ISic000690: Epitaph for Ionia Iulia

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 2022-07-14
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 2022-07-14
ID
ISic000690
Language
Latin
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
stele

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
A tall narrow stele of coarse 'sandstone', rectangular in form with a triangular pediment c.10 cm high.
Object type
stele
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 122 cm, width: 37 cm, depth: 15 cm

Material

Description
sandstone
Type > subtype
stone.sandstone

Inscription

Layout
The text is set out over a single line across the width of the stele, some 25cm below the pediment.
Text condition
complete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Plain letters of a fairly square module; triangular interpunct.

Letter heights
Line 1: 42-52mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Tyndaris high certainty
Provenance found
Found in excavations by T. Sidoti in Contrada Scozia (or Scrozzo), in front of the 'porta a tenaglia', in the area of a necropolis
Map

Current location

Place
Tindari, Sicilia
Repository
Area archeologica di Tindari
Autopsy
Prag 2022-07-14, in the depositi at the archaeological site (but with limited accessibility).
Map

Date

Probably first century CE. (21 BC - AD 100)
Evidence
lettering, archaeological-context

Text type

funerary

commentary

The form of a stele with triangular pediment is unusual for Sicily (previous editions unhelpfully describe the stone simply as a 'lastra'). The lettering and the use of the name Iulia suggest an earlier rather than later date in the imperial period; the use of Latin and the name Iulia encourage a date after the foundation of the colonia in 21 BCE. The necropolis was in use from the C1 BCE to the C2 CE.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
5/28/2026