ISic000150: Funerary inscription of T. Cestius

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 2023-07-05.
ID
ISic000150
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 ;
  • 2: Mommsen: T. CISPIV[---]; Bivona: T. Cisipius[---]; certainty is far from possible, but given the style of lettering, E and T seem more likely than I and P

Physical description

Support

Description
Fragment of a white marble plaque, intact top and left although the very top left corner is chipped away. Broken on right and below. The rear is roughly finished and uneven. The sides are finished smooth.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
fragment
Dimensions
height: 9.1 cm, width: 16 cm, depth: 3.0-3.8 (upper left to lower right) cm

Inscription

Layout
Two lines of Latin letters, seemingly centred on the stone.
Text condition
incomplete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 23-24mm
Line 2: 18-22mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 8mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
Mommsen (1883) appears to have been the first to record the stone, in the Museo Civico.

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano , 48
Autopsy
Prag 2023-07-05, in the storeroom of the Museo Civico (room 1, rack 8, shelf 1).
Map

Date

Imperial (AD 1 – AD 300)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

Mommsen and Bivona both read T. Cispius, which is a rare name, although paralleled at Termini in ISic000151; Cestius is well attested in Termini. The form of the third and fifth letters are very unclear/uncertain, but a thin E lacking a middle bar seems more plausible than I, and the eye of the P is not visible.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

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