ISic001101: I.Sicily inscription 001101

Photo M. Metcalfe
ID
ISic001101
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
dedication
Object type
base
Status
draft
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy (Prag) ;
  • Line.2: The stone reads Δευκίου

Physical description

Support

Description
An off-white quadrangular block, broken in half in the past and rejoined together. The right-hand half is more worn than the left, with the line of the break running vertically through the middle of the text. The stone appears to be more or less intact on the upper half, but broken / damaged to an unquantifiable degree around the lower edges. The sides have been pecked with a chisel implying the presence orginally of blocks or other material to each side. The upper surface appears smooth.
Object type
base
Material
limestone
Object condition
No data
Dimensions
height: c.30 cm, width: c.90 cm, depth: c.48 cm

Inscription

Layout
Four lines of Greek filling the full width of the stone, with a vacat below
Text condition
No data
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering
Types
Letter heights
Line 1: mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Eryx
Provenance found
Said to have been recovered from a well or cistern in the vicinity of the Chiesa di San Pietro; currently set in plaster/cement immediately inside the door of the entrance hall
Map

Current location

Place
Erice, Italy
Repository
Biblioteca Civica "Vito Carvini" , 213
Autopsy
2002.07.01
Map

Date

52 BCE assuming identification withq. 52 BCE, tr.pl. 49 BCE (52 BC - 52 BC)
Evidence
prosopography

Text type

dedication

commentary

The block is presumably part of a dedication to Venus Erycina, made by a member of the Segestan elite who served as a military commander during the period of the Roman Republican province. It is likely that this was to commemorate his service as the Sicilian commander of the honorific garrison of 200 men stationed at Eryx, described by Diodorus Siculus (4.83.7), as well as Cicero (Verr. 5.124), and for which the 17 Sicilian towns that had remained most loyal to Rome were responsible (see Prag, JRS 2007 pp. 81-82 with references). A similar text can be seen in CIL 10.7258 = ISic000538. The name Pasion is moderately well attested in Sicily as well is in the wider Greek world, whereas Seisurion is assumed to be an indigenous form. The Lucius Caecilius L.f. Metellus in question is normally identified with the son of the Metellus who governed Sicily after Verres, in 70 BC, and who held the quaestorship referred to here in 52 BC, as by Broughton and others (see http://romanrepublic.ac.uk/person/2480).

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
10/15/2025