Transcription
translation
Take courage, Heraklianos: no one is immortal.
commentary
The lamella preserves a formula, θάρσει [name]: οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος that is frequently found in funerary contexts, most commonly on funerary stelae, throughout the Roman Empire. Thin sheets of gold lamellae bearing the θ.ο.α formula have been found primarily in Palestine as early as the second century BCE. They were placed on the foreheads of the deceased as a headband. The inscription presents a specific iotacism (θάρσι for θάρσει; οὐδὶς for οὐδεὶς), cf. IGLSyr 4 1995 and I.Pal. Tertia Ia 122. The use of these lamellae as amulets is not fully understood.
apparatus
Bibliography
166-68
