ISic001076: Decree in honour of a gymnasiarch

Apparatus criticus

• text of Feyel 1935 controlled against photographs and corrected (principally the restoration of some letters which Feyel considered lost, but which were read by previous scholars in the 18th or 19th century);
• 2: Feyel: Ἱστατίου; Dubois: Ἱστ[ια]ίου; but the upper part of quadrate epsilon is clear, meaning only Ἱστιείου is possible, as already LGPN IIIA.
  
• 29: Notwithstanding the suggestions of Wilhelm and the objections of Dubois, the stone clearly reads: ΚΑΤΑΝΟΓΡΑΦΗΣΗΙ

Physical description

Support

Description

A slim stele, described as ‘marbre gris’ by Feyel (1935: 372) and as ‘pietra dura grigiastra’ by Carità (1978: 10), but seemingly a soft sedimentary calcareous stone, surmounted by a triangular tympanon (c.0.2m tall) with simple acroteria on the left (broken off) and right corners.

Object type

stele

Material

limestone

Condition

No data

Dimensions

height: 120 cm, width: 30 cm, depth: cm

Inscription

Layout

The text, occupying 47 lines, fills the upper two-thirds of the main rectangular portion of the stele.,[object Object]

Text condition

No data

Technique

chiselled

Pigment

No data

Lettering

The lettering is tight, both in between letters and in interlinear spaces. The first two lines are larger and more spaced, though not necessarily more precise in execution. Alpha appears with both a straight and a curved crossbar. Interchangeable use of four-bar and lunate sigma, often in the same line, often close together. Interchangeable use of square and lunate epsilon, same variability and position as with sigma. There is occasional omission of the middle bar of a lunate epsilon, particularly in between two sigmas, resulting visually in the combination CCC. This occurs both at the beginning and end of lines, and does not seem to correspond to textual cues. Omega is mostly rhomboid or ovoid, occasionally round, though the few round instances seem to be an execution issue with the ovoid variant rather than a stylistic choice.

Letter heights

Line 1-3: 15-20mm

Line 4-47: 10mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin

Phintias

Provenance found

Found by two members of the Spanish garrison at the fort of Sant'Angelo, 13 April 1660, where it was first preserved.

Map

Current location

Place

Licata, Italy

Repository

Museo Archeologico della Badia

Autopsy

None

Date

Evidence

lettering

Text type

decree

commentary

The text has a curious history, in so far as it was discovered in 1660, and has been on display in church, townhall, or museum, in Licata almost ever since. The published editions of Castelli, Principe di Torremuzza, Franz in CIG, and Kaibel in IG XIV all appear to be based upon comparison of transcriptions which they had been sent, or earlier editions likewise based upon transcriptions (the principal transcriptions are preserved in the manuscripts of D'Orville, in the Bodleian Library). The only modern edition that is based upon autopsy is that of Feyel 1935 (that of Cordiano is based upon Dubois, and it appears that Dubois' text is in turn based upon Feyel). Manganaro appears from his comments to have seen the stone, but never to have published a formal edition, only observations and minor emendations. Manganaro published a black and white photograph (1990 tav. LXXXIII), but this is insufficient to check readings. The stone is currently on display in the Licata museum, having previously been walled into a municipal building. Adamesteanu argued that the text was an antiquarian fake, but many of his concerns (about palaeography and onomastics) appear unfounded, and 1660 is rather too early for the 18th century Sicilian antiquarian and civic competition that led to the production of a number of invented inscriptions on the island in the later 18th and early 19th centuries (the text is also, arguably, much too complex for such a forgery, especially at such an early date). The text currently presented here is an initial control of Feyel's text, based upon the photos here presented. Proper autopsy remains to be carried out.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: 492704
• EDR: -
• EDH: -
• EDCS: 39102233
• PHI: 140558

Printed editions

• CIG Franz (1853) at 5475
• F. Bechtel et al., Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften, 4 vols (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1884), at 4250
• Association pour l’encouragement des études greques, « Bulletin épigraphique », Revue des études grecques, 1888, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/797735566, at 1960.0463
• G. Kaibel, Inscriptiones Graecae Siciliae et Italiae, additis graecis Galliae Hispaniae, Britanniae, Germaniae inscriptionibus, Inscriptiones Graecae consilio et auctoritate Academiae Litterarum Regiae Borussicae Editae. Volumen XIV., XIV (Berlin: Georgius Reimerus, 1890), at 256
• ‘Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum’, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, 1923, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1607583, at 40.0804
• ‘Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum’, Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, 1923, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1607583, at 18.0411
• M. Feyel, « L’inscription de Phintias-Licata », Revue des Études Grecques 48 (1935): 371‑92.
• L. Robert, « Epigraphica », Revue des Études Grecques 49 (1936): 1‑16, at 14-16
• M. Feyel, « ΤΡΙΑΚΟΝΤΑΜΕΡΟΣ », Revue des Études Grecques 50, n^o 42‑49 (1937).
• Dinu Adamesteanu, «Le iscrizioni false di Licata e di Gela», in Atti del terzo congresso internazionale di epigrafia greca e latina (Roma 4-8 settembre 1957) (Rome: «L’Erma» di Bretschneider, 1959), 425–34, at 425-430 tav. XLIX
• J. Delorme, Gymnasion: étude sur les monuments consacrés à l’éducation en Grèce (des origines à l’Empire Romain) (Paris: De Boccard, 1960), at 222-230
• Luigi Moretti, «Un ginnasio per Agrigento», Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 104 (1976): 182–86, at 185
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Tavolette di piombo inscritte della Sicilia greca», Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Lettere e Filosofia 3.7 (1977): 1329–49, at 1349 n.84
• C. Carità, Le iscrizioni di Gela trovate a Licata, 2nd ed. (Palermo: Arti Grafiche Siciliane, 1978), at 9-16 fig.2
• Laurent Dubois, Inscriptions grecques dialectales de Sicile : contribution à l’étude du vocabulaire grec colonial, CEFR 119 (Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1989), at 161
• Giacomo Manganaro, «Metoikismos-metaphora di poleis in Sicilia: il caso dei Geloi di Phintias e la relativa documentazione epigrafica», Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Lettere e Filosofia 20 (1990): 391–408, at 405-407 ph
• C. Consani, « Koinai et Koiné dans la documentation épigraphique de l’Italie méridionale », in La Koié grecque antique. II. La concurrence, éd. par C. Brixhe, 1996, 113‑32, at 124-125
• G. Cordiano, La ginnasiarchia nelle «poleis» dell’occidente mediterraneo antico, Studi e testi di storia antica 7 (Pisa, 1997), at 83-86

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Jonathan Prag

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• James Cummings
• Simona Stoyanova
• Andoni Llamazares

Last revision

11/12/2024