ISic003110: Funerary inscription for Philokles

Photograph of front face by students of Liceo M.M. Lazzaro, courtesy of Museo Civico di Catania
ID
ISic003110
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy;
  • line.1: Alessi: ΦΙΛΟ.Μ.
  • line.2: Alessi: ΧΡΙΣΤΕ

Physical description

Support

Description
A rough thick slab of irregular shape, damaged upper right and along the lower edge, and somewhat worn on the front face. The rear is rough in finish.
Object type
plaque
Material
limestone
Condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 19.5 cm, width: 30 cm, depth: 5.5-5.7 cm

Inscription

Layout
Deeply cut letters (although the surface is worn) of moderately regular form, with a consistent left margin, over three lines.
Text condition
deteriorated
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1-3: 32-54mm
Interlinear heights
Not measured: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Enna
Provenance found
Found on the southern slopes of Enna prior to 1833, and initially in the collection of Giuseppe Alessi.
Map

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico di Catania , 929
Autopsy
Display, Voci di pietra no.3
Map

Date

2nd or 1st century BCE (200 BC – 1 BC)
Evidence
lettering, textual-context

Text type

funerary

commentary

Although the stone is damaged, it seems likely that the text is complete. The formula is a typical one of Greek funerary inscriptions, particularly of the later Hellenistic and early Imperial period, and addresses the deceased directly (compare the bilingual example ISic000348). The name Philokles is a common one, found elsewhere in Sicily (e.g. at Akrai and Monte San Fratello = ancient Apollonia (ISic001187)).

The provenance of the text was unknown when edited by Korhonen in 2004, and there appears to be no record of how it entered the civic collection; as Korhonen rightly notes, the material of the stone lacks parallels with other texts from Catania. However, this is undoubtedly the same text as is reported by Giuseppe Alessi in 1833 as having been found (and preserved) by him on the southern slopes of the town at an unrecorded moment prior to 1833. Alessi describes it as 'in pietra arenaria', which aligns well with this 'pietra calcarea di colore arancio' as Korhonen describes it. More significantly, however, Alessi's record of the text is surely the same: his transcription of line 1 is entirely compatible with the state of the text on the stone (the damage to the kappa undoubtedly corresponds to the stop in his text; and the remaining strokes of the lamda and eta very obviously correspond to his 'M'); in line 2 it is no less apparent that the second vertical of the eta has been conflated with the left side of the sigma in his reading, producing the ΙΣ (lunate) of his text. Further supporting confirmation can be offered by the fact that a second text of those reported by Alessi in the same publication (ISic001375) has ended up in the collection of the Museo Civico di Catania (that text passed from Alessi's collection to the University and thence to the civic collection - see Korhonen ad loc.)

The usual form of the vocative would be Φιλοκλεῖς, but parallels can be found for the form in this inscription, such as in a second-century BC example from Delos, in M.T. Couilloud, Les monuments funéraires de Rhénée (Exploration archéologique de Délos ; fasc. 30), Paris, Dépositaire Diffusion de Boccard (1974), no.16: Φιλοκλῆ Θεοδότου Δήλιε χρηστὲ χαῖρε (PHI215095); the example from San Fratello is damaged at the right margin making it a more speculative but still significant parallel.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
2/18/2021