ISic000146: Funerary inscription for Publius Cestius Catullus

I.Sicily with the permission of the Assessorato Regionale dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana - Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana; photo J. Prag 2022-07-08.
ID
ISic000146
Language
Latin
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
Large rectangular plaque of compact grey limestone. Intact on all sides. Some chipping of the upper edge. The edges are finished but rough. The rear left is chipped away and the rear is uneven with traces of mortar. The surface has suffered some abrasion, but the text is complete.
Object type
plaque
Material
limestone
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 38.2-38.7 (left to right) cm, width: 64.1-64.5 (top to bottom) cm, depth: 10-12 cm

Inscription

Layout
Four lines of Latin letters approximately centered on the stone with use of vacat in line 2 to render the text symmetrical.
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 71-76mm
Line 2: 58mm
Line 3: 48-50 (T=64)mm
Line 4: 42mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
First described by Fazello as 'in aede D. Ioannis' in 1558; recorded by Gualtherus 1624 as 'in pariete Paretorii'; subsequently transferred to the Museo Civico.

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano , 112
Autopsy
Prag 2022-07-08, in the courtyard of the Museo Civico.
Map

Date

Imperial (AD 1 – AD 200)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

There is no immediately clear answer as to what the sign "Ↄ", a reverse C, symbolises here; cf. ISic000163 and ISic000174 as well as CIL 6.15139 (Rome) for analogous use, as pointed out by Bivona (1994), who suggests that it stands for 'circiter'. The gens Cestius is well attested in Termini, often with the cognomen Catullus.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
7/24/2025