This funerary verse inscription, found in 1976, is for the previously unknown dramatist Diokles of Rhodes. This entry re-examines the text based on visual autopsy, proposes a new supplement on the last line, and sets the poem within the literary and inscribed epitaphic traditions for deceased poets (tragedians in particular). It also considers what this poem tells us about Rhodian dramatic competitions in the Hellenistic period. It looks at the interplay between inscribed and literary epigrams, what this epigram tells us about poetry of the south-east Aegean, and the reception of literary funerary epigrams of Classical authors in the Hellenistic era.
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| 8th June 1976. Found during the construction of a new large building within the Giakra - Hatzimiachali plot in the area of the Agios Ioannis/Ai Yanni ravine along the course of the southern Hellenistic walls of Rhodos and part of the Hellenistic urban necropoleis (Marky Steno). Greece, Rhodes (island), Rhodos (Rhodes). |   |
- Structure: metric, hexameters, pentameters.
- Layout: Four elegiac couplets.
- Execution technique: engraved.
- Letter size: between 1 e 1.8 cm.
- Arrangement: left-to-right.
- Language: the dialect of the inscription is a mix of Doric and Attic, e.g. γενέταν (6) and Λάθας (7).
Trypanis 1977 [SEG 64 730].
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1-7 omnia suppl. ed. pr. || 8 [προφρονέως] spatio non convenit, ed. pr. | [εὐθυμῶς] vel [εὐνοίᾳ] Coward | [ἀενάως] Prodi per litteras.
| Diokles, thanks to the attention of the Pierian Muses with their beautiful locks, you have not only won outstanding glory in tragic hymns, but you, having attained Lenaean achievements, also were accustomed to have your head covered with the ivy (crown) in victories in satyr dramas. And, Diokles, having taken the lawful first-fruits in the theatre of Bacchus, and you glorified your native-land and ancestors; however the man beloved by his friends you went down to the chambers of Lethe [lacuna] having loved the works of righteousness. |
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 | Fig. 1: Dreliossi-Heraklidou (2014, fig. 5) |
 | Fig. 2: Inscription with the supplement of Trypanis inserted. Copyright © Thomas R.P. Coward |
 | Fig. 3: Inscription with [εὐθυμῶς] supplement. Copyright © Thomas R.P. Coward |
 | Fig. 4: Inscription with [εὐνοίᾳ] supplement. Copyright © Thomas R.P. Coward |
 | Fig. 5: Inscription with [ἀενάως] supplement. Copyright © Thomas R.P. Coward |