ISic002993: Dedication of church entrance

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ID
ISic002993
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
dedication
Object type
block
Status
draft
Links
View in current site

Edition

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 Zotero
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Apparatus criticus

  • Text after Orsi 1903 with suggestions of Ferrua 1989;
  • 1: Ferrua suggests that omicron at the end of line 1 was originally the ligatured form ȣ
  • 2: Ferrua suggests that the lower of the two stacked omicrons in line 2 might be lunate sigma for the end of εἴσοδος (in which case actually line 3)

Physical description

Support

Description
A block of course lava stone, walled into the sacristry of a church
Object type
block
Material
volcanic
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 31 cmwidth: 82 cmdepth: cm

Inscription

Layout
Text over two lines, seemingly
Text condition
complete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Described by Orsi as archaic Greek letters, but seems more likely a Christian text, crudely cut on coarse stone.

Letter heights
Line 1: mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Hybla Gereatis
Provenance found
Seen by Orsi walled into the sacristy of the chiesetta dell'Annunziata all'Ospedale, behind a bench or seat. No subsequent publication references actual autopsy of the stone, Orsi provides a drawing of the text.

Current location

Place
Paterno, Italy
Repository
Chiesa dell'Annunziata
Autopsy
None

Date

Byzantine; 5th — 6th century CE (?) (AD 401 - AD 600)
Evidence
No data

Text type

dedication

commentary

Orsi declined to resolve the text, which he thought Archaic. Subsequent editions by Pace, Soraci, and Ferrua are all derivative of Orsi's drawing. Pace first proposed the Christian resolution, which would seem to be from above the entrance to a church.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
11/3/2025