ISic000726: Fragment of a dedication to a Roman emperor

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 2016-10-10
ID
ISic000726
Language
Latin
Text type
honorific
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text after autopsy with the restoration of Manganaro (1989), p. 181 no. 59 for line 1;
  • 2: Possible trace of a vertical on the break (compatible with N)

Physical description

Support

Description
Large slab of white crystalline marble. Intact top and left, but broken on right and below. Left edge only roughly finished; top edge neatly finished. circular hole drilled in middle of the top edge, and on the rear of the left side there is a clamp hole. Front side has brown discolouration / encrustation, the rear is clean. A second text on the reverse , the clamp holes and letter forms imply this is the primary text, the reverse the re-use.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
fragment
Dimensions
height: 23.3 cm, width: 32.2 cm, depth: 3.3-4.6 cm

Inscription

Layout
The first line is set to the left, with lines 2 and 3 indented by 1.5 letter spaces. The text reduces in size in line 3, and the gap visible below line 3 (up to 32 mm) is greater than the normal interlineation. Guidelines are visible in lines 2-3, but the letters do not appear to follow them.
Text condition
incomplete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 50-55mm
Line 2: 50-53mm
Line 3: 47-52mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 14mm
Interlineation line 2 to 3: 11-13mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae
Provenance found
Found in the area of S. Lucia, July 1917, acquired by Orsi for the museum on 6 August 1917.
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Italy
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi , 38617
Autopsy
Prag 2016-10-10, Magazzino B, cassa 33.
Map

Date

116 CE if Manganaro's restoration is accepted, but the potential attributions range through to the following century (AD 116 – AD 116)
Evidence
office

Text type

honorific

commentary

The text was published by Manganaro apparently without knowledge of the original publication by Orsi, NSA 1920, and without commenting on / observing the fragmentary monumental text on the reverse (ISic001686). Manganaro also misreports the inventory number (giving 33617 instead of 38617). Manganaro proposes restoring as a dedication to Trajan as proconsul during the Parthian campaign in 116 CE, on the model of ILS 301. This is plausible, but hardly certain. The title of proconsul for an emperor absent from the city on campaign is most frequently attested for the emperors of the last second / early third century CE. Perhaps of more immediate relevance is the likely extent of the missing lacuna on the right. Unless the text was extremely wide, Trajan perhaps offers the best opportunities among those with the epithet for a relatively short form of his name prior to the epithet Germanicus (compare, e.g., a dedication from Corinth (EDH060394, or one from Egypt, CIL 3.14147.2 / EDH023129). The gap visible below PROCOS, while short implies no letters immediately below, suggesting either no fourth line, or a shorter fourth line, or one with gaps between elements.

Bibliography

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Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
10/16/2024