ISic000762: Part of a base for a dedication(?)

Photo J. Prag, courtesy Museo Archeologico Regionale P. Griffo, Agrigento
Photo J. Prag, courtesy Museo Archeologico Regionale P. Griffo, Agrigento
ID
ISic000762
Status
edited
Language
Latin
Object type
block
Text type
dedication

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy ;
  • 2: Manganaro 1989: statuam; lapis: STATVM

Physical description

Support

Description
A large grey limestone block, the front face of which angles in towards the base. Broken at the left end, intact above, below and to the right. The rear right corner has been cut away, and there is a recessed clamp hole on the upper face towards the rear right corner. Roughly finished on all sides except the front face.
Object type
block
Object condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 28.2-28.8 cm, width: 64.5-72 cm, depth: 33-37.3 cm

Material

Description
limestone
Type > subtype
stone.limestone.polishable.grey > unspecified

Inscription

Layout
The right end of three lines of Latin letters, seemingly originally cnetred on the stone, given the large vacats to the end of lines 1 and 3. The stone increasingly damaged to the left edge of the face. Hederae at the end of each line.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Deeply v-cut letters, tending to the tall and narrow, with basic wedge seerifs at the end of strokes; some letters lean to the left, R has an extended tail, A and M slightly extended upwards beyond the apex.

Letter heights
Line 1: 53-60mm
Line 2: 40-54mm
Line 3: 35-45mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 20-23mm
Interlineation line 2 to 3: 25mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Cosconiana medium certainty
Provenance found
Found c.1972 in a late antique wall in contrada Vito Soldano, c.4km west of Canicatti, area of a late Roman settlement commonly identified with Cosconiana (not Agrigento, contra Manganaro 1989); now on display in Agrigento Archaeological Museum.
Map

Current location

Place
Agrigento, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Regionale Archeologico Pietro Griffo
Autopsy
2018-07-17 Prag
Map

Date

Imperial; form of M implies 2nd century or later (CE 101 - CE 300)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

dedication

commentary

Manganaro speculates that this was a dedication to Aesculapius, but especially given that his attribution to Agrigento is incorrect, this is pure speculation. Despite the presence of damage on the surface, there is clearly no trace of the letter A so the reading 'statuam' depends upon emending the text and assuming an omission. Texts recording the restoration of a building or other object to its former state (statum) are relatively common, but 'statum dei' would be without parallel. A reference to the 'potestatum dei' (the powers of the god) might be conceivable.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
9/15/2026
License
Commons CC-BY 4.0