ISic003005: Latin architrave 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 2024-03-19
ID
ISic003005
Language
Latin
Text type
honorific
Object type
architrave
Status
No data
Links
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Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
A rectangular block of black volcanic stone, lightly damaged along the lower edge and at the right end, and rough below and behind (slight damage above the N to the top edge also). There are two square clamp holes in the upper surface, one at the left end, 13x13 cm and set 10.5 cm in from the left edge, and one at the right open to the right edge (12.5 x 9.5 cm). The inscribed face is 25.5 cm high and 96 cm wide.
Object type
architrave
Material
volcanic
Condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 25.5-28 cm, width: 103.5 cm, depth: 48.5 cm

Inscription

Layout
A single line of tall letters on the upper part of the front face, with blank space below
Text condition
No data
Letter heights
Line 1: 120-135mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: NAmm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
Excavated in the orchestra of the Roman theatre in 1950 by L. de Gregorio (assistente della Soprintendenza alla Antichita di Catania), under the direction of G. Libertini; seen in the theatre no later than 1961 by Manganaro; now among the stone elements on the ground behind the odeon in the upper rear corner of the archaeological site.
Map

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Teatro Romano di Catania ,
Autopsy
Prag 2024-03-19.
Map

Date

Flavian or shortly after (AD 69 – AD 125)
Evidence
No data

Text type

honorific

commentary

The stone was published by Manganaro in 1961, who suggested that it commemorated the same individual as ISic000352, a funerary altar for Titus Fla[vius] Ion[ius]. This link has been accepted by subsequent scholars. However, there has been considerable confusion and uncertainty regarding this stone in other regards. Manganaro described the piece as being made of 'pietra lavica', and suggested that it was an honorific statue base. According to Manganaro the piece was still in the theatre when he published it in 1961. Subsequent scholars (Wilson, Pensabene) have reported a limestone piece which is in the stores of the Museo Civico di Catania (noted as unpublished), and have consistently distinguished the two pieces (beginning with Wilson 1988: 127 n.128; followed by Wilson 1990: 69 and 365 n.118; Wilson 1996: 161 n.35; Pensabene 1996-1997: 71 n.181). Korhonen repeats this report, while also noting the existence of a 'copia in gesso' (2004: 174 n.86) in the Museo Civico. Both a resin cast/squeeze of the face of the inscription, and a plaster cast copy presumably made using this cast/squeeze are preserved in the Museo Civico (both seen in storage in 2017). The plaster cast (heavily discoloured, and giving the appearance of weathered limestone), originally on display in the 1970s, at height, on the walls of the Museo Civico, is undoubtedly the source of the original belief that there was a second 'limestone' version of the original inscription, and it is safe to conclude that there was in fact only a single such text in antiquity, in volcanic stone. The original, which is indeed of the typical black volcanic stone of the city, is currently (2024) lying with the confines of the archaeological park of the Roman theatre, in a collection of large stone elements behind the adjoining Roman odeon. The clamp holes at the top, and the shape of the stone, make its function as architrave or door lintel more likely than as an honorific statue base.

Bibliography

Digital editions
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Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
9/8/2024