Epitaph of Apra (ISic001652)

Apparatus criticus

Text of Agnello;
line.1: ἐντάδε sic AE 1933.25
line.8: ΛΥΓΗΣ sic AE 1933.25

Physical description

Support

Description: Marble plaque, surviving in two joining fragments, missing the upper edge and right side, intact on left and below.
Object type: plaque
Object condition: No data
Dimensions: height: 22 cm, width: 21 cm, depth: cm

Material

Description: marble
Type > subtype: stone.unspecified > unverified

Inscription

Layout: Text fills the face toeh stone, becoming cramped and slightly off horizontal towards the end.
Text condition: No data
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: No data
Letter heights: Line 1-13: 15mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Catina
Provenance found: Found prior to 1931 in building work on via Androne, in a tomb consisting of a narrow walled burial plot. The piece appears to have been lost already by the 1950s.

Current location

Lost.

Date

435 CE (CE 435 - CE 435)

Evidence: internal-date

Text type

funerary

commentary

The epitaph commemorates the young deceased Apra, daughter of Kentianos and Asklepiodote. For the name Apra, which may represent a variant of Apronia or Aphronia. The father's name is partially restored by Libertini (1931, 40), who also proposed alternative readings, including Sentianus, Gentianus, Ventianus, and Mintianus. The deceased is described as δούλη Χ(ριστο)ῦ ἀγαθή (ll. 3–4; cf. IG XIV 442 = ISic001267) and, through a poetic image, as δένδρο[ν καλῶς] | ἐν πίστει ἐφυτευμ[ένον (ll. 4–5), an expression that echoes a well-established image in Christian theology (cf. [Athan.] 28.712.45). The brevity of her life is conveyed by the expression τῇ ὀλιγοχρονίᾳ (l. 6) and by the reference to τοῖς ἰδίοις (l. 9), from whose affection she was torn away. The mention of her parents, together with the absence of any reference to a husband, led Libertini (1931, 41) to suggest that she died a virgin. At l. 10, the expression τῆς ψυχῆς δάνος refers to the soul as a loan that is returned to God after death. Finally, ll. 10–13 conclude the epitaph with the date of the deceased's death, which occurred on the Kalends of April during the fifteenth consulship of Theodosius and the fourth consulship of Valentinian. This internal dating places the inscription in AD 435.

Bibliography

Digital editions

TM: 645090
EDR: -
EDH: -
EDCS: -
PHI: -

Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor