Greek Inscription on Marble Tablet from Smyrna, Asia Minor
Rufina, a Jewess, head of the synagogue [archisynagōgos], built this tomb for her freed slaves and the slaves raised in her house. No one else has the right to bury anyone (here). If someone should dare to do, he or she will pay 1500 denars to the sacred treasury and 1000 denars to the Jewish people. A copy of this inscription has been placed in the (public) archives.
Source: IJO 2.43
Translated by Bernadette Brooten.
Notes
Words in parentheses appear in the original translation and are explanatory additions by the translator.
Credits
Greek Inscription on Marble Tablet from Smyrna, Asia Minor, trans. Bernadette Brooten, in Bernadette Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence and Background Issues (Providence, R.I.: Brown University Press, 2020), p. 5. Used with permission of the publisher.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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