ISic001856: Fragment of an epitaph

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 2014-09-11
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 2014-09-11
ID
ISic001856
Language
Ancient Greek
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
Fragment of a white marble plaque, discoloured on the front. Intact on the right side, preserving part of a raised moulding along the edge; broken on the other three sides. Finished on the reverse.
Object type
plaque
Object condition
fragment
Dimensions
height: 12.8 cm, width: 15.1 cm, depth: 2.2-2.6 cm

Material

Description
marble
Type > subtype
stone.marble > unspecified

Inscription

Layout
Remains of right end of two lines of Greek letters, traces of a third line below; uneven right margin.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Simple v-cut lunate letters with terminal serifs, of regular size.

Letter heights
Line 1-2: 21-23mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 18mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Centuripae
Provenance found
One of 8 epigraphic fragments acquired from Centuripe by the museum, 19 February 1914 (and Orsi was unable to confirm more precisely the locale in which they were found). Currently in storage, magazzino B, cassette 13

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
34733b
Autopsy
Prag 2014-09
Map

Date

1st — 3rd century CE (AD 1 - AD 300)
Evidence
No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

On the parallel of other imperial period Greek epitaphs from Centuripe, this is likely to be the upper right part of a simple funerary epitaph, for a female individual, with a name ending in -ike. If it follows the common χρηστά χαῖρε pattern, then no more than 4-6 letters are missing from the name. Orsi proposed a name such as Εὐριδικη. The length of the supraline, which would have stood over the numeral recording the age in line 3, together with the surviving letter trace, suggests that the numeral was made up of two letters, so an age of at least 11. Orsi omitted the supraline from his published edition.

Bibliography

Digital editions
  • TM: -
  • EDR: -
  • EDH: -
  • EDCS: -
  • PHI: -
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
8/13/2025