ISic001361: Donation of a tomb

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
ISic001361
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
draft
Links
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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on photographs ;
  • line.1: ΟΚΟΡΙΟΕΜΟΥ lapis
  • lines.1-2: Torremuzza, Ferrara: Εὐαίριος; Franz: Εὐκαίριος; Kaibel, Ferrua, Agnello, Wessel: Εὐάγριος
  • line.3: Franz: μου; Torremuzza, Kaibel, Wessel: ἐμοῦ; Ferrua: μοι; Ferrara, Agnello, Korhonen, lapis: ἐμοί
  • line.5: Κωπάντις lapis, Torremuzza, Ferrara; Franz: Κωτιαν; Kaibel, Ferrua, Agnello, Wessel; Korhonen: Κω αντίς

Physical description

Support

Description
Concave marble plaque set in plaster in modern times.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 14.5 cm, width: 21.5 cm, depth: 1-5 cm

Inscription

Layout
No data
Text condition
No data
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Letters with serifs: Α with broken bar, quadrate Ε, square lunate Σ, rhomboid Θ, cursive Ω (Ω at l. 5 as a Μ upside down). Letters at ll. 1-2 are slightly larger than letters in the following lines.

Letter heights
Lines 1-6: 11-22mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: not recordedmm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
Original discovery not recorded, probably from Catania (possibly Siracusa).

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico di Catania , 262
Autopsy
Observed by Blackburne (cod. Oxford, coll. Onions, f. 6) and Kaibel in Museo Biscari, later by Korhonen in magazzino del cortile, collezione Biscari (formerly sala VI, 70).
Map

Date

4th century CE (probably, according to Korhonen) (AD 301 - AD 400)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

This inscription attests to the donation of a tomb (denoted by the word τόπος as recurring in Christian inscriptions) by Euagrios to Theodoulos, in which Kostantis and Kaikilia (probably his daughters, according to Führer-Schultze 1907: 13) are buried: donations of tombs are not frequent in Christian epigraphy, where there are more mentions of the purchase of the tomb (see ICR 980, Grossi Gondi 1920: 248). The term κύριος does not have the meaning of “master” here and does not allude to a slavery condition of the beneficiary (as Führer-Schultze 1907: 13), but has a connotation of respect as in IG 14.525 = ISic000964. The names Θεόδουλος, Κωστάντις (= Κωστάντιος), Κεκιλία (= Καικιλία) and Εὐάγριος are attested in Christian inscriptions, but the last is not attested elsewhere in Sicily: Θεόδουλος is attested also in a Christian inscription from Catania IG 14.538 = ISic001357, Κωστάντις in an inscription from Tauromenion (3rd-4th cent. CE), Καικιλία is frequent in Sicily (LGPN 3A:227). As Korhonen (2004: 257) remarks, the formula and onomastics of the inscription could be from Syracuse, but its presence in the collezione Biscari as early as 1749, when Blackburne observed it, and the fact that there are no other Syracusan Christian inscriptions in the collection argues in favour of a provenance from Catania.

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Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
11/5/2025