ISic000301: Inscription recording restoration of a nymphaeum

Apparatus criticus

• The restorations are those proposed by Manganaro, except for the divergences noted below ;
• Line7: Manganaro: splendidissimi; lapis: splendidissimae
  
• Line8: Manganaro: Catinensium
  
• Line9: Manganaro: d(ecurionum) [d(ecreto) a]er(e) p(ublico)

Physical description

Support

Description

No data

Object type

plaque

Material

limestone

Condition

No data

Dimensions

height: 53 cm, width: 72 cm, depth: 3 cm

Inscription

Layout

No data

Text condition

No data

Lettering

Letter heights

Line 1: mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin

Catina

Provenance found

Found in May 1771 in excavations undertaken by the Principe di Biscari on the northern side of Piazza Dante and the church of S. Nicolò

Map

Current location

Place

Catania, Italy

Repository

Museo Civico di Catania , 539

Autopsy

Display, Voci di pietra no.15

Map

Date

Evidence

No data

Text type

building

commentary

An earlier Greek text on the other side of this stone (ISic000649) records the original construction of the nymphaeum, the repair of which is recorded in this later Latin text. Flavius Ambrosius is mentioned by Symmachus, having been sent as a legate to the imperial court by the provincial council of Sicily (c.377-379 AD). Flavius Arsinius, could be identical with an Arsenius who was praised by Emperor Constantius II in 359 AD, and if so would have been governor of Sicily perhaps in the early 350s AD. It is possible that the collapse of the nymphaeum was connected to the major earthquake and tsunami of 365 AD. The stone bearing the earlier inscription was re-used in order to record the restoration. It is possible that it was displayed in such as way as to show both sides, but this is not common.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: 175828
• EDR: 074190
• EDH: -
• EDCS: 21900336
• PHI: -

Printed editions

• Gabriello Lancellotto Castelli Principe di Torremuzza, Siciliae et objacentium insularum veterum inscriptionum nova collectio prolegomenis et notis illustrata, et iterum cum emendationibus, & auctariis evulgata, 2nd (1st is 1769) (Palermo: typis regiis, 1784), http://arachne.uni-koeln.de/books/Castelli1784, at cl.7 no.7
• T. Mommsen, Inscriptiones Bruttiorum Lucaniae Campaniae Siciliae Sardiniae Latinae. Pars posterior. Inscriptiones Siciliae et Sardiniae, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, consilio et auctoritate Academiae Litterarum Regiae Borussicae editum, 10.2 (Berlin: G. Reimer, 1883), at 10.7017
• « L’année épigraphique: revue des publications épigraphiques relatives a l’antiquité romaine. », L’année épigraphique : revue des publications épigraphiques relatives a l’antiquité romaine., 1888, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/630058599, at 1959.0025
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Iscrizioni latine e greche di Catania tardo-imperiale», Archivio Storico per la Sicilia Orientale ser.4 vol.11-12 (1959 1958): 5–30, at 19-24 no.4 fig.6
• R.J.A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire: The Archaeology of a Roman Province, 36 B.C. - A.D. 535 (Warminster: Aris and Philips, 1990), at 186 fig.155
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Greco nei pagi e latino nelle città della Sicilia romana tra I e VI sec. d.C.», in l’epigrafia del villaggio, a c. di A. Calbi, A. Donati, e G. Poma (Faenza, 1993), 543–94, at 553 no.22
• Kalle Korhonen, Le iscrizioni del Museo civico di Catania : storia delle collezioni, cultura epigrafica, edizione (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 2004), at 73 n.24
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Fontane ed edifici termali nella Catina “ bilingue ” tardo-antica e l’editto di Eumathios del 434 d. C.», Travaux et mémoires du Centre de recherches d’histoire et civilisation byzantines 16 (2010): 513–31, at 518 and fig.4

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Jonathan Prag

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• James Cummings
• James Chartrand
• Valeria Vitale
• Michael Metcalfe
• Serena Agodi
• Simona Stoyanova
• system

Last revision

1/19/2021