ISic002238: Fragmentary Greek funerary inscription

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 2026-09-17
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 2026-09-17
ID
ISic002238
Status
edited
Language
Ancient Greek
Object type
stele
Text type
funerary

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy ;
  • 1: Orsi: Μο[σ...]; 11 cm are missing from the right side at this point
  • 2: Orsi: Εὐπολέ[μου]; 19.5cm are missing from the right side at this point

Physical description

Support

Description
A rectangular cippus/stele of the local limestone, finished smooth on all sides. Intact left and part of front and base and lower right, but damaged across the upper right. The top is preserved at the upper left, but the top of the face is lost, and theoretically there is space for a first line of text, if it were inscribed right up to the top of the front face (unlikely).
Object type
stele
Object condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 64 cm, width: 37.5 cm, depth: 29.5 cm

Material

Description
limestone
Type > subtype
stone.limestone > unverified

Inscription

Layout
Two visible lines of Greek letters, decreasing in size, across the upper part of the front face. Line 1 more widely spaced than line 2 and slightly inset.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Elegant thinly carved letters. The trace of sigma on line 1 suggests a rather open four-bar sigma; Epsilon has short middle bar; Pi has short right hand hasta; omicron is sligthly smaller than other letters; Mu has vertical outer strokes, half-length inner strokes.

Letter heights
Line 1: 42-50mm
Line 2: 30-42mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae medium certainty
Provenance found
Acquired by Orsi, 2 November 1905 (so the inventory), from Predio Tarantello, a continuation of the Tor di Conte early Hellenistic necropolis ; now in storage in the archaeological park of Neapolis
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
25107
Autopsy
Prag 2026-09-17, archaeological park of Neapolis
Map

Date

fourth century BCE on palaeographic grounds (400 BCE - 301 BCE)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

Traces of the sigma and mu at the breaks are visible. Given the missing space (18 cm up to the sigma trace, c.19.5 cm missing), not more than three letters can be missing from line 1, so Μόσχος (attested at Syracuse and Akragas and Tauromenion) seems very likely, or just possibly Μοσχίων. In line 2, given the missing space of c.11cm (26.5 preserved), only 2-3 letters can be missing, and so Orsi's suggestion of Εὐπόλεμος (attested at Syracuse and multiple other Sicilian locations in the Hellenistic period) is surely correct.

Bibliography

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

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
9/25/2026
License
Commons CC-BY 4.0