), should be read as Μάγας (see no. 24) because Μάσας was not attested in the Cibyratis. This and four inscriptions from Cibyra (IK Kibyra I 204; 253; 254; 255) weaken this argument. Μασας is widespread in Lycia and Pisidia; Zgusta 1964, no.875-6; cf. Naour (op. cit.), pp. 114-115 with n. 19. The name may be epichoric in this region, but is possibly of Greek origin elsewhere: see Robert 1963, p. 258.

L. 2 : The stone has one iota instead of two (haplography), and a kappa instead of a delta.

L. 3 : The first nu is written inversely.