ISic004488: ISic004488
No image available
- ID
- ISic004488
- Status
- draft
- Language
- Ancient Greek
- Object type
- pebble
- Text type
- unassigned
Edition
Apparatus criticus
- Text from autopsy
Physical description
Support
- Description
- A naturally tapering pebble of very hard stone, perhaps calcareous tuff. It measures 13 cm in maximum length, 3.8 cm in maximum width and approximately 1.8 cm in maximum thickness, and weighs 187.392 g. It is complete apart from minor chipping and shows no visible traces of wear. The inscription occupies one face. The opposite face bears a carefully cut square recess, 2 cm wide and only a few millimetres deep, containing three shallow holes that do not pierce the stone.
- Object type
- pebble
- Object condition
- No data
- Dimensions
- height: 13 cm, width: 3.8 cm, depth: 1.8 cm
Material
- Description
- limestone
- Type > subtype
- stone.sedimentary_rock > unspecified
Inscription
- Layout
- No data
- Text condition
- No data
- Technique
- chiselled
- Pigment
- No data
- Lettering
- No data
- Letter heights
- Line 1: 12-13mm
- Interlinear heights
- Interlineation line 1 to 2: not measured
Provenance
- Place of origin
- Syracusae
- Provenance found
- Area of Fusco, Siracusa
Current location
- Place
- Siracusa, Sicilia
- Repository
- Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
- 5926
- Autopsy
- Mignosa
- Map
Date
Late sixth or early fifth century BCE (525 BCE - 475 BCE)- Evidence
- lettering
Text type
commentary
The inscription can be dated on palaeographical grounds to the late sixth or early fifth century BCE . The trident-shaped chi, dotted alpha and curved gamma point to a Geloan-Akragantine alphabetic context. The text is read as Ἐνγυμάχο (= Ἐγγυμάχο), an otherwise unattested personal name in the genitive, and is therefore best interpreted as an ownership inscription. Its formation from ἐγγύς and μάχη may be compared with the name Ἐγγύδιχος. The function of the object remains uncertain. The square recess and its three shallow holes may have accommodated a square-section handle secured by three projections or nails. Some Roman stone weights provide morphological parallels, but its weight of 187.392 g does not correspond to any known weight standard attested by comparable objects in Archaic or Classical Sicily. Alternatively, it may have been a small hafted tool, perhaps a hammer intended for a specific purpose. The absence of wear might be explained by a votive use, but the generic provenance from the Fusco area does not permit a more precise interpretation because of the lack of archaeological context.
Bibliography
- Digital editions
- TM: -
- EDR: -
- EDH: -
- EDCS: -
- PHI: -
- Printed editions
- Manenti and Mignosa (2024) at 113-115 no.1 figs.1-2
Citation and editorial status
- Editor
- Jonathan Prag
- Principal contributor
- Valentina Mignosa
- Contributors
- Last revision
- 7/30/2026