Funerary inscription (ISic001289)

Apparatus criticus

Text of IGPalermo. Ferrara placed a punctuation mark between the words.

Physical description

Support

Description: Limestone funerary slab, broken at the upper left corner.
Object type: plaque
Object condition: No data
Dimensions: height: 16 cm, width: 25 cm, depth: 2.5 cm

Material

Description: limestone
Type > subtype: inorganic.stone > unverified

Inscription

Layout: No data
Text condition: No data
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: No data
Letter heights: Line 1: 10-18mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Catina
Provenance found: Found by the Pappalardo family in 1815 “prope moenia veteris urbis” during the excavations by S. Orsola and sold to Ferrara by the Abbot Pappalardo.

Current location

Place: Palermo, Sicilia
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas; 8710
Autopsy: None
Map

Date

Later 3rd century CE (CE 251 - CE 300)

Evidence: No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

This is an epitaph found on a stone plaque. The syntax of the epitaph is complex and has led to differing interpretations. Ferrara (1829, 342) believed that two brothers (Aphrodisias and Maryllas) and a sister (Theuda) had dedicated the tomb to their parents. Kaibel (ap. IG XIV 465) shared this view, but understood the names in the genitive case (in this case, Aphrodisias and Maryllas would be the daughters, Theudas the son), without explaining why the names of the dedicators would appear in this case while the names of the parents were not expressed. Franz (ap. CIG III 5698), followed by Manni Piraino (1973, 28), however, held a different opinion, interpreting the genitives as dependent on τὸ μνημεῖὸν ἐστι, thus effectively taking these names as those of the parents, while the names of the sons would not have been expressed. The sons would therefore have been born to a single father (Theudas), but to two different mothers (Aphrodisia and Marylla). Another possibility would be to understand the genitive as an expression of ownership: having built the tomb for their parents, the sons may have wished to claim that it was their exclusive property. Ἀφροδίσια is a fairly common female name in Sicily (LGPN 3A p. 86), Θεῦδας could be an epichoric form for Θεόδωρος (on which, see Manni Piraino 1973, 28) and Μαρύλλας is attested in another inscription from Catania (IG 14.491 = ISic000361).

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor