ISic003591: Honours for Aelius Asinius Petitus, rhetor
Ancient Greek, honorific, plaque
edited, View in current site
Apparatus criticus
- Text from autopsy and study for edition of 2017
English translation
The city of the Halaesans (honours) [-] Aelius Asinius Petitus, rhetor, from a joint contribution.
Physical description
Support
- Description
- A large slab of cream/blue-grey marble, of which four joining fragments survive. Height (maximum across the face) 43.5 cm; width 52.2 cm; depth 4.5 cm (left) to 6 cm (right). Parts of the top, left and right margins survive, including the upper right corner. The upper left corner and all of the lower part of the slab are lost.
- Object type
- plaque
- Material
- marble
- Condition
- No data
- Dimensions
- height: 43.5 cm, width: 52.2 cm, depth: 4.5-6.0 cm
Inscription
- Layout
- Five lines of Greek letters are preserved.
- Text condition
- No data
- Lettering
- The letters are very neatly and regularly V-cut, well spaced and generously proportioned; height 56-63 mm. Serifs are mostly deep triangular terminations to the principal strokes. Σ and Ε are lunate, the latter with a short middle bar; Ν has a rounded join between the second and third strokes; Α has a slight apex, and a horizontal bar; Π has vertical hastae of equal length, and the cross-bar overlaps slightly on both sides; Ρ is not quite closed, with a well-rounded eye; the vertical stroke of Φ extends up to join the base of the letter on the line above. Interpuncts are used regularly to mark word-breaks and have the form of a comma.
- Letter heights
- Lines 1-5: 56-63mm
- Interlinear heights
- Interlineation: not measured
Provenance
- Place of origin
- Halaesa
- Provenance found
- Agora excavations of the 1970s
Current location
- Place
- Halaesa, Italy
- Repository
- Antiquarium e sito archeologico di Halaesa, 30602
- Autopsy
- On display in the lapidarium on site
- Map
- TODO: use the geo information in the museums dataset
Date
AD 150 – AD 200- Evidence
- context
Text type
commentary
The restoration of the first and final lines are necessarily conjectural, but with a significant degree of confidence. The nomen Aelius is the most likely, consequent upon the emperor T. Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). The final surviving line is most plausibly restored with reference to the polis as the body responsible for the honour, in which case the ethnic would be expected in line 6. It is always possible that additional lines are missing below.
The cognomen Πετειτος = Petitus is not attested in Greek, but finds a number of examples in Latin inscriptions. The name belongs to a group of names particularly common in N. Africa and derived from participles, reflecting the attitude of parents to the child, and particularly that a child was “wished or prayed for”, or he/she was “a gift” (see Kajanto, J. 1965. The Latin Cognomina. Helsinki, at 75-76). The wish is made explicit, with the verb petitus, although outside the onomastic context, in an inscription from Puteoli (CIL 10 no.3310 = ILCV 1789).
The phrase ἐγ συνεισφορᾶς is unusual, but easily understood. The compound word συνεισφορᾶς is rare and where attested epigraphically (e.g. J. Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome (1982), no.8 line 42) tends to refer to a collective taxation arrangement. The use of ἐγ for ἐκ in front of sigma is very unusual. Although the inscription has been linked to the large statue base in opus reticulatum in the agora, and the marble togate statue found in the 18th century and known as the orator (e.g. Scibona, G. 2009b. L'Agorà (scavi 1970-2004). In G. Scibona and G. Tigano (eds), Alaisa-Halaesa. Scavi e ricerche (1970-2007) (Messina: Regione Siciliana) 9-43, at 39), this is without foundation.
The choice of Greek in an inscription of the high imperial period is noteworthy, since almost all of the other public inscriptions of the imperial period from Halaesa are in Latin (notwithstanding the obvious Greek tradition). The clear cultural framework of the so-called ‘Second Sophistic’ period, in particular in the act of honouring a rhetor (a teacher and exponent of public speaking), must be assumed to have influenced the choice of language on this occasion, serving to make an explicit statement regarding the high cultural value of Greek. There is no way of knowing whether Petitus was of Halaesan origin, or an individual who had assisted the city in some way. Although lunate sigma occurs elsewhere in Sicily in Hellenistic inscriptions, it does not do so on lapidary inscriptions at Halaesa (but see ISic001179) and the form of this text is distinctive from the earlier Greek texts from the site.
The text perhaps belongs to the second half of the second century AD.
Bibliography
Citation and editorial status
- Citation
- No data