ISic000699: Dedication by an Augustalis

Apparatus criticus

• Text based on autopsy, after Manganaro 1989;
• line.1: Libertini: [Genio A]ugus[ti]; Wilson: [Numini domus A]ugus[ti]

Physical description

Support

Description

Fragmentary marble slab, composed of two adjoining fragments, with extensive loss at the upper left corner, and losses at the upper right and lower edges. Surface smooth and polished.

Object type

plaque

Material

marble

Object condition

fragments, contiguous

Dimensions

height: 62 cm, width: 75 cm, depth: 5.5-6.5 cm

Inscription

Layout

Four lines of Latin text, in straight alignment. The letters in the first two lines are of larger module than those in the other lines. The letters of l. 3 appear narrower and more compressed than the others. The inscribed field is bordered by a moulded frame. In the lower part, decorative elements are visible, including a strip or handle, and a small vessel.

Text condition

incomplete

Technique

chiselled

Pigment

No data

Lettering

Elegant capital letters with slight serifs. P with open loop; A with vertical crossbar. Traces of interpuncts between words.

Letter heights

Line 1: 50mm

Line 2: 55mm

Line 3-4: 40mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation line 1 to 3: 60mm

Interlineation line 3 to 4: 80-90mm

Provenance

Place of origin

Centuripae

Provenance found

The two fragments were discovered at different times within the complex of buildings near the so-called former Barbagallo Mill, i.e. the area of the so-called «Edificio degli Augustales» , in a zone overlooking the Vallata Difesa, near the Church of the Crucifix. The lower part was discovered by Guido Libertini during the excavation campaigns conducted in 1925. The contextual information is not very clear. Specifically, the author states that the fragment, and others, were found either «nelle immediate vicinanze dell'edificio rettangolare» or in small rooms «a sud dell'edificio, tra esso e il mulino». The upper part was subsequently found by Libertini himself in 1950–1951 (published in 1953), during the exploration campaigns of the remains of buildings in the same area, and specifically “nella parte meridionale dell'area antistante agli edifici, e precisamente poco più a nord dello sbocco del cunicolo che percorreva l'intercapedine tra le due costruzioni”. Currently on display on the ground floor in the Antiquarium, Room III.

Map

Current location

Place

Centuripe, Italy

Repository

Museo Archeologico Regionale di Centuripe , KA0845

Autopsy

Prado 2023-05-09

Map

Date

Evidence

No data

Text type

dedication

commentary

The discovery of the inscription (together with sculptural heads and anatomical parts attributable to the gens Julio-Claudia) suggested that the area might have housed a collegium of Augustales, as Libertini had already supposed in 1926. After the discovery of the second fragment during the 1950–1951 excavation campaigns, in his posthumous 1953 publication Libertini returned to the 1926 hypothesis, expanding the discussion: he suggested that the monument bearing the dedication adorned an altar, or a structure of similar purpose, erected for the Genius of Augustus, and that the inscription might constitute evidence for the existence of a seat of a collegium of Augustales at Centuripe. Manganaro, who initially, in 1963, followed Libertini’s restorations, later, in 1988 and 1989, corrected the upper lines of the inscription, proposing instead a dedication to the Lares of Augustus. R. Duthoy, 'Les Augustales' in ANRW 2.16.2 (1978), p.1266 notes the oddity of IIII vir Augustalis rather than VIvir. According to Manganaro, however, this peculiarity (not an isolated case, cf. CIL IX, 5655) would be compatible with an Augustan date, a time when the collegium for the cult of the emperor had not yet crystallised into the later, standard number of six members.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: 175758
• EDR: 081501
• EDH: -
• EDCS: 13700403
• PHI: -

Printed editions

• « 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 1989.0340a
• « 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 1955.0193
• Guido Libertini, «Centuripe. Nuove indagini sulle costruzioni presso il Mulino Barbagallo. Campagna di scavo 1950-51», Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1953, 353–68, at 364 with fig. 13
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Un senatus consultum in greco dei Lanuvini e il rinnovo della cognatio con i Centuripini», Rendiconti dell’Accademia dell’Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti di Napoli 38 (1963): 23–44, at 42 n. 96
• Giacomo Manganaro, «La Sicilia da Sesto Pompeo a Diocleziano», Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt 2.11.1 (1988): 3–89, at 47 n. 229
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Iscrizioni Latine nuove e vecchie della Sicilia», Epigraphica 51 (1989): 161–96, at 166 no. 29
• 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 297 n. 90 fig. 255

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Francesca Prado

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• James Cummings
• Simona Stoyanova
• Francesca Prado

Last revision

8/13/2025