A New Structural Reading of the Cyrenaic Suppliants’ Chapter (SEG L 1638, col. B, ll. 110–141)

Abstract

The famous “Suppliants’ Chapter” of the 4^th century BCE Cyrenaic lex sacra (col. B, ll. 110-141) is divided into three distinct paragraphs. The meaning of these paragraphs appears rather obscure and there is no general agreement on their interpretation. This paper will propose a new reading of the paragraphs’ headings, which might provide diegetic coherence within, as well as structural symmetry between, the three sections of the text.