ISic003150: Epitaph of Quintus Pompeius Sosius Clementianus

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 2016-10-14
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 2016-10-14
ID
ISic003150
Language
Latin
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
draft
Links
View in current site

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text of Prag from photograph;
  • 4: The F of infanti has a substantial foot, giving the appearance of an E (visual confusion between these letters not uncommon in C2-C3 inscriptions); the A of infanti lacks a cross-bar.

Physical description

Support

Description
A white marble plaque, intact on all sides. Roughly finished on the rear, with the edges roughly cut back for insertion into a wall or other setting. The letters appear to have been crudely repainted since antiquity
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: 23 cm, width: 28.5 cm, depth: 3.3 cm

Inscription

Layout
The text is roughly centred on the stone.
Text condition
complete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

V-cut letters of slightly irregular module and height, with pronounced serifs. Interpuncts are above the line and not clearly distinguishable from apices

Letter heights
Line 1-7: 17-21mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Catina
Provenance found
First observed, in the Biscari collection, by Mommsen. Mommsen considered it to be from Rome, but Korhonen rightly argues that the well attested presence of the Pompeii Sosii in Centuripe and Catania, and the physical form of the epitaph make a Catania - or Centuripe - provenance far more likely. Now in the Museo Civico (sala VII.229, mag. sup.)

Current location

Place
Catania, Italy
Repository
Museo Civico di Catania , 585
Autopsy
Photographed but not transcribed, Prag 2016-10-14
Map

Date

Second half of 2nd century CE or early 3rd century CE (Korhonen) (AD 151 - AD 250)
Evidence
prosopography

Text type

funerary

commentary

Given that Biscari undertook excavations at Centuripe, and that the family of the Pompeii Sosii has part of its origin in Centuripe, it is at least as possible that the stone comes originally from Centuripe as from Catania. It seems most likely that Clementianus is the son of a freedman of the family.

Korhonen's suggestion that the apices/interpuncts in line 6 serve to indicate abbreviations cannot stand given that the sign appears after the numeral VII also, so they serve simply to separate all elements on the line, as is typical.

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
11/27/2025