ISic000160: Funerary epitaph for Cornelius Acathobus

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 2023-07-06.
ID
ISic000160
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
Small white marble plaque of irregular quadrangular form. Intact except for the upper left corner, and sides abraded. Rear is flat.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 13 cm, width: 20 cm, depth: 2.3 cm

Inscription

Layout
Four complete lines of Latin text approximately centred
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 19mm
Line 2: 16-21mm
Line 3: 16-25mm
Line 4: 15-25mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
Found in Termini Imerese in the 18th century on the hill of S. Lucia, afterwards kept in the Palazzo Municipale (reported by Tardia to Torremuzza in 1766, and the circumstances, around 1760 are described by Romano, together with its transfer to the 'casa del civico magistrato', whence it passed to the Museo Civico.
Map

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano
Autopsy
Antoniou, 2023-07-06. In the Depositi of Museo Civico Baldassare Romano, room 1, scaffold 13, shelf 5
Map

Date

Ferrua dates to the fourth century on the basis of the lettering. (AD 301 – AD 400)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

Mommsen judged the inscription to be fake, but Ferrua (1941) followed by Bivona (1994) considered it to be authentic, and there seems no reason to doubt it (other than its crude form and non-standard orthography). Whilst Acathobus is rendered here, Agathopus is more common across the empire, with another attestation in Termini Imerese, see ISic000235. Members of the gens Cornelia are extremely common in Termini Imerese.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

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