ISic000153: Funerary inscription for Tiberius Claudius

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
ISic000153
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 ;
  • Bivona appears to assume 5 lines in total, assuming a missing line after line 2, and a further missing line below the last surviving line; Fiorelli, following Ciofalo, assumed four lines (a line between lines 2 and 3), his text reproduced in Ephemeris Epigraphica VIII. ;
  • 3: Bivona: [---]IX[---]; traces of V clearly visible before, and tops of three lettes, probably numerals, visible at right end.

Physical description

Support

Description
Thick rectangular plaque of marble, intact top, left and right, broken below. The edges and the rear are cut smooth. jThe edges have been painted with red in modern times, and two holdes drilled in the lower edge and one in the right edge, presumably for display. There is some chipping to the edges, and the face is worn concave, with much of the inscription after line 1 worn away.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 18.6 cm, width: 36.8 cm, depth: 6.5-6.8 cm

Inscription

Layout
Traces are visible of three lines of text, but it is possible, from the spacing, that a fourth line (which would be line 3 of the text) is simply completely lost; the spacing would be tight, however, and more plausibly there is simply a vacat between lines 2 and 3, after the name and prior to the record of age at death, a simple formulation that finds multiple parallels at Termini.
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 32-39mm
Line 2: 35mm
Line 3: 34mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 6mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
Found in 1885 in the ruins of the castle, Termini Imerese
Map

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano , 88
Autopsy
Prag 2023-07-05, in the storeroom of the Museo Civico, room 1, rack 8, shelf 2.
Map

Date

Imperial (AD 1 – AD 300)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

It is impossible to know on what basis Manganaro assumed that this stone contains a dedication that described 'un intervento edilizio'. Even given its very worn state, it is difficult if not impossible to construe it as anything other than a funerary inscription of a simple and common type at Termini, name plus age at death. Most likely line 2 contained the cognomen of the individual, quite possibly beginning with the visible letter A and so centred on the stone. Although theoretically there is room for a line between lines 2 and 3, this would be very compressed and absolutely no traces are visible. In the final line, traces of a curved V (compare the broad Vs in line 1) precede the visible IX, followed by a gap commensurate with ANN, which in turn is followed by traces of the tops of at least two, and possibly three strokes, probably the tops of Xs, i.e. the age at death.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

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