ISic000225: Funerary epitaph for a certain Dionysius and Cn. Terentius Rufus, by the wife of the latter, Vibia Ammia

I.Sicily with the permission of the Assessorato Regionale dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana - Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana
ID
ISic000225
Language
Latin
Text type
funerary
Object type
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on autopsy
  • 1: Line 1 presumably contained the praenomen and nomen of Dionysius.
  • 4: Beginning of line 3 is obscured by surface abrasion, could be 'B' or 'P'

Physical description

Support

Description
Block of dirty yellow stone. Break along top, obscuring line 1, and break along left side. Bottom and right sides complete. Modern plaster and paint on top break.
Object type
No data
Material
limestone
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 27 cmwidth: 39 cmdepth: 14 cm

Inscription

Layout
Five lines of Latin text, although first line is completely obscured. Likely only 1-2 letters are missing on the left side. Use of comma-shaped interpuncts in line 1 and the beginning of line 2, becoming more irregular after the deeply incised, perfectly rounded, dot-shaped interpunct before 'Rufo' at the end of line 2.
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: irrecoverable, as only the bottom of two letters survive.mm
Line 2: 27-29mm
Line 3: 36-38 (first T=45 mm, last O=20mm)mm
Line 4: 35-38mm
Line 5: 24-29 (Ts 29-31mm)mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found
Found outside the Palermo Gate, "stuck in a small wall of a modern nursery", from which Palmieri had it placed "in the House of the Civic Magistrate". Afterwards transferred to Museo Civio Baldassare Romano.

Current location

Place
Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico Baldassare Romano
Autopsy
Antoniou, 2023-07-05. In the Depositi of Museo Civico Baldassare Romano, room 1, scaffold 8, shelf 4
Map

Date

Imperial (AD 1 – AD 300)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

While the relationship between the dedicant (Ammia) and the latter dedicatee (Rufus) is made explicit (wife and husband), the relationship between Ammia and the former dedicatee (Dionysius) is not made clear. Unlike Rufus, Dionysius is a Greek cognomina. Dionysius is extremely with two other examples in Thermae Himeraeae alone, see ISic000188, ISic000168. Bivona (1994) records that there is a disparity of opinions on the origin of the cognomen Ammia, preferring Celtic or Lydian. On the basis that Rufus' praenomen, Gnaeus, differs from that of his father, Spurius, Bivona (1994) suggests that this was a false patronymic, suggesting the illegitimacy of his birth. There are a handful of other attested members of gens Terentia in Sicily, for which see Bivona (1994) and ISic001497.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
4/23/2024