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Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum: 32.644


EPITAPH MENTIONING THE TOMB OF OLYMPIAS AT PYDNA


Greek text:   SEG 32.644 (Oikonomos_65 ) , SEG 12:340
Provenance:   Pydna , Macedonia
Date:   (A) 3rd or 2nd century , (B) 2nd or 1st century B.C.
Format:   see key to translations

The gaps in inscription A have been restored in various ways, but the reference to the "tomb of Olympias" seems fairly certain. Inscription B was found in the same modern village ( Makrygialos ); it confirms that Olympias was revered in this region long after her death. Both epitaphs are written in elegiac couplets; the translations are taken from C.Edson, "The Tomb of Olympias", Hesperia 1949 ( PDF ).



[A]   As you pass [the memorial] of [Neop]tolemos, [stranger, stay, that] you may see the tomb [of famed] Olympias. [Hel]enos, [bewailing] the race of impetuous A[iakides], buried [his son in the bosom of] measureless [earth] . . .

[B]   Aiakid is my race,- my father,Neoptolemos,- my name, Alkimachos,- of those descended from Olympias. As a child whose intelligence was equal to that of men, Fate {Moira} placed me at the age of three a corpse beneath this tomb.


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