A New "Graffito" from Ephesus Marcovich, Miroslav Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1973; 14, 1; ProQuest pg. 61

A New Graffito from Ephesus 
Miroslav Marcovich 

D URING the Austrian excavations at Bulbul Dag (the ancient 
Ephesus) in 1970 a Greek wall graffito was discovered in a 
house (late II century).1 Its text, as published by Werner 

Jobst,2 runs as follows: 

"'Q EVAaAt xalpe OEOLe 

7rE7rOO7j/-LEVOV 
JI I "Y"'" ovvop.a CEP.VOV" EEt ':> 7]e 

c[v] EEl Ka~ flloc. AvgavlTw 
~ \ ~" , 5 7Tacw yap 'f'tl\tav 7TapEXEtC 

ayaOaLeL 7rpOVOlaLe owpa 
Kat. EVcPpoevvae ~e €XEtc 
ap.flpocV7]c. 

We do not know how the editor understands this text, for he gives 
no translation of the inscription; but so far it seems to be clear that he 
sees in the graffito a dedication (Weihung) to the god Apollo (p.244): 
"Dass auch in unserer Inschrift mit EVAaAoe Apollon angesprochen 
sein kann, legt der Inhalt des Textes nahe." 

I would challenge this conclusion, however, while seeing in the 
inscription a late antique complimentary epigram, addressed to a mortal 
Eulalius. Accordingly, I would suggest the following reading of the 
graffito: 

eQ } EVA&A£ XaLpE, BEOLC 7TE7TOO7]p.lvov ovvop.a CEP.VOV· 
, \ r~{} , ,\ \ Q' 'c:.' aLEt ,:>7] C ,c aLEL Kat {J£OC avbaVETW. 

flu-CLV yap cPL>..lav 7raplXEtc ayaOaLCL 7rpovolatc 
~~ \,~, ... " {}' Q I owpa Kat EV,/,POCVV7JC 7] C EXEt C CXP.{JpOCL7]C. 

<CHail to you, Eulalius, a noble name desirable to the gods! 
May you ever live, and may the lifetime always exalt you! 

1 I am indebted to Professors Alexander Turyn (Urbana) and Hugh Lloyd-Jones (Oxford) 
for kindly having read this note and made a few remarks. Of course, any possible mistake 
is mine only. 

I W. Jobst, "Griechische Wandinschriften aus dem Hanghaus II in Ephesos," WS 85 (1972) 
240-45 (Abbildung 2). 

61 



62 A NEW GRAFFITO FROM EPHESUS 

For you offer your friendship with good care to all men 
Together with the gifts of the divine good cheer of yours." 

COMMENTARY 

LINE 1. Most probably, JJ is superfluous, hardly to be taken as a 
synizesis, as, e.g., in Callim. fr.191.28 (pfeiffer) JJ fEK&'TTJ and 47 JJ lp.at. 

Ev~&.~, is, I think, a vocative of Ev~&.~£c, i.e. Ev~&.~,oc. (a) The latter 
is well established in late antiquity as a proper name. Cf. CIG II 
2647.6 Ev~&.~£oc at the beginning of a pentameter; Anth.Gr. 8.151.3 
(Gregory of Nazianzus on his cousin Eulalius); Photo Bibl. 18al 
(Bekker)= I p.53 (R. Henry). (b) The change -£oc > -£c seems to go 
back to the middle of the third century B.C. Consequently, EV~&'A£c for 
EVA&'Awc follows the pattern of 'Ap.p.wvap£c, 'A7TO>">"WV£C, IlTo~Ep.a£c, 
Novp.ijv£c, etc.3 (c) As for the vocative of E?JA&'A£C, A. Wilhelm' adduced 
eight examples from the inscriptions: 'AAvm, rvp.vaa, Ev,,€v£, fHp.€p£, 
KTtcn, JI'T]yan, JI£clo£, fY7TEP€X£. To these D. J. Georgacas has added six 
more examples:' A7TO>">"dlv£, 'AcPpoo{n, r"vpy£,LJ'T]P.~TP£. LJwvVct,EiJ-rvX£.5 

