ISic002747: I.Sicily inscription 002747

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 2022-04-29
ID
ISic002747
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
building
Object type
block
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy and earlier editions;
  • Manganaro: βα[σιλεὺς Ιερώνυμος / β]ασιλ[έως Γ]έ[λωνος / τὰς] κρη[πίδας ἐτέλεσε]; Dimartino: βα[σιλ]ε[ὺς - - - β]ασιλ[έως - - -τὰς] κρη[πίδας - ἐτέλεσεν] ;
  • c: Orsi, Manganaro, Dimartino: ΚΡΗ; but the angle and extent of the two initial strokes are implausible as arms of kappa, and surely belong to a chi (the upper stroke slightly shorter, the lower resting on the line, which is incompatible with the form of kappa in contemporary texts).
  • d: Orsi reports the fragment as having a letter which was damaged on the right side, and so being either an Ε or a Β; it is unclear why Dimartino reports this as being either an Ε or an Η.

Physical description

Support

Description
Three blocks and a fragment of a fourth. All are damaged to varying degrees. Block (a) (Orsi's measurements) appears to be intact on the left, and broken on the right; max H 38 cm, max W 65, max D 38. Block (b) is intact below, on left and partly at front and rear; it is broken on the right and across the top. The lower half of the front face is preserved. Clear signs on the underside that it rested on another block; the left side is rough and clearly joined to another also. Max H 38 cm, max W 60, max D 66. Letters 180mm, vacat below is 5-7.5 cm. Note that the Alpha appears to have been cut across this block and that to the left, exactly down the middle. Block (c) is intact on the top, in front and below, broken to the left, right and across the rear. It has been partly filled/patched with modern plaster to the rear. Max H 39.5 cm, max W 42, max D 31. Lettters are 185 (X) to 200mm (Ρ, Η); vacat below 4-5 cm. Fragment (d) (Orsi's measurements) is described as a 'frammentino', 23 cm H x 9 cm wide with a letter incomplete on the right side, and 175mm high.
Object type
block
Material
limestone
Condition
fragments, non-contiguous
Dimensions
height: 38-39.5 cm, width: greater than 176 cm, depth: 31-66 cm

Inscription

Layout
No data
Text condition
incomplete
Letter heights
Line 1: 175-200mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae
Provenance found
Euryelos, found during work in July 1904 (the inventory specifies July) to clear and clarify the dipylon, either in the entryways, or immediately outside
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Italy
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi , 24432
Autopsy
Prag 2014-09-12 and 2022-04-28, magazzino B, Museo archeologico regionale P.Orsi (fragments b and c only)
Map

Date

3rd century BCE, either Agathocles or Hieron II. (300 BC – 215 BC)
Evidence
lettering, textual-context

Text type

building

commentary

Orsi reported four fragments as being found in the area of the Dipylon at the Euryelos fortress in 1904. In NSA 1904 he presented measurements of all four, photographs of fragments (b) and (c), and outlined texts of (a) and (d). The inventory only records fragments (a), (b) and (c), in equal detail. The first autopsy-based report subsequently was that of Manganaro 1969, who only saw fragments (b) and (c), and subsequent attempts to study the stones, including our own, have only located these two blocks. It is notable that the measurements of the letterheights given by Orsi, in the inventory and the NSA report appear somewhat contradictory and confused, which adds to the difficulty of interpretation: for fragment (a), Orsi gives a letterheight of 24 cm in both reports; for (b) in the inventory 19cm, in NSA 20cm; for (c) in the inventory 30cm, in NSA 20cm; for (d) in NSA 17.5 cm. Compare the measurements above, which are consistently in the range of 18-20 cm. The implication must be that all the letters do indeed belong to a single inscription, being found in apparent close proximity. Note that Manganaro and Orsi both suggested the text ran over more than one line, in Orsi's case the argument being based upon the variation in letter height. It is not clear that this is necessary, either on the grounds of lettersize (the actual variation does not seem meaningful), nor on simple questions of space, as the Dipylon superstructure was over 10m wide, with 6-7 letters to a metre.

The restoration of the text is obviously highly speculative, given the limited surviving fragments. Manganaro (1969: 289) proposed attributing the text to Hieronymos, linking it to his intepretation of the coin production in the very final phase of Syracusan activity prior to the Roman conquest, but this seems implausible. Beste and Mertens (2015: 293), by contrast, associate the fragments with the building works attributed to Agathokles (as did Winter, Karlsson and Lehmler). Orsi suggested Dionysius I, but was aware that he never formally had the title of king. The surviving letters do strongly suggest that the word βασιλεὺς appeared twice in the inscription, and if so, then unless two separate actions are recorded, we must be in the period of the joint regency of Hieron and Gelon (or, as Manganaro suggested, the very final period under Hieronymos). Dimartino suggests that the letter forms are third century and clearly implies later third century / Hieronian. Given the horizontal lower stroke of the sigma, this is perhaps more likely, but given the minimal surviving text and the monumental size of the letters, there is very little indeed on which to base a judgement. Note that the letters preserve significant traces of red paint.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
10/18/2024