ISic003124: The people of Tauromenion honour Nymphodoros son of Eukleides

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 2016-06-29
ID
ISic003124
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
honorific
Object type
statue base
Status
No data
Links
View in current site

Edition

Loading...

Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy;
  • 1: Although the plaster obscures the reading of ΤΩΝ in line 1, the text is secure when viewing the stone directly (even if not in the photographs).

Physical description

Support

Description
A substantial square base of Taormina limestone (although discoloured, it appears to be the typical pinkish stone of Taormina). The stone is intact, with all faces finished smooth (except the underside, which is squared off but left rough). There is a slight lip or moulding along the upper edge of the right side. There is minor damage to the rear lower left and right corners. Traces of white plaster (deriving from the covering of the bases by a new level of pavement in the restructuring of the early phase of the Roman colonia in the late C1 BCE or very early C1 CE) are visible on all sides, particularly the front face where it partially obscures the text. The top of the stone has two foot-holes on top, front right and rear left, each consisting of a pair of deep (5-6.5 cm deep) roughly circular hollows within the overall foothole, presumably for a bronze statue of a standing figure. The front foot is c.5.5 cm from the front of the stone and 11-12 from the right edge; the rear c.6 cm from the rear of the stone, and 9-17 from the left side.
Object type
statue base
Material
limestone
Condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 24-25 cm, width: 64.5 cm, depth: 59.5 cm

Inscription

Layout
Three lines of Greek letters, centred on the stone in the upper half of the front face, with some spacing between words.
Text condition
complete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 22-24mm
Line 2: 18-21 (phi = 29)mm
Line 3: 22-25mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Tauromenium
Provenance found
Found in situ during excavations in 1978 of the area of the Roman period baths behind the Caserma dei Carabinieri, which revealed this and a second base () in situ in the area of a courtyard adjoining a substantial hellenistic structure (possibly the bouleuterion), subsequently covered over in the restructuring of the area in the late C1 BCE / early C1 CE. The bases were subsequently removed to the Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi, Siracusa, where they will be on display in Sector E.
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Italy
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi , 82534
Autopsy
Prag 2011-06-16; 2013-10-02; 2016-06-29.
Map

Date

The dating is somewhat disputed: the individual is commonly identified with the three-time stratagos of the city in = IG XIV.421, for years 68, 82, and 97. However, the anchoring of the stratagoi list in absolute terms is less certain, even if the start date is generally agreed to fall somewhere in the middle or later third century BCE. If that date is accepted, and assuming the identification of the stratagos with the individual honoured here, then the date should fall somewhere in the first half or middle of the second century BCE. However, Battistoni (2020 p.176) rejects the identification, on the grounds that in his view the palaeography of this inscription is incompatible with such a date (he considers it to be palaeographically more recent than the base for Marcellus of the 70s BCE, IG XIV.435 = ). Palaeographic arguments seem weak in this context (and contrast the discussion of Muscolino 2009-2010, pp. 440-444, who reaches similar conclusions to those presented here) and the identification seems plausible, suggesting therefore a date between, very approximately, 200 and 140 BCE. (200 BC – 50 BC)
Evidence
lettering, prosopography

Text type

honorific

commentary

The text was found in situ alongside a second such base (ISic003125) for Nymphodoros son of Philistion; and it is an almost certain hypothesis that the other two statue bases (IG XIV.434 and 435 = ISic001259 and ISic001260) were originally part of the same set of honorific monuments, all in the immediate vicinity of what is assumed to be the Hellenistic bouleuterion, on the northern side of the original agora (and subsequently subsumed under later Roman structures). While the bases can all confidently be dated to the period between c.200 and 50 BCE, the exact chronology, as noted above, is open to some dispute. For a very full and detailed discussion of the context, concentrated on the two bases known since the 18th century, see Muscolino 2009-2010.

It is worth comparing the variety in the formulation of these four bases. The base for Nymphodoros son of Philistion is the only example at Tauromenion to employ the full formula dedicating the honorand in the accusative to the divine in the dative (in this case 'all the gods', which is encountered with some frequency in Hellenistic Sicily, especially along the north coast of the island). The base for Nymphodoros son of Eukleides employs the same accusative formulation, but without the dative dedication to a divinity, or the reflexive phrase τᾶς εἰς αὑτὸν, in similar fashion to the base for Olympis son of Olympis (which substitutes his Pythian victory as the reason, rather than his goodwill to the city). The base for Marcellus simply presents the name of the Roman governor in the nominative.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions
Discussion

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
10/11/2024