ISic001323: Honorary inscription for an agonothetes

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 students of Liceo Lazzaro, 12.01.2018
ID
ISic001323
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
honorific
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on photographs;
  • line.4: Franz, Kaibel: Ζωσιμιανείδην
  • line.5: Walther, Torremuzza: ἀγωνοθεθῆρα
  • line.7: Franz, Kaibel: ὄφρα καὶ ἐσομένοισι
  • lines.8-9: Walther, Torremuzza: ΙΡΟΠΟCΛΙΖΕΒΡΟ; Amico, Ferrara: ΙΡ...ΟΕΛΙΖΕΒΙΡΟ; Burmann: ἀοίδιμος ᾖσι βροτοῖσιν; Welcker: βροτοῖσι μέλῃ Σευήρου; Franz: ΡΩCΚΛΗΖΟΙΤΟ = [ἥ]ρ[ως κ]λ[ῄ]ζ[οιτο] βρο|[τοῖσιν] (see Arcangelo, Istoria delle cose insigni e famosi successi di Catania “ut heroibus celebris memores servetur”); Kaibel: the upper parts of ΙΡCΙΙΙΟCΑΙΖΕΙΒΡΟ (reported the reading πρόμος by Röhl); Manganaro ΙΙΙ.ΟCΙΓCΙ... = [π]ρόμος ἀ(ε)ὶ ζ(ῆ)ι βρο|[τοῖσιν]; Wilson: πρόμος ἀῒ ζεῖ (= ἀεὶ ζῇ) βρό|[τοισι]; Korhonen [-]+++ΟCΝΖΕ. βρ.-|[τοῖσιν ---]

Physical description

Support

Description
Marble plaque damaged on the lower edge (slightly convex surface), originally connected to a marble column, as part of a statue base.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 36 cm, width: 41 cm, depth: 7.8 cm

Inscription

Layout
Lines 1, 4 and 7 are set further to the left, with the other lines indented by one character space, reflecting the beginning of each line of hexameter verse.
Text condition
No data
Lettering

Letter heights
Lines 1-9: 26-40mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: not recordedmm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
Found in 1594 among the ruins of the Odeon (at the house of Dott. D. Cataldo Fimia Patricio) between Porta di Mezzo and Convento di S. Agostino.
Map

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico di Catania , 22
Autopsy
Observed by Torremuzza in Museo dei Benedettini, later by Korhonen in magazzino superiore, Collezione dei Benedettini, formerly sala I.
Map

Date

Late 3rd — late 4th century CE (Korhonen on the basis of lettering) (AD 250 – AD 400)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

honorific

commentary

The honorary inscription in hexameter originally accompanied a statue dedicated by the citizens of Catania to the agonothetes Severus, son of Zosimianos, which was presumably situated in the Odeon, where this base was found. The periphrasis Εὐσεβέων κλυτὸν ἄστυ indicates Catania, which was known in antiquity as the city of the Fratres Pii, Amphinomos and Anapias, who saved their parents from the eruption of Aetna (Conon FGrHist 26 F 1: for other souces, see Franzoni 1995: 209-212) and whose statues were present in the city since the Hellenistic age (cfr. IMusCatania 12 = ISic000631; Franzoni 1995: 217-222). The city of Catania honours with a statue the agonothetes, Severus son of Zosimianos: Ζωσυμιανείδην is a patronymic with the epic suffix -ίδης. An agonothetes was in charge of organising athletic and musical contests (the location of the inscription, the Odeion, is clearly relevant) and was a common office in the Greek East: this is, however, the only attestation of the term in Sicily (for an agonothetes in Naples, see CIL 10.1487), and is unusually late. The form ἀγωνοθετῆρ for ἀγωνοθέτης is probably an archaism, in line with the epic tone of the inscription. The reading of the last lines is uncertain and no restoration suggested by the last editors seems to agree with the traces on the stone. Korhonen (IMusCatania 24 comm. ad loc.) suggests that the text might have been accompanied by a Latin inscription detailng the full name and rank/office of the honorand, on the parallel of ISic000406 from Syracuse.

Bibliography

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Discussion

Citation and editorial status

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