ISic001668: A tessera hospitalis recording xenia between Imulch and Lyson

Apparatus criticus

Text after Brugnone, controlled against photographs and past editions;
line.1: The feet of four vertical strokes are visible in the damaged part of line 1 after Ιμυλχ, and are compatible with the text reported and illustrated as intact in the 18th-century editions of Castelli, Paciaudi, etc.; the damage already noted by Salinas 1873: 53 n.3

Physical description

Support

Description: An ivory token carved on one long side in the form of two clasped left hands, and cut vertically smooth on the reverse, on which face are four lines of Greek letters. A crack runs diagonally across the upper left corner of the reverse, and a fragment is lost from the upper edge of the middle of the rear (inscribed) face. Slight damage to the lower corners.
Object type: tessera hospitalis
Material: ivory
Condition: No data
Dimensions: height: 4 cm, width: 10.1 cm, depth: cm

Inscription

Layout

Four lines of Greek letters, with a consistent left margin, starting at the top of the rear (smooth) side of the tessera, with small vacat below.

Text condition

No data

Lettering

Letter heights

Line 1-4: 4-7mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation: mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Lilybaeum
Provenance found: Found 'nel fondo del conte Antonio Grignano' (Salinas 1873: 53 n.2) in the vicinity of Marsala, in 1749; it was acquired by the museum of the Benedictine monastery of S. Martino, whence it passed to the Palermo Museo archeologico regionale, and subsequently to the Marsala museo archeologico regionale, where currently on display.

Current location

Place: Marsala, Italy
Repository: Museo archeologico regionale Lilibeo Marsala - Baglio Anselmi , 4522
Autopsy: On display.
Map

Date

2nd century BCE, or possibly 1st century BCE (the letter forms look more plausibly second than 1st century) (200 BC – 1 BC)

Evidence: lettering

Text type

tessera hospitalis

commentary

An excellent, but rare, example of a tessara hospitalis, and the only Sicilian example. The closest parallel in form is a bronze example from southern Gaul (IG XIV 2432), recording links between one of the Alpine peoples and another community. The object type is best known however in a few Italian examples and above all in Spain, for which, see now Beltran et al. in Historia 2020 (https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2020-0021). The particular interest of this example lies in the mixture of Punic and Greek names, given that it was found in the area of Punic Lilybaeum, and given that it is generally agreed to belong to the second or first century BC (most scholars agree on a date in the second or first century BCE, due to the form of the letters and general historical considerations; those arguing specifically for a first-century date do so in part to make possible the identification of names and possible familial links with individuals mentioned in Cicero's Verrines, although no direct connection is possible). Masson suggested that Inibalos Chloros constituted a double 'surname'/cognomen, i.e. one Punic name and one Greek name (with his patronymic, Imilchon, rendered in Greek form); Ampolo speculates as to whether Inibal(os) might not instead be a papponymic (a common feature in Punic onomastics). The irregularities of the Greek usage have been widely commented on, particularly the use of πρὸς with nominative (Λύσων) and genitive (ἐγγόνων), and compared to the irregularities in the famous bilingual sign from Palermo (ISic000470): both texts are often linked to Cicero's jibe that Lilybaeum was a poor place to learn Greek (Cic. Div. in Caec. 39, on which a scholiast (Ps.-Asc. p. 197 St., 24-29) commented 'ea insula, quae neutra bene utatur' (that island, which uses neither (language) well).

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Discussion

Olivier Masson, « Noms semitiques dans deux inscriptions grecques », Semitica 26 (1976): 93‑96.

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor