ISic001299: Epitaph for Zotikos’ son

I.Sicily with the permission of the Assessorato Regionale dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana - Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali e dell’Identità Siciliana; photo Liceo Lazzaro 10.01.2018
ID
ISic001299
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on photographs;
  • line.2: Biscari, Torremuzza, Franz: Ἰ(ούλιος) Ζωτικὸς; Ferrara, Kaibel, Korhonen: Ζωτικὸς
  • line.3: Biscari, Ferrara, Kaibel, Korhonen τέκνῳ; Torremuzza, Franz: τέκνῃ
  • line.5: ΕΕΤΗ lapis (although Korhonen reports FFTH, considering this linguistic interference; the reading is unclear from photograph due to modern repainting of letters)
  • line.6: Biscari, Torremuzza, Ferrara, Franz, Kaibel could see a Η and a second ivy leaf at line end, now lost.

Physical description

Support

Description
Four joining marble fragments, damaged on the left and below. The larger fragment is set in plaster. Kaibel probably read the inscription intact.,[object Object]
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
fragments, contiguous
Dimensions

Inscription

Layout
No data
Text condition
legible
Lettering

Letter heights
Lines 1-6: 15-22mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: not registeredmm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
Found by the Prince of Biscari in 1750 "in un orto del barone delli Ficarazzi vicino le mura della selva del Convento de' pp. Riformati di S. Maria di Gesù".
Map

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico di Catania , 269
Autopsy
Observed by Kaibel in Museo Biscari, later by Korhonen in magazzino del cortile, Collezione Biscari (formerly sala VI.77).
Map

Date

2nd century CE or first half of 3rd century CE (AD 101 – AD 250)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

This pagan epitaph is influenced by Latin: in addition to the expression Θ(εοῖς) Κ(αταχθονίοις) ἱ(ερόν) (modelled on D(iis) M(anibus) s(acrum)), an unusual structure for Sicilian Greek inscriptions occurs, in which the invocation to the underworld spirits is followed by the name of the dedicant (often with an attribute), by the name of the deceased in dative, by the dedication verb and by the age of the deceased (see Korhonen 2004: 88). In this case, the relative pronoun introduces the age of the deceased with a costructio ad sensum since the gender of the referent (τέκνον) and the relative pronoun do not correspond. The use of τέκνον to indicate the deceased, who died at the age of 27, is also peculiar: on the use of τέκνον in other epitaphs from Catania, generally referring to children, see IMusCatania 67 = ISic001306, IMusCatania 140 = ISic003260. On the use of ἴδιος as a possessive pronoun, see also IG 14.485 = ISic001308.

Bibliography

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Discussion

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
1/17/2024