Translation - Μετάφραση

Translation Assistance => Other language pairs => Ancient Greek→English translation forum => Topic started by: trkyem on 20 Nov, 2011, 14:42:01

Title: ἡ ψηφίς μέγα γῆρας ἀμ[ε]ιψαμένη νεότητα κτλ. → This mosaic, having exchanged its extreme old age for youth ... (4th century gymnasium inscription, Salamis in Cyprus)
Post by: trkyem on 20 Nov, 2011, 14:42:01

Hello,

Can you please help me translate this inscription please?


  (https://www.translatum.gr/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg109.imagevenue.com%2Floc457%2Fth_790652382_IMG_3488_122_457lo.JPG&hash=634006d897a8580d6837261a71c8b7cfa12af4b8) (http://img109.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=790652382_IMG_3488_122_457lo.JPG)
    

Title: ἡ ψηφίς μέγα γῆρας ἀμ[ε]ιψαμένη νεότητα κτλ. → This mosaic, having exchanged its extreme old age for youth ... (4th century gymnasium inscription, Salamis in Cyprus)
Post by: billberg23 on 20 Nov, 2011, 19:26:49

Fascinating inscription, trkyem!  It's poetry (elegiac couplets) from the early Christian period (note the cross on the right side).  The text (with a bit of help from vbd):

ἡ ψηφίς μέγα γῆρας ἀμ[ε]ίψαμενη νεότητα Οὐαλέριον δ' ἵξε κτίστορα τὸν καθαρόν, ὃς θεσμοῖς ὁσιοῖσι και ἀχράντοισιν ἀνωγαῖς Κύπρον ἐς ἀρχαίην ἤγαγεν ἀγλαίην.

Τhis mosaic, when it had exchanged its extreme old age for youth, befitted its donor, the pure Valerius, who with his holy laws and uncorrupted regulations brought Cyprus back to its ancient glory.

Α full interpretation will have to wait a few hours, unless someone else can leap into the fray.  At this point, the least we can say is that the inscription commemorates, among other things, the works of a holy man, "Valerius the pure," who "with his holy laws and uncorrupted regulations brought Cyprus back to its ancient glory."
So you found the inscription on Cyprus?    

Title: ἡ ψηφίς μέγα γῆρας ἀμ[ε]ιψαμένη νεότητα κτλ. → This mosaic, having exchanged its extreme old age for youth ... (4th century gymnasium inscription, Salamis in Cyprus)
Post by: billberg23 on 21 Nov, 2011, 08:47:00

Ι think we now have a full translation (see update in previous message).

The inscription may be dated to the fourth century C.E.

Many thanks for posting it!  Which town in Cyprus did it come from, trkyem?

Title: ἡ ψηφίς μέγα γῆρας ἀμ[ε]ιψαμένη νεότητα κτλ. → This mosaic, having exchanged its extreme old age for youth ... (4th century gymnasium inscription, Salamis in Cyprus)
Post by: trkyem on 21 Nov, 2011, 09:51:46

Thanks so much!

The inscription is on the floor of the gymnasium in Salamis in Northern Cyprus.