ISic000768: Dedication by a sevir to Concordia

Photo J. Prag, courtesy Soprintendenza di Messina
ID
ISic000768
Language
Latin
Text type
dedication
Object type
base
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
Large fragment of white marble, broken on all sides. The lower surface is crudely finished; the upper surface is smooth and preserves a hole for a fixing pin on the left.
Object type
base
Material
marble (white)
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 8.5 cm, width: 41 cm, depth: 21 cm

Inscription

Layout
The epigraphic face is preserved for a width of 12.5 cm, with two lines of Latin letters filling the available field.
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1-2: 30mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: ?mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Halaesa
Provenance found
Excavated 10 September 1970, in front of room 2 of the west portico of the agora; found in contact with the pavement of the portico
Map

Current location

Place
Halaesa, Italy
Repository
Antiquarium e sito archeologico di Halaesa , ME 20226
Autopsy
On display.
Map

Date

Late 1st century CE, or 2nd century CE (AD 50 – AD 200)
Evidence
No data

Text type

dedication

commentary

The fragment is likely to have formed part of the base of a statue, a dedication by a sevir. The extent of the text to left and right cannot be established. As previous editors have noted, Augustan concord is often associated with pax (for which see ISic003576) or spes and one of those may have stood in the first part of line 1 (Portale 2009: 85 n.46). The full name of the sevir must have stood in the latter part of line 1 and/or the first part of line 2. Manganaro (1989: 190, under no.80) suggested that this could be Aulus Mevius Zethus, known from another inscription from Halaesa (ISic000767) and plausibly restored the text as: Concordiae Augustae sacrum | A(ulus) Mevius Zethus sevir Augustalis, i.e. “Sacred to Augustan Concord. Aulus Mevius Zethus, sevir Augustalis (set this up)”.

The inscription was found in the same area of the portico as an acephalous statue of a female figure found in 1895 (inv. 20193; Portale 2009: 80 n.30 and 82 n.36), not dissimilar to the statue of Ceres dedicated by another sevir (ISic000804). Portale (2009: 85-87) has suggested that the inscription should be associated with the statue, which would then be a representation of Concord. The statue is dated stylistically to the early Antonine period (140s BC), about a generation earlier than the statue of Ceres. Such a date would be entirely compatible with the form of the inscription, which could be later first or second century AD (and that of Mevius Zethus could be first or second century also). The inscribed base and statue would presumably originally have stood in a niche in one of the rooms of the portico.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions
  • AE at 1973.0271 Zotero FAIR
  • G. Scibona, «Epigraphica Halaesina I», Kokalos 17 (1971): 3–20, at 17 no.7 fig.1 Zotero FAIR
  • Manganaro (1988) at 47 Zotero FAIR
  • Manganaro (1989) at 190 Zotero FAIR
  • A. Facella, Alesa Arconidea: ricerche su un’antica cittĂ  della Sicilia tirrenica (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2006), at 288 Zotero FAIR
  • G. Scibona, ‘The Epigraphs’, in Alesa Archonidea. Guide to the Antiquarium, ed. G. Scibona and G. Tigano (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008), 25–27, at 26 ph Zotero FAIR
  • Elisa Chiara Portale, «Le sculture da Alesa», in Alaisa-Halaesa. Scavi e ricerche (1970-2007), a c. di G. Scibona e G. Tigano (Messina: Sicania, 2009), 67–92, at 85-87 Zotero FAIR
  • Anna Maria Prestianni Giallombardo, «Spazio pubblico e memoria civica. Le epigrafi dall’agora di Alesa», in Agora greca e agorai di Sicilia, a c. di C. Ampolo (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2012), 171–200, at 183 fig.172 Zotero FAIR
  • J.R.W. Prag e G. Tigano, Alesa Archonidea: il lapidarium, Introduzione all’archeologia di Halaesa 8 (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, Assessorato beni culturali e identitĂ  siciliana, Dipartimento beni culturali e identitĂ  siciliana, 2017), at no.15 Zotero FAIR

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
1/19/2021