ISic003002: I.Sicily inscription 003002

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy ;
1: Manganaro: [----]
2: Manganaro: [- -]ΤΗΣ (vac.) [- - ] Υ [...]
3: Manganaro: [- - ? Πυθι]άδα
4: Manganaro: [Σαράπει (vac.)]

Physical description

Support

Description: A block of a variegated and reasonably compact light pink coloured stone (described as 'pietra di Taormina'). The upper and middle parts of the face are heavily damaged. The base is intact, but some loss to both the left and right sides, as well as along the upper edge, although the original upper face appears largely to be preserved; the rear is broken. The base and other faces are roughly finished, only the front face is finished smooth. It seems likely therefore that the block was one of several in a larger monument or wall. The original depth is unknown.
Object type: base
Material: limestone
Condition: damaged
Dimensions: height: 21 cm, width: 44 cm, depth: 23 cm

Inscription

Layout

Remains of four lines of Greek text, of which the preserved traces suggest that lines 1-3 filled the width of the stone, but line 4 is more widely spaced and has a vacat at the right, and below.

Text condition

incomplete

Lettering

Letter heights

Line 1-4: 24-25mm

Interlinear heights

Interlineation line 1 to 4: 14-15mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Syracusae
Provenance found: Found in June 1886, recovered during the demolition of the 16th century fortifications at the entrance to Ortygia.
Map

Current location

Place: Siracusa, Italy
Repository: Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi , 6189
Autopsy: Currently in the entry corridor to magazzino B, Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi, Siracusa.
Map

Date

The letter forms would suggest later third or more likely second century BCE (250 BC – 100 BC)

Evidence: lettering

Text type

dedication

commentary

The interpretation of line 3 as suggesting that this is the dedication of the statue of a man's wife to Isis and at last one other divinity goes back to the first publication of the piece by Orsi, approved by Kaibel in the addenda to IG, and followed by subsequent editors. Manganaro plausibly proposes Serapis as the other deity, followed (for example) by Sfameni Gasparro; Manganaro suggests the form Σαράπει as being the older, to align with the form Ἴσει. In a more ambitious conjectural restoration of the whole, Manganaro (1961: 177 n.9) suggested that the dedication was made by the Syracusans for an individual and his wife: [Ὁ δᾶμος τῶν Συρακοσίων] | [ὑπέρ ... ἀρε]τῆς (vac.) [καἰ δικαιοσ]ύ[νης] | (τὸν δεῖνα τοῦ δεῖνος) καὶ? Πυθιάδα τὰν αὑτ[οῦ γ]υναῖκα | [Σαράπει (vac.) ] καὶ (vac.) Ἴσει. However, this seems to be incompatible with both the apparent trace of an epsilon near the end of line 1, and, more significantly, the vacats after both sigma and upsilon in line 2 (the end of line two can contain at most a three letter word after a word ending in upsilon, assuming that the right side of the stone is only lightly damaged). Assuming the restoration of the name of Serapis in line 4, then either the block itself was essentially the same width again on the left, or a second block joined to the left. It seems likely that only a very small amount is lost from the right side. One could, for instance, alternatively imagine the name of the husband in the nominative in line 2 (---της --[ο]υ) i.e. idionym ending in -της and patronym, but this does not resolve the restoration of line 1 or the first part of lines 2 or 3. It remains likely that -άδα is the accusative ending of the woman's name (alternatives such as παστάδα, and so the dedication of a building, seem implausible given the rest of the line).

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Discussion

Giacomo Manganaro, «Ricerche di antichità e di epigrafia siceliote», Archeologia Classica 17 (1965): 183–210, at 189

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor