The “Cretan Polis” ➔ Building block with dedicatory inscription to Zeus Thenatas
Ε392
Stone (Poros stone)
Almost intact. Chip on bottom left corner and two cracks in lower part.
Height: 27.5 cm. Width: 43cm. Thickness: 17cm. Height of letters: 3.2-4cm.
Amnissos
Sanctuary of Zeus Thenatas
Hellenistic period:
100-70 BC:
Gallery:
XVExhibition thematic unit:
Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th-4th c. BC). Cities and SanctuariesSanctuaries
Description
Rectangular stone block with five-line inscription and traces of red paint in the incisions of the letters. The inscription runs as follows: 1 ἐπὶ κόσμων τῶν σὺν Λα- σθένηι τῷ Σ- ωσαμενῶ, τῷ 5 ἐκ Πεισῶς. Translation: In the year that the leader of the kosmoi [of Knossos] was Lasthenes, son of Sosamenos and Peiso. Dedicatory inscription in the Sanctuary of Zeus Thenatas at Amnisos from the civil leaders, the kosmoi, of Knossos in the year that their leader was the famous Lasthenes, son of Sosamenos. According to ancient historians, he was the general of the Knossians who shortly afterwards, together with the Kydonian general Panares, led the Cretans into battle against the Romans in 74 BC. On that occasion they were victorious, but not in 69-67 BC, when the defeated Lasthenes burned the city’s treasures before surrendering. The unusual inclusion of his mother’s name may indicate that he had half-brothers on his mother’s side.Bibliography:
S. Marinatos, "Ανασκαφαί εν Κρήτη", Πρακτικά της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 90 (1935), 201, no. 2. M. Bile, Le dialecte crétois ancient: étude de la langue des inscriptions. Recueil des inscriptions postérieures aux IC, Paris 1988, 64, Nr. 94. K. Davaras - O. Masson, "Cretica: Amnisos et ses inscriptions," Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 107 (1983), 396, Nr. 8. Ang. Chaniotis, "Die Inschriften von Amnisos", in Schäfer (ed.), Amnisos nach den archäologischen, historischen und epigraphischen Zeugnissen des Altertums und der Neuzeit, Berlin 1992, 290, I 7.Author:
K. S.Photographs' metadata