ISic001791: Fragment of a Greek funerary inscription

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 2016-10-11
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 2016-10-11
ID
ISic001791
Language
Ancient Greek
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
block

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text based on autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
Fragment of a block or slab of local soft, yellowish limestone. Upper and left edges appear to be original, clean cut; the lower edge is rougher, but does not seem broken (and there is a clear vacat below the text of 3-4 cm, and 2 cm above). Broken on the right side. The rear is cut smooth. The left edge is partially cut back at the rear.
Object type
block
Object condition
fragment
Dimensions
height: 15.8 cm, width: 17 cm, depth: 7.8 cm

Material

Description
limestone
Type > subtype
inorganic.stone > unverified

Inscription

Layout
Part of two lines of widely spaced Greek letters.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Elegant thinly incised letters of very wide square module, and without serifs. Alpha broad with straight bar; four-bar sigma, with slightly open upper and lower strokes.

Letter heights
Line 1-2: 40-43mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: 2-3mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Gela medium certainty
Provenance found
Acquired by Orsi 25 November 1899, after being found on a farm to the North-west of the modern cemetery (area of ancient necropolis)
Map

Current location

Place
, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
19511
Autopsy
Prag 2016-10-11, cassette 37, magazzino B, Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
Map

Date

later fourth or earlier third century BCE (in principle, 282 BCE is a terminus ante quem (350 BC - 282 BC)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

As Orsi observed, the piece is surely a fragment of a funerary inscription, and most likely the beginnings of two names, with the second likely to be the patronymic.

Bibliography

Digital editions
  • TM: -
  • EDR: -
  • EDH: -
  • EDCS: -
  • PHI: -
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
5/18/2026