ISic001136: Honours for an individual who undertook public building works

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy;
1: the traces appear compatible with ΣΙΑ or ΣΙΛ (so Mauceri also); Salinas notes two traces
2: Gualtherus: .ΙΟΛΛΕΙ...; Salinas: ΙΟΛΛΕΙ.; Mauceri: _ΟΟΑΛΕΙ
3: Gualtherus: .ΛΙΟΥΠΟ...ΠΙΣΑΙ...; Salinas: ΔΙΟΥΠΟΙΗΣ
7: Gualtherus: ΑΠΟΤΤΑΣ
11: Kaibel and Salinas (NSA) read a single vertical beneath the first alpha of line 10; Kaibel: [χάριν]; Bechtel: [ἕνε]κ[α]; Salinas et ceteri: [ἕνεκα].

Physical description

Support

Description: A large square block of a coarse grey limestone. Intact on all sides, but damaged on all four front corners, and with much of the top missing (part of the original upper surface appears to be preserved towards the centre rear, but the front corners especially have been cut down). The front left edge is damaged removing the initial letters of the lines; traces of a line above the visible 9 are preserved and it is possible that a further line is lost above that; the right edge is damaged top and bottom, but the middle section is preserved; the bottom edge is also damaged, especially to the left, but preserves a vacat across the right half. The upper right of the face has suffered surface erosion. The left and right sides of the stone are finished.
Object type: base
Material: limestone
Condition: damaged
Dimensions: height: 44 (preserved face 39.5) cm, width: 55.5 cm, depth: 53 cm

Inscription

Layout

The text appears to be laid out with a more or less consistent left margin, vacats to the right.

Text condition

incomplete

Lettering

Letter heights

Line 1: incompletemm

Line 2: 24-27mm

Line 3: 28-30mm

Line 4: 23-30mm

Line 5: 25-30mm

Line 6: 25-29mm

Line 7: 26-31mm

Line 8: 25-30mm

Line 9: 25-29mm

Line 10: 27-30mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation line 1 to 10: 7-10mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Thermae Himeraeae
Provenance found: First recorded in Gualtherus 1624, as being 'in pronao, seu septis templi', subsequently lost (Torremuzza's edition was simply derived from Gualtherus), and rediscovered in 1878 behind plaster 'nel poggiuolo che chiude lo spianato del duomo' (Mauceri, cf. Salinas in NSA); Mauceri speculates that the piece was reused in the building of the duomo. It is now in the civic museum.
Map

Current location

Place: Termini Imerese, Italy
Repository: Museo Civico Baldassare Romano , 138
Autopsy: Prag 2018-07-10, on display in the Museo Civico
Map

Date

2nd or earlier 1st century BCE (200 BC – 50 BC)

Evidence: lettering

Text type

honorific

commentary

Kaibel proposed 'alexandreion' in line 2 with the comment 'sumpsi to alexandreion fuisse aedificium publicum, velut gymnasium', with implied parallels such as Netum's Hieroneion and Syracuse's Timoleionteion. The other proposed restoration, adopted by Dubois, Brugnone, et al., is 'aleipterion', a 'place for anointing' in a gymnasium, used also as sudatory. The inscription must record honours for someone who saw to the paving and drainage of the main street between this building and the maritime gates, with stone described by a hapax in Doric form, which seems to signify stone used for sharpening (a whet stone) and so a particularly hard and durable stone. The name of the individual is lost, perhaps originally at the top of the text in the accusative. It is quite possible that another line is lost from above the traces in line 1. The end of the text is also lost, but there is clearly a vacat on the lower right, suggesting only a single word is missing at the start of line 11. Salinas observed a vertical, and traces are visible below the alpha above of what appears to be a Ν. Sicilian honorifics of the Hellenistic period very commonly end εὐνοίας ἕνεκεν (rather than ἕνεκα), and the traces are compatible with the end of ἕνεκεν (albeit slightly squeezed compared to the line above). Given the trace, Kaibel's suggestion of χάριν is the other plausible alternative, but this is not typically found in Sicilian texts of this sort.

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor