ISic003008: Fragment of a monumental Greek inscription

No image available

ID
ISic003008
Status
draft
Language
Ancient Greek
Object type
block
Text type
dedication

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on photograph ;
  • 1: Manganaro 1977: [Ἀπόλλονι κα]ὶ̣ Νύμ̣[φαις]
  • 2: Manganaro 1977: [τὸν βομὸν] οἰκοδ̣[όμεσε]
  • 3: Manganaro 1977: τελέ[ος]

Physical description

Support

Description
Large fragmentary block, damaged above, below and to the left, seemingly intact on the right, which Manganaro hypothesises as part of an altar.
Object type
block
Object condition
fragment
Dimensions
height: 55.5 cm, width: 53 cm, depth: 28 cm

Material

Description
limestone
Type > subtype
inorganic.stone > unverified

Inscription

Layout
Remains of three lines of very large, evenly spaced regular letters.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Widely spaced, large, wide letters, very neatly and regularly carved with a thin groove. Large omicron, Nu with diagonal fully descending, kappa with near full length arms, epsilon with short middle bar.

Letter heights
Line 1: 120mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae high certainty
Provenance found
Found, before 1885, in the area of the Altar of Hieron; currently in storage in the archaeological park of Neapolis
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
3
Autopsy
None
Map

Date

4th century BCE (?) ('I caratteri epigrafici possono riportasi almeno al IV sec., circa, se e vero che alla lin.2 non e segnato con l'omega l'aumento del verbo.' Manganaro (however, also observes possible Hieronic parallels) (400 BCE - 251 BCE)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

dedication

commentary

Manganaro speculates that the block is part of an altar, at least 3.5m wide, on the basis of his proposed (entirely speculative) restoration of the text. The inventory records the piece as coming from the area of the Great Altar, but no other information is preserved: as inventory no.3, the piece was in the museum at its foundation, but there appears to be no trace of the piece in other documentation (not included in Orsi's initial taccuini in which he recorded most of the initial epigraphic collection, and not seemingly mentioned by Kaibel, nor by the earlier editors such as the Prince of Torremuzza, nor the collection of Cesare Gaetani). The letters are clearly classical or early Hellenistic in form, and monumental, but it remains difficult to say more without further context. There is the very faintest possibility that it is part of the lost text recorded in IG XIV.10, originally reported by Metellus (and which has ΟΙΚΟ in line 2), but this was said to come from the area of the Temple of Zeus Olympios, and the reports do not suggest a text of the size that would have been necessary, so this seems extremely unlikely.

Bibliography

Digital editions
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