ISic000632: I.Sicily inscription 000632

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy;
1: Manganaro: .[l(avio) Valentiniano (?) Aug(usto)]
2: Manganaro: [cons(ularis) p(rovinciae) S(iciliae)]
3: Manganaro: [damno]
4: Manganaro: [restituit]

Physical description

Support

Description: Large limestone block. Intact front, left, and partly on top and at resar. The right side is lost and the upper surface is uneven, very worn, and clearly missing some material. A piece is missing rear right.
Object type: block
Material: limestone
Object condition: damaged
Dimensions: height: 36 cm, width: 90 cm, depth: 60 cm

Inscription

Layout: The front face preserves four lines of Latin text, with a clear margin on the left, loss to the upper right of line 1, and from the right end of all four lines. A deep circular hole has been drilled into the middle of line 4, which however the letters appear to be engraved around.
Text condition: incomplete
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: Broken bar A, D tending to square, lunate E, G with trailing tail, closed P and R. Use of a sinusoid form interpunct after FL in line 2.
Letter heights: Line 1: 62mm; Line 2: 60-78mm; Line 3: 51-62mm; Line 4: 45-48mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: 15-25mm; Interlineation line 2 to 3: 22-30mm; Interlineation line 3 to 4: 32-40mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Syracusae
Provenance found: Found during works to open Via del Littorio on Ortygia, between 1934 and 1936; one of a number of unstratified finds (apparently in secondary deposition, reused as building material) in the area of Largo Antonello Gagini, formerly Largo XXVIII Ottobre. Now in storage in the Museo Archeologico Regionale di Siracusa.
Map

Current location

Place: Siracusa, Italy
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi , 50739
Autopsy: Prag 2018-03-15
Map

Date

5th or early 6th century CE (AD 401 - AD 550)

Evidence: lettering, titulature

Text type

building

commentary

Manganaro suggests restoring either Valentinian III (424-455 CE) or Theodosius II (402-405 CE); Ferrua argued rather for later 5th or even 6th century CE. For Busiris, see PLRE II.243-4. In part it depends upon the possible date range of the use of the formula Salvo domino nostra (attested from the Constantinian period onwards, but more common from the Theodosian period), and also the addressing of a single emperor. ISic000652 was found in close proximity.

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor