ISic003426: Fragmentary monumental Greek inscription

Photo J. Prag, 2015
ID
ISic003426
Language
Ancient Greek
Text type
dedication
Object type
block
Status
No data
Links
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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy ;
  • line.1: Manganaro 1963: [- - ἱερ]εὺς Διὸς καὶ [Ἑστίας (?)- - -];
  • The damage to the right end makes it impossible to be sure whether the final upright is an iota or another letter

Physical description

Support

Description
A large rectangular block of the local limestone, similar to that used in the construction of the fortress generally. the front face is mostly preserved, if rather eroded. The right edge appears clearly cut and probably original; the left edge is cut back from the front face over a length of c.20cm, but the original left end of the block is preserved towards the rear. The rear of the block is intact, except at the right corner.
Object type
block
Material
limestone
Condition
damaged
Dimensions
height: 44 cm, width: 143 cm, depth: 63 cm

Inscription

Layout
Large letters centrally placed on the stone in a single line. The text is incomplete at start and finish.
Text condition
incomplete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 175-200mm
Interlinear heights

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae
Provenance found
Found c.1961 below the Euryelos fortifications, in the 'Dionysian walls', from the slope below the fortifications by the city gate crossed by the modern 'via Epipole', in the direction of the castello Eurialo

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Italy
Repository
Area archeologica Castello Eurialo
Autopsy
Currently located beside the path between ticket office and public toilets near the entrance to the site
Map

Date

3rd century BCE (300 BC – 200 BC)
Evidence
No data

Text type

dedication

commentary

This is almost the only inscription on the site of the fortress, although it is not in fact the only inscription from the fortress: there are fragments from several monumental Greek inscriptions in the stores of the Museum in Syracuse, found at various points in the last 120 years (not all of them published, but all of them too fragmentary to tell us very much).

The letters ΥΣ pose something of a challenge, although Manganaro's suggestion of ἱερεὺς (priest) is very plausible. The rest of the text says ‘...of Zeus and...’. A second divinity’s name in the genitive is therefore likely to follow (such as Manganaro's suggestion of Hestia), but it’s not clear what could precede – the main options with the –υς ending are: (1) another genitive singular (many third declension words ending in –ης have a genitive in –ους), in which case a name or an object are possible, but epithets of Zeus usually follow the name, and one would expect another connective between proper names; (2) a nominative singular in -υς (such as ἱερ]εὺς), or (3) an accusative plural in –ους (in the latter two cases, this would then refer to something of Zeus and ...). But we cannot go much further.

The letters are very similar to those around the diazoma of the theatre built by Hieron II in Syracuse and which were inscribed after 238 BC, and consist of the names of members of the royal house and divinities (including Διὸς Ὀλυμπίου (ISic000824. Gentile reckoned they belonged to the reign of Agathocles, but such precision is impossible. We could confidently say that they belong to the third century however, and so might reflect work on the fortress by either Agathocles or Hieron II. The phases of the fortress itself, which was originally constructed by Dionysios I are very hard to determine, although a number are usually attributed to both Agathocles and Hieron II (see e.g. Winter, F. E. “The Chronology of the Euryalos Fortress at Syracuse,” American Journal of Archaeology 67 (1963) pp.363–87 http://www.jstor.org/stable/501621.

Bibliography

Digital editions
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Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
4/22/2021