ISic001852: Epitaph for [---]ianos

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 J. Prag 2016-06-29

ID: ISic001852
Language: Ancient Greek
Status: edited
Text type: funerary
Object type: plaque

Edition

Apparatus criticus

text from autopsy;
1: Orsi: [Χρησ]ιανε

Physical description

Support

Description: Fragment of a grey, veined marble plaque, preserving the upper right corner, broken on the left and below. Unfinished on the reverse.
Object type: plaque
Object condition: fragment
Dimensions: height: 13.6 cm, width: 17.2 cm, depth: 1.8-3.8 cm

Material

Description: Very fine-grained, veined and banded, white, calcitic, smelly marble, likely Algerian_scritto_Mt-Filfila, Lunense. Digital microscopy: homeoblastic fabric (identification based on pXRF, digital microscopy, XRD, stable isotopes analysis, EPR, LA-ICP-MS)
Type > subtype: stone.marble > Algerian_scritto_Mt-Filfila,Lunense

Inscription

Layout: Remains of three lines of Greek letters. Slightly inconsistent right margin, first line probably centred.
Text condition: incomplete
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: Thinly cut, neat lunate letters, with small serifs on some strokes. Lunate epsilon and sigma.
Letter heights: Line 1-3: 32-40mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Centuripae
Provenance found: Part of material seized by the local inspector, L. Scavone-Campagna, in March 1912, found in illegal excavations in contrada Difesa, above 'fondo Casino'.

Current location

Place: Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi; 33027
Autopsy: Prag 2016-06-29
Map

Date

1st — 3rd century CE (AD 1 - AD 300)

Evidence: No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

It appears that c.4-5 letters are missing on the left side of the plaque, and this is likely to have followed the fairly standard formula of such epitaphs, with potentially just a final line detailing the age in years. The name could be one of many, such as Ioulianos, Markianos, Clodianos, Loukianos, Phlabianos, etc.

Bibliography

Digital editions

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

Printed editions

Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, Istituto nazionale di archeologia e storia dell’arte (Italy), e Reale Accademia d’Italia, «Notizie degli scavi di antichità», Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1876, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1646037, at (1915), 230

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Jonathan Prag

Contributors

Last revision

8/12/2025