ISic000628: Epitaph of Abdalas

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy (and identical to that of Salmeri except that he omits the interpunct after 'qui' in line 5)

Physical description

Support

Description: A white marble plaque, broken in three connecting fragments, which have been glued back together. Small amounts of surface damage along the breaks, but otherwise complete and well preserved. The rear is very roughly finished, deeply pecked, presumably for attachment to a wall. The front half of the edges is well-finished.
Object type: plaque
Material: marble
Object condition: complete, broken
Dimensions: height: 26.4-26.6 (left to right) cm, width: 34.8 cm, depth: 2.3-2.9 (thicker to the right side) cm

Inscription

Layout: Six lines of letters, with the heading in line 1 roughly centred. The left margin is consistent, indented by c.2 letter spaces. The lettering frequently becomes more compressed and slightly smaller/shorter towards the right margin, suggesting imperfect planning of the layout. There is a one-line vacat below. Interpuncts between words, except before 'qui' and after 'in'. A framing line is incised down the left side and along the bottom.
Text condition: complete
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: Letters of moderate quality, with simpe serfis, and a fairly wide module. T is consistently overheight.
Letter heights: Line 1: 35-37mm; Line 2: 29-33mm; Line 3: 28-31 (T is 34)mm; Line 4: 23-27 (T is 29)mm; Line 5: 24-27mm; Line 6: 22-25mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: 12-13mm; Interlineation line 2 to 3: 7-11mm; Interlineation line 3 to 4: 4-10mm; Interlineation line 4 to 5: 5-10mm; Interlineation line 5 to 6: 8-9mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Capitoniania
Provenance found: Found in the area of Contrada Ventrelli / Ventrelli-Cugno, some years prior to 1984, c.6km WNW of modern Ramacca
Map

Current location

Place: Ramacca, Sicilia
Repository: Museo Civico Archeologico di Ramacca , 54
Autopsy: Autopsy by Prag, 2026-02-05, in Ramacca Museo Civico
Map

Date

Very end of the first or first third of the 2nd century CE (AD 96 - AD 133)

Evidence: prosopography

Text type

funerary

commentary

This inscription, together with a very similar funerary inscription for Chius, magnus magister pecoris found some 16km to the northwest (ISic001693), offers clear evidence for the existence of large pastoral estates in this part of the island in the early imperial period (supported by the extensive archaeology for rural settlements and estates in the area). As is often noted, both Agrippa and the family of Sextus Pompeius owned extensive estates on the island from at least the time of the civil wars, and these in turn passed to the imperial family, which also fits well with this inscription (see, e.g. Horace, Odes 1.29, and Epist. 1.12; Ovid, Pont. 4.15.15). See the full discussion in Salmeri 1984, and M. Kajava, RPAA, 78, 2005-2006, p. 527-541 for a possible connection with ISic003154.

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor