ISic000002: Epitaph for Lurius Zosimus

Photo Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas
ID
ISic000002
Language
Latin
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
View in current site

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from photograph ;
  • Line.4: Alessi reported the text as intact and read MELANTHI· ; the text seems to have suffered damaged to the right margin since discovery
  • Line.4-5: Mommsen suggested 'potius Melanth(e) in suo, quam Melanthin(a) suo'.

Physical description

Support

Description
Marble plaque, damaged on the right side
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 19 cmwidth: 24.5 cmdepth: 3.5-4 cm

Inscription

Layout
No data
Text condition
incomplete
Letter heights
Line 1: 20mm
Line 2: 15-18mm
Line 3-4: 10-15mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
From the Convento del Carmine, reported by Alessi as one of several find in the years preceding 1833
Map

Current location

Place
Palermo, Italy
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas , 3502
Autopsy
None
Map

Date

3rd century CE (AD 201 – AD 300)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

The reading Melanthin, based on Alessi's text is acceptable as it is: this is the Latin transliteration of the Greek name Μελάνθιν, a "shortened" diminutive of Μελανθώ (via Μελάνθιον); this type of "shortening" in -ιον and -ιος endings (the exact nature of which, whether phonetic or morphological, is debated) occurs very frequently in inscriptions and papyri of the Roman period. The form Μελάνθιν is attested once in a third-century AD Macedonian inscription (IG 10.2,1 204), whereas LGPN has 4 attestations of Μελανθώ dating to the Hellenistic period.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
5/1/2025