Open the Attic Inscriptions Online record for Lysimache’s statue base, IG II² 3453. Read the translated inscription and its notes. Pay attention to square brackets and to the distinction between the ancient text and modern commentary.
Learning task
Write down three things the record supports. Then identify one biographical claim that it does not establish. Explain the function of the brackets in an edited inscription.
Model response
The record connects Lysimache with service to Athena, preserves a tenure of sixty-four years, and places her commemoration within a family and generational setting. It does not give her private opinions about Athenian politics. Brackets indicate letters or words supplied by an editor where the surviving inscription is incomplete; their presence should not disappear when the text is used.
Why this matters
An inscription brings a named historical person close to us, but closeness is not completeness. The task is to make the evidence informative without filling its gaps with an invented life.
Extend the exercise
Compare the monument for Syeris. Consider why an assistant’s work might be commemorated and what remains unknown about her status. Write a paragraph that contains both a positive finding and a precisely stated uncertainty.