ISic000693: Epitaph for Tullia Symbiosis

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
ISic000693
Language
Latin
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
A tablet of yellowish stone with pinkish red veins running through it. The tablet is broken into at least 6 fragments and has been recomposed and mounted on a stand. Intact on all sides, but with a hole upper middle where one fragment is lost. The edges are straight, but the rear is very rough and irregular.
Object type
plaque
Object condition
complete, broken
Dimensions
height: 28 cm, width: 29.4 cm, depth: max 4.1 cm

Material

Description
marble
Type > subtype
stone.breccia

Inscription

Layout
Four lines of Latin letters approximately centred on the stone and reducing in height.
Text condition
complete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

A moderately deep v-cut, with wide modules in lines 1-2, narrower in line 3. Letters have pronounced but simple wedge serifs, and pronounced curvature on Y and X. The interpuncts in line 3 (only) have the form of hederae.

Letter heights
Line 1: 50mm
Line 2: 44-46 (Y=50)mm
Line 3: 37-45mm
Line 4: 30mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Tyndaris high certainty
Provenance found
From tomb 25, one of 69 burials in a necropolis of the period C1 BCE - C2 CE excavated in 1956 in contrada Scozzo (immediately outside the main gate on the southern side of the city) by Ferruccio Barreca. The burial contained votive terracottas, ceramic relief medalions, and glass perfume bottles.
Map

Current location

Place
Tindari, Sicilia
Repository
Antiquarium di Tindari
Autopsy
Prag 2022-07-14, in the Antiquarium, room 5, case 5, third shelf.
Map

Date

second century CE (AD 101 - AD 200)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

As Fasolo notes, Symbiosis as a personal name (as opposed to the use of the adjective or verb to describe a partner) is extremely rare.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

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