Jobst, however, takes EVAM£ to stand for EVAaAE, while interpreting 
it as an epithet of Apollo, with reference to Anth.Gr. 9.525.6. This is 
not likely for the following reasons: (a) Anth.Gr. 9.525 is no more than 
a late antique Spielerei without real religious value: in 24 lines no less 
than 96 epithets of Apollo are produced (four in each line) in alpha­
betical order.6 A simple comparison of these epithets with C. F. H. 
Bruchmann's Epitheta deorum shows that most of them are elsewhere 
unknown as applied to Apollo. And (b) EVAaAoc is not as rare in Greek 
literature as Jobst takes it to be, being misled by LSJ s.v. We find it 
also in Anth.Gr. 5.148 and 155 (Meleager, Epigr. 47 and 48= 4242 and 
4244 [Gow-Page]; 9.570.2 (Philo demus, Epigr. 14= 3241 [G.-P.]); 
9.229.2 (Marcus Argentarius, Epigr. 24= 1428 [G.-P.]). 

11'€11'o(JTJl.L€vov: cf. Hymn. Orph. 81.3 (Quandt) 11'€11'o(J'T]p.€va£ opp.o£c 
(sc. a~pa£); 46.2; 33.8. 

• Cf E. Schwyzer, Griechische Grammatik, I (Munich 1939) 472, with literature; E. Mayser, 
Grammatik der gr;ech. Papyril 1.2 (Berlin 1938) 15f; E. Nachmanson, Laure und Formen der 
magnetischen InschTiften (Uppsala 1903) 125; S. B. Psaltes, Grammatik der byzantinischen Chro­
niken (Gottingen 1913) 43ff; and especially D. J. Georgacas, "On the Nominal Endings -'C,-w 
in Later Greek," CP 43 (1948) 213-60. 

'A. Wilhelm, in WS 24 (1902) 596-000. 
G Georgacas, op.cit. (supra n.3) 243 n.l and 249. 
• Cf H. StadtmUller ad Anth.Gr. 9.524, and A. Dieterich, "ABC-Denkmliler," RhMus 56 

(1901) 94. 



MIROSLAV MARCOVICH 63 

LINE 2. tE~ for alE~ (twice): the change at > E seems to go back to the 
fourth century B.C.7 c': C~ being elided, though emphatic, can be 
paralleled by Soph. OC Boof 7T6TEpa VOP.l~EtC OVCTVXEtV ;p.' tc Ta ca, I ~ 
,. \ ,..,.. \ \ OT 64 .1. \ 1\ '\ \,. ,.. I 

C E"C Ta caVTOV f.LaIlJ\OV ... ; .,.,VXTJ 7TOI\LV TE" Kaf.LE" KaL C 0f.L0V CTEVEL. 
332 EyW OUT' Ef.LaVTOV OUT€ c' &,xyvvw. Eur. Tro. 945 ov c', &M' Ef.LavT~v.8 
As for the hyperbaton of d, cf Eur. Med. 759£ &,\A& c' 0 Malac 7T0f.L7Taioc 

avag 17T€,x&CELE o6f.L0tc. Rhes. 216f; Ale. 743f7Tp6rppwv c€ X06VL6c 0' 'Epf.Lijc I 
flALOTJC TE" O/XOLT'. Andr. 122, 517f. 

LINE 4. &f.LfJPOCVTJc: v for L is common enough.9 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

November, 1972 

7 Cf Schwyzer, op.cit. (supra n.3) 1.233; E. MayserJH. Schmoll, Grammatik der griech. 
Papyri 1.1 (Berlin 1970) 85f. 

8 Cf I. Bekker, Homerische Blatter II (Bonn 1872) 229-31. 
t Cf Mayser/Schmoll, op.cit. (supra n.7) 1.1.8off.