Yesterday I visited Hammerwood Park near East Grinstead, an attractive country house designed in 1792 for John Sperling by the distinguished architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who subsequently moved to America and did much work on the US Capitol and White House, as well as other commissions.
My visit involved a guided tour, and I only acquired a guidebook at the end. Leafing through the latter last night, I belatedly discovered that the reverse of the capitals of the west portico contains the following inscription:
ΤΗϹ ΤΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ϹΠΕΡΛΙΝΓΟΥ ΕΠΑΥΛΕΩϹ ΠΡΟΣΤΥΛΗ ΠΡΩΤΗ. ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΩΝ ΛΑΤΡΩΒΕ. ΕΠΟΙΕ ΤΟΝ ΑΨΘΒ ΕΝΕΑΥΤΟΝ ΙΗϹΟΥ ΧΡΙϹΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΝ ΤΗϹ ΧʹΜΒʹ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΔΑϹ.
In the version above I have corrected some errors of punctuation and spacing found in the guidebook’s transcription: pending another visit it is unclear whether those errors are to be found in the inscription itself, or have been introduced in transcription. Be that as it may, I think the intended sense is as follows:
‘This is the first portico of the country house of John Sperling. The architect was Latrobe. He constructed it in the 1792nd year of Jesus Christ and the second year of the 642nd Olympiad.’
The text gives rise to a few issues, on which I’d be most grateful for your views:
(i) The date of 1792 (which must be what is intended here) is given as ΑΨΘΒ – should this not be ΑΨϘΒ, since the table in Smyth (section 347) indicates that koppa denotes 90?
(ii) The ΑΨΘΒ is followed (or preceded) by no Greek numerical symbol, whereas the Guidebook transcription suggests that ΧʹΜΒʹ has two. Can this be correct, and what might one expect in terms of numerical symbols for these dates in an inscription?
(iii) I would have expected datives, rather than accusatives, to denote the time of construction – would others have expected this too?
(iv) ΕΝΕΑΥΤΟΝ is presumably an error for ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΝ – or does the form ΕΝΕΑΥΤΟΝ actually exist?
I presume the inscription was provided by Latrobe himself, who was something of a linguist. Anyway, I’d be most grateful for comments on the points identified above, so that I am forearmed for my next visit!
Many thanks,
John