Dionysia Pia, wife of Sousos, farewell.

 

The only scholar who had seen this monument is E. von Shtern, who published it without an illustration, providing us only with a verbal description. All subsequent publications are based on his description and reading. In 1900, the stone was in the possession of a peasant, A. Konoplyan, who had found it, but refused to sell to the Odessa Archaeological Museum. The monument never found its way to the museum and was apparently lost. Since von Shtern did not publish any image of the monument, we cannot form an opinion about its relief and lettershapes. Von Shtern dated the inscription to the imperial period on the basis of the name Πία, treating it as a transliteration of the Latin Pia, viewed as a feminine form of the nickname of Antoninus Pius. This connection is highly doubtful. The name is known in the Greek-speaking world prior to the reign of Antoninus, see e.g. an epitaph of a certain Pia from Lydia, dated to 139/140 C.E. (SEG 40.1055) or the mention of the same feminine name in the honorific inscription of the first half of the I century C.E. from Pisidia (SEG 42.1223). Apparently, the name derives from the Latin appelation with its obvious meaning, becoming popular in the Roman period. The deceased had two names, which is not uncommon; the second was probably a nickname. The name of the husband of the deceased, Σοῦσος, is likely Greek (Zgusta 1955, 325, § 743): it is attested in Thrace and Asia Minor.