ISic000095: Statue base for Gnaeus Pollienus

Photo J. Prag, courtesy Museo Civico Civico Baldassare Romano, Termini Imerese
ID
ISic000095
Language
Latin
Text type
honorific
Object type
statue base
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
A tall base of pink veined breccia, finished on all four sides with moulding top and bottom. The upper surface has a circular hole to the rear left (approx. 6cm diameter) and a foot hole (approx 25 x 5 cm) front right. There is light damage to the lower moulding on the rear corners and to the upper moulding on all sides. The base is D 85 cm x W 84 cm; the top is D 71.7 cm x W 64 cm (damaged). The pillar (H 84.5 cm) narrows slightly towards the top (D 51.5 cm to 48.2 cm; W 52 cm to 49 cm). Total height is 125.5 cm.
Object type
statue base
Material
breccia (di San Marco)
Condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 125.5 cm, width: 84 cm, depth: 85 cm

Inscription

Layout
Three lines of Latin letters, centred on the upper part of the front face of the base.
Text condition
complete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 48-58mm
Line 2: 42-48mm
Line 3: 40-44mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 30-35mm
Interlineation line 2 to 3: 32mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
Found at the end of October 1879 on the 'piano della chiesa maggiore e vicino al diruto castello'
Map

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano , 123
Autopsy
Prag, 2018-07-10
Map

Date

Augustan; normally assumed to honour an original member of the colony, founded in 21 BCE by Augustus (21 BC – AD 14)
Evidence
textual-context

Text type

honorific

commentary

This individual is also honoured in ISic000096, found in Termini in 1876. It is suggested also (e.g. Wilson 1990: 42 n.87) that this man is the son of the Pollienus honoured at Haluntium, possibly in the civil war period (ISic001190). A further inscription (ISic000098) records another (anonymous) individual from the same Legio XII Fulminata. The multiple references to this legion encourage the hypothesis that it was veterans of this legion which were settled in the colonial foundation of Augustus in 21 BC (so, e.g., Manganaro 1988: 42). The distinctive breccia from the area of San Marco d'Alunzio suggests a deliberate choice of prestigious material.

Bibliography

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Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
6/10/2025