Funerary inscription for Eirenaios (ISic003149)

Apparatus criticus

Text from autopsy;
line.1: ΕΙΡΗΝΕΣ lapis; Εἰρην(ο)ς IGCVO 855
lines.4-5: μηὲν β|λάψας Manganaro, CIJud 1(2).650c, JIWE 148, Biondi-Buscemi Felici (ΜΗΛΕΝ lapis); Μηλένβι λάψας Orsi; Ferrua

Physical description

Support

Description: A square plaque of marble, intact on all sides other than minor damage to the upper right corner. The edges are cut back towards the rear, and the rear is polished smooth, with an incised line marking a framing border around the rear face.
Object type: plaque
Object condition: complete
Dimensions: height: 14.0 cm, width: 14.0 cm, depth: 2.7 cm

Material

Description: marble
Type > subtype: stone.marble > unspecified

Inscription

Layout: The text fills the space, with word breaks not observing line end, and the text not filling the final line.
Text condition: complete #text_condition, legible
Technique: chiselled
Pigment: No data
Lettering: No data
Letter heights: Line 1-6: 14-16mm
Interlinear heights: Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin: Catina medium certainty
Provenance found: Found by Paolo Orsi, walled into a loculus in prop. M. Sangiorgi, via A. di San Giuliano (formerly via Lincoln), Catania
Map

Current location

Place: Catania, Sicilia
Repository: Museo di Archeologia dell'Universita di Catania; 05/136
Autopsy: 2016.05.12
Map

Date

4th — 5th century CE (CE 301 - CE 500)

Evidence: No data

Text type

funerary

commentary

The funerary inscription presents the standard purchase formula for the tomb (ll. 2-4), with the verb ἀγοράζω in the aorist, characteristic of many inscriptions from Catania (IG XIV 538, 555, 566, IGCVO 866, IMusCatania 176, 194, 200; on the use of this verb in epitaphs with tomb-purchase formulas, see Grossi Gondi 1920, 246). Lines 4-6 have been variously interpreted: Orsi (1897, 240) read Μηλένβ|ι λάψας τὴν ἐν|τολήν in the sense of facultatem sumere, with the genitive Μηλένβι referring to the previous owner of the tomb. Manganaro (1959, 347; 1959-1960, 201-202), on the other hand, corrected this to μηὲν β|λάψας τὴν ἐν|τολήν, identifying the typically Jewish formula concerning the non-violation of the commandment (for another attestation at Catania, see IMusCatania 229 ll. 2-4 μηδὲν ζημι|ώσας τὴν ἐντολήν), and thus attributing this inscription to a Jewish milieu (cf. also BE 1960.459, 1961.882). Noy (1993, 196) identified in this ‘commandment’ aspects, not further specified, of Jewish burial law: on the connection between ἐντολή and the Jewish world, see also the epithet φιλέντολος in JIWE II 240, 281, 576. The deceased is called Εἰρῆνες, another variant of Εἰρηναῖος (Noy 1993, 195 records other possible variants, rejecting the correction found in Wessel 1989), and his name is accompanied by the title characteristic of the Christian and Jewish ecclesiastical hierarchy, presbyteros.

Bibliography

Digital editions

Printed editions

Discussion

Felice Grossi Gondi, Trattato di epigrafia cristiana latina e greca del mondo romano occidentale (Roma, 1920), at 246

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor