ISic003330: Fragments of a monumental building inscription

Apparatus criticus

• frA.line.1: ΙΕΡΩ, Facella 2006: 178 n.127
  
• frB.line.1:

Physical description

Support

Description

Two non-joining limestone blocks, presumably from the upper part (architrave) of a monumental structure, each bearing monumental letters on one face. Block 'a' is broken on the right side, with the front left edge of the face also missing and some damage to the upper edge. The block is H 54.5 cm x W 68 cm (73 at rear) x D 63 cm. Block 'b' is intact on the top, but partially damaged below and with some damage / loss to the left and right ends. H 53.5 cm x W 109 cm x D 58.5 cm.

Object type

architrave

Object condition

fragments, non-contiguous

Dimensions

Material

Description

yellow calcarenite with visible bioclasts, likely (grainstone with red algae, polygenic quartz, gasteropoda, nummulitids, micritic cement and iron oxides) (identification based on pXRF, digital microscopy, XRD, optical microscopy)

Type > subtype

stone.limestone.non-polishable.yellowish > calcarenite_SiciliaOCC

Inscription

Layout

Each block presents a single line of monumental letters across the face of the block

Text condition

incomplete

Technique

chiselled

Pigment

No data

Lettering

The letters have a simple monumental form, with lightly serifed terminations. Epsilon has short middle bar; omega is closed and slightly ovoid. The letters on block 'b' are slightly shorter overall.

Types

• Ε type2
• Ε type2.3
• Ε type2.3.1
• Ε type2.3.2
• Ρ type1
• Ρ type1.1
• Ω type2
• Ω type2.2
• Ω type2.2.1
• Ν type2
• Ν type2.2
• Τ type2
• Τ type2.1
• Χ type3

Letter heights

Line 1: 190-230mm

Interlinear heights

n/a: n/amm

Provenance

Place of origin

Halaesa

Provenance found

Found during excavations by Carettoni, summer 1956 in two separate locations to the east of the agora/'muro a bugnato'. Block 'a' found during excavations by Carettoni in trench VI (1956) on the east side of the monumental 'muro a bugnato', thought to form the foundation of a ‘portico orientale’ which borders the east side of the so-called ‘agora inferiore’. Block 'b' found during excavations by Carettoni in trench XXXII (16 October 1956) on the 'rampa settentrionale' leading from the house with portico (the so-called ginnasio) towards the monumental wall supporting the 'portico orientale'

Map

Current location

Place

Halaesa, Sicilia

Repository

Area archeologica Halaesa Arconidea

Autopsy

Autopsy by Prag, in situ, 2008.09.30

Map

Date

Evidence

archaeological-context

Text type

building

commentary

It is not possible to expand the text of block A: Facella (2006: 178 n.127) suggests that an iota can be read before the epsilon, but this is only the line of breakage on the stone, and his suggestion to read the name Hieron (i.e. King Hieron II of Syracuse, c.269-215 BC), if the monumentalisation of the agora belongs in the second century BC, is unlikely (if tempting). Campagna (2007: 117-118; followed by Prestianni Giallombardo 2012: 190 n.35) plausibly suggests that B should be restored to read [--ἐ]κ̣ τῶν χ[ρημάτων--] (‘from the funds...’), i.e. a reference to the financing of the building operation. In other words, the blocks may reasonably be imagined to form part of the dedicatory inscription of whatever structure was supported by the monumental ‘muro a bugnato’ which borders the west side of the principal street (the 'cardo massimo') as it runs north of the agora (and perhaps marks the eastern limit of the area of the so-called ‘agora inferiore’), since the blocks were found in proximity to this wall. The letter forms are consistent with (but do not require) a date in the second century BC.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: 645581
• EDR: -
• EDH: -
• EDCS: -
• PHI: -

Printed editions

• Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, Istituto nazionale di archeologia e storia dell’arte (Italy), e Reale Accademia d’Italia, «Notizie degli scavi di antichità», Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1876, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1646037, at (1961), 303 no.3 with fig.42 (A), 311 no.12a (B)
• A. Facella, Alesa Arconidea: ricerche su un’antica città della Sicilia tirrenica (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2006), at 178 n.127
• Lorenzo Campagna, «Architettura pubblica ed evergetismo nella Sicilia di età repubblicana», in La Sicilia romana tra Repubblica e Alto Impero, a c. di C. Miccichè, S. Modeo, e L. Santagati (Caltanissetta: Siciliantica, 2007), 110–34, at 117-118
• G. Tigano, «Il sito archeologico», in Alesa Archonidea. Guida all’antiquarium, a c. di G. Scibona e G. Tigano (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, 2008), 71–90, at 86 fig.22-23
• Anna Maria Prestianni Giallombardo, «Spazio pubblico e memoria civica. Le epigrafi dall’agora di Alesa», in Agora greca e agorai di Sicilia, a c. di C. Ampolo (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2012), 171–200, at 173 fig.148-149
• J.R.W. Prag e G. Tigano, Alesa Archonidea: il lapidarium, Introduzione all’archeologia di Halaesa 8 (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, Assessorato beni culturali e identità siciliana, Dipartimento beni culturali e identità siciliana, 2017), at no.41

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Jonathan Prag

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• James Cummings
• Simona Stoyanova
• Robert Crellin
• Alessia Coccato

Last revision

3/29/2026