Fragment of an Augustan honorific(?) (ISic000724)

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy ;
1: Surface damage makes it impossible to know if there was an interpunct between the words in line 1, however likely.

Physical description

Support

Description: Large rectangular block of grey limestone. Intact above, below and right, broken on the left. Finished rough on all sides. The left end is only broken at the front, so no further letters are formally missing from this block, but clearly another block is likely to have been attached to the left, at least. The left side is cut back sharply, from front to back, at an almost 45 degree angle; by contrast the right edge is perpendicular. There is some damaged to the upper surface at the right end, likely reflecting the original presence of a clamp.
Object type: block
Object condition: fragment
Dimensions: height: 35 cm, width: 85 cm, depth: 29 cm

Material

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

Inscription

Layout: Front face bears two lines of monumental letters, almost no spacing between the lines, with guidelines visible across the top of line 1.
Text condition: No data
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: The letters are cut in a deep wide square cut, with a flat base to the cut, implying the inlay of some material originally; large triangular interpunct line 2.
Letter heights: Line 1: 150-155mm; Line 2: 140-150mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: 10mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Syracusae medium certainty
Provenance found: Recovered from the demolition of the fortifications of Siracusa/Ortigia, May 1892. Photographed by Manganaro in the Soprintendenza stores in the 1960s, whence his later edition. Identified in storage in the archaeological park of Neapolis (2026)
Map

Current location

Place: Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi; 11034
Autopsy: Prag 2026-09-17 in storage in the archaeological park of Neapolis
Map

Date

Manganaro argues for c.36 BC in specific context of the civil war; a civil war or Augustan date more generally is plausible. (43 BCE - CE 14)

Evidence: textual-context

Text type

honorific

commentary

Manganaro proposed expanding to [C. Iulio Caesari] imp(eratori) Div[i f(ilio) / [? triumviro r.p.c. st]atua dic(ata), although there is no obvious parallel for 'imp(erator) div(i [filius]' (Manganaro points to ILS 76 and 8893). The form of the letters is notable, a relatively shallow square cut, not a v-cut, implying that they were filled with a material; there are possible traces of corrosion in line 2 which might support this view.

Bibliography

Digital editions

TM: 175778
EDR: -
EDH: -
EDCS: 6100280
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

ISic000724: Fragment of an Augustan honorific(?)

Edition