ISic001174: Cadastral inscription for the territory of Halaesa

I.Sicily with the permission of the Assessorato Regionale dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana - Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana
ID
ISic001174
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
cadastral
Object type
stele
Status
draft
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • frA: Text of IG XIV.352
  • frB: Text of SEG 4.45
  • frC: Text of Arena 2020: 5 no. 1 (cf. Arena 2018)
  • frC-4: Arena: ὁδοῦ τᾶ[ς---], but traces of final Σ clear in photo and drawing.
  • frD: Text of Arena 2020: 15 no. 2 (cf. Arena 2018)

Physical description

Support

Description
A monumental inscription on at least two large 'tabulae', presumably free-standing stelae; fragments both lost and preserved are recorded of at least two.
Object type
stele
Material
limestone
Object condition
fragments, non-contiguous
Dimensions
height: 95 cm, width: 7 cm, depth: 61 cm

Inscription

Layout
No data
Text condition
No data
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering
No data
Letter heights
Line 1: mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Halaesa
Provenance found
The principal fragment A was found in the area of the church of Santa Maria dei Palazzi, on the site of Halaesa, in 1558.; fragment C was found 2007-03-07 in a dry stone wall (USM 1065) in land to the south-east of the Church of S. Maria dei Palazzi, between insulae III and IV, west of the 'cardo maximus'; fragment D was a casual find, precise data and location not recorded, within the archaeological site of Halaesa.
Map

Current location

Lost.

Date

2nd — 1st century BCE (Kaibel simply 'post-Roman conquest'; Calderone argues 2nd — 1st on letter forms etc. of his frag.; but, 1998, for c. 300 BCE, which Nenci too believes; Manganaro 2nd century BCE). (200 BC - 1 BC)
Evidence
No data

Text type

cadastral

commentary

(Note that the translation of Fragment A is based upon the text of Dubois, IGDS no.196.)

The main fragment A, is long-since lost, in the course of the 17th century; the second fragment, B, found in 1885 and published the same year by Di Giovanni is also now lost. Two further fragments, sporadic finds on the site of Halaesa (fragment c in 2007, fragment d undated), were published in 2020 by Arena. The original reports of discovery of the principal fragment reference the existence of a second very mutilated and damaged stele that was therefore not recovered or recorded further. It is most commonly reckoned that Fragment B probably derives from this second stele. Arena argues cogently that fragments C and D belong to this text, and explores the possible hypotheses regarding whether they should be associated with the first stele / fragment A, or with the second and fragment B, concluding with a speculative integration of fragment C into the right hand side of column 2 of fragment B. Fragment D is too small to warrant such speculation.

A further substantial fragment (ISic003651) of similar type, but slightly divergent content was published by Calderone in 1961, and is generally considered to belong to a separate but probably associated text. Arena 2020 offers the most detailed consideration of the relationship, concluding that the stone and text are distinct, but belong within the same socio-economic and political context and is most likely associated to, if separate from, the cadastral text itself.

Bibliography

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Printed editions
Discussion

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
11/3/2025