Nochmals zur neuen ‘Beichtinschrift’ aus Bithynien

An altar dedicated to Zeus Brontôn was discovered and photographed in the village İlyasça, south of İznik (ancient Nikaia in the region of Bithynia); it is dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD. Apart from a bust of the god it bears a partly damaged inscription, only the upper portion of which is visible. The letters are hard to decipher due to the quality of the photograph (at present the only source) and the state of the stone. N. Eda Akyürek Şahin and Hüseyin Uzunoğlu have given a first edition in Gephyra 23 (2022), 119-120, no. 19. P. Hamon, BE 2023, 459 (p. 484), and J.-M. Carbon (Gephyra 26 [2023], 163-168) have advanced the reading and attributed the text to the category of the so-called ‘confession inscriptions’. In the present note I propose some new readings which lead to the following translation: “To good fortune! For Zeus Brontôn. Since my brother Antigenes addressed the god, neglecting (or: offending) the god’s power, and the god, enraged, made [- - -].”