ISic000290: Cinerary urn for Laetus

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 2022-04-29
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 2022-04-29
ID
ISic000290
Language
Latin
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
cinerary urn

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy. Mommsen appears to have reconstructed the text from the transcription of Ansaldi, rather than from autopsy (note the absence of 'descripsi' in the CIL entry). ;
  • 1: Ansaldi: D · M · S ·; Mommsen: D · M · S ; in reality it is much easier to read a large hedera in combination with damage to the stone, than either an extended interpunct and/or an S.
  • 2: Ansaldi: IAEIO · ; Mommsen: [t]·AE[li]O · ; the stone clearly reads: LAETO ·
  • 3: Ansaldi: FVIYCHISFICOE · ; Mommsen: [e]V[t]VCHES · [et] · COE ; the stone is clear
  • 4: Ansaldi: IONIS PARINIES ; Mommsen: [[I]ONIS · PAR[E]N[T]ES; the stone is clear

Physical description

Support

Description
A quadrangular marble cinerary urn, without a lid. The rear is plain, the base rough. Aplain mouling to the top and botoom and the rear edge of teh sides. On the front, relief carving of garlands, horned heads at the upper corners, with a tablet upper centre contianing the inscription; eagles to thelower corners. The left and right sides are carved with acanthus leaves. The inscribed tablet is 19.5 cm wide x 10.8 cm high (and the epigraphic field within it is 16.5 cm wide x 8 cm high)
Object type
cinerary urn
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 23.6 cm, width: 34.4 cm, depth: 29.5 cm

Material

Description
No data

Inscription

Layout
The text fills the tablet, with the heading somewhat squeezed in the top.
Text condition
complete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Letters deeply v-cut and of a somewhat irregular height and width. Extended wedge serifs, with extended feet and upper strokes prevalent; E, F, I, L and T all have much in common, with E and F, and I and L often almost indistinguishable (and to a lesser extent T). Interpuncts in lines 1-2 and 5 only.

Letter heights
Line 1-5: 10-15mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Centuripae
Provenance found
Found 9th January 1842 in contrada Difesa, near the ancient tower known as 'il Castellaccio', enclosed within four large tiles. Acquired from the farmer who discovered it by Giuseppe Polizzi; now in the Siracusa archaeological museum (acquired by Orsi 9-10 October 1914).

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
35825
Autopsy
Autopsy by Prag 2022-04-29, awaiting display in sector E of the archaeological museum.
Map

Date

Later second or earlier third century (based on lettering) (AD 151 - AD 250)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

Ansaldi clearly (and understandably) struggled to parse the lettering and the ambiguities between E, F, I, L, and T. Mommsen's attempt to resolve this however goes somewhat beyond Ansaldi's text (which, apart from omitting the letters ET in line 3 is otherwise essentially faithful if confused), and in particular, the gratuitous insertion of interpuncts by Mommsen adds spurious plausibility to a text which in reality cannot be so read. There are insufficient letters in line 2 to justify the attempt to transform LAETO into e.g. T(ito) Aelio (and no grounds for reading LI in ligature/combination), and in reality T is reasonably consistent in this text. It is much simpler therefore to read the single name (cognomen) Laetus, and in turn to assume that 'pio' is an epithet (additionally plausible given the parents' names and the age at death). It is, incidentally, worth noting that the reading presented here finds an exact correspondence in the transcription by Orsi in the museum's inventory (who also read a hedera in line 1, rather than an S). The mother's name Coetonis is otherwise only attested in the area of Rome, but the clear archaeological provenance from Centuripe is against any suggestion that the urn is a modern antiquarian import from Rome. The lettering has much in common with the letter of Iulius Paternus (ISic000308) from Catania of the late 160s CE.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
6/3/2026