The closing formula of the Old Phrygian epitaph B-07 in the light of the Aramaic KAI 318: a case of textual convergence in Daskyleion

Abstract

Abstract After an overview of the multilingual epigraphy of Daskyleion during the Achaemenid period, this paper focuses on the closing formula shared by the Aramaic KAI 318 and the Old Phrygian B-07 epitaphs, which consists of a warning not to harm the funerary monument. Comparison of the two inscriptions sheds light on the cryptic Old Phrygian B-07, the sole Old Phrygian epitaph known. As a result, the paper provides new Phrygian forms, like the possible first-person singular umno=tan, ‘I adjure you’, and a new occurrence of the Phrygian god Ti-, ‘Zeus’, together with a second possible occurrence of Devos, ‘God’, equated to Bel and Nabu of the Aramaic inscription.