Fragmentary Latin text (ISic000722)

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy ;
2: Manganaro suggested: [salvus et] sanus d(edicavit); Degrassi in CIL: [Syracu?]sanus d(onum) [d(at)]. Due to the weathering it is impossible to know if there is an interpunct in line 2, but the D is clearly spaced from the prededing letters and the margin.

Physical description

Support

Description: A block of off-white limestone, subject to alveolar weathering on the face. Intact front, right, above, and below, damaged on the left. Possibly intact to the rear. The right side is roughly worked, with a rough moulding or cornice along the upper edge. The upper surface has a semicircular depression near the front left, with the left edge forming its edge. The front face is lightly concave, deeper towards the left edge, shallower towards the outer right edge. The rear face, if intact, is cut back from the right side towards the break on the left side. The block would seem therefore to form part of a larger monument, whether a statue base or something else.
Object type: statue base
Object condition: damaged
Dimensions: height: 26 cm, width: 29 (maximum, at front) cm, depth: 49.5 (on right) cm

Material

Description: limestone
Type > subtype: inorganic.stone > unverified

Inscription

Layout: Two lines of Latin letters across the face, with vacat below. The right margin may be preserved. Line 1 is larger.
Text condition: incomplete
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: Simply cut letters (no clear evidence of a v-cut), very regular, even width strokes, minimal trace of serifs. P is very open, D and S quite broad.
Letter heights: Line 1: 65-75mm; Line 2: 46-48mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: 15mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Syracusae high certainty
Provenance found: Found (according to the inventory) during the course of gardening work by the Comune in the SE corner of Piazza d'Armi (site of the agora/forum), Siracusa, c.November 1929
Map

Current location

Place: Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi; 49024
Autopsy: 2026-09-17, Prag, in storage in the archaeological park of Neapolis
Map

Date

2nd or 1st century BCE (200 BCE - 1 BCE)

Evidence: lettering

Text type

dedication

commentary

The text comes from the main public area of the agora/forum, and by its physical form would appear to be part of the base for a statue or some other object. The right margin of the block is preserved, and so may constitute the right margin of the text also, but how much is lost to the left is unknowable. Degrassi in CIL assumed at least one further letter to the right of line 2, but this seems far from certain. Manganaro offered an entirely speculative restoration proposing a dedication to Isis, by a Roman negotiator with the cognomen Pition. Korhonen and Tribulato both note the existence of the Greek name Πιτὶων. However as Manganaro noted, the existence of Pitio as a cognomen in the Roman world is already attested by the (otherwise unknown) Roman moneyer of 148 BCE, L. Sempronius Pitio (Crawford, RRC no.216). The possibility is therefore either a Roman citizen with the Greek cognomen Pitio(n) (so Manganaro); or, as Tribulato and Korhonen suggest, assuming that line 2 should read '[Syracu]sanus', the interesting and for Sicily highly unusual possibility of a Greek citizen of Syracuse erecting a text in Latin. The very open 'P' in line 1, and the overall style of the lettering strongly suggests a Republican date in the second or (earlier) first centry BCE.

Bibliography

Digital editions

TM: 491465
EDR: -
EDH: -
EDCS: 26601030
PHI: -

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Jonathan Prag

Contributors

Last revision

9/23/2026

License

Commons CC-BY 4.0

ISic000722: Fragmentary Latin text

Edition