ATHINA PAPACHRYSOSTOMOU Some notes on an epitaph from Hellenistic Cyprus1

Laiarchos erected this monument for his son Alexon; Thessaly is their country The present epitaph was first published in 2000 by Ino Nicolaou in RDAC (see also SEG L 1377).2 It is inscribed on the cornice of a grave stele (cf. fig. 1) found in Marion (western Cyprus). Both the dimensions and a meticulous description of the stele are provided by Nicolaou (2000, 303-304). Laconic though it is, this epitaph is interesting in more than one aspects, which I shall attempt to examine in the present article. Namely, I shall look into the following issues: the epitaph's date and vocabulary, the motifs and names appearing in the epitaph, as well as the possible reasons why the two Thessalians ended up in Cyprus. The text is without difficulty, apart from the slight corruption of the middle part of the word επέστησεν (cf. fig. 2). Even so, the presence of a capital heta is discernible to such a degree that allows us to read with certainty ΕΠΕΣΤΗΣΕΝ (and not ΕΠΕΣΤΑΣΕΝ). The metre is elegiac distich; a mostly popular form for verse inscriptions.3 The scanning is rather simple and should not hold us long. Still, what should no