ISic002138: Fragment of a dedication to Imperator Caesar Afinius Gallus

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 2019-10-01
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 2019-10-01
ID
ISic002138
Language
Latin
Status
edited
Text type
honorific
Object type
plaque

Edition

Loading...

Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
Two joining fragments of a white marble plaque, reunited, and preserving part of the upper margin, but broken left, right and below. Finished smooth on the rear.
Object type
plaque
Object condition
fragments, contiguous
Dimensions
height: 11.5 cm, width: 22 cm, depth: 2.3 cm

Material

Description
marble
Type > subtype
stone.marble > unverified

Inscription

Layout
Remains of a single line of monumental Latin letters.
Text condition
incomplete
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Fine tall, narrow, v-cut letters, with elegant curved serifs, and a very extended, curved upper cross bar to the F.

Letter heights
Line 1: 76mm
Interlinear heights

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae
Provenance found
The right fragment is first recorded in Orsi's first notebook, during September 1888, as being among material in the museum, but without indication of specific provenance (clearly Siracusa); no information is available on the left-hand fragment. Both are now in cassette 46, magazzino B, Mus. arch. ref. siracusa

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Sicilia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
107482
Autopsy
Flavio Santini 2018-09-14
Map

Date

Almost certainly honouring Gaius Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumnianus Volusianus, Caesar between June 251 and October 253 CE. (AD 251 - AD 253)
Evidence
prosopography

Text type

honorific

commentary

The fragments are unpublished. The name Afinius is not common, and the vast majority of texts bearing the name are set up in honour of the son of the Emperor Gallus, who was made Caesar by his father, with the full title Imperator Caesar Gaius Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumnianus Volusianus, for the brief period June 251 to October 253. The name occasionally recurs among other private individuals (as does the rare name Safinius), but rarely and usually in funerary texts. The monumental form of this text makes it extremely likely that this is an imperial dedication for Afinius Gallus. The only other elite instance of Afinius is the consul ordinarius of 62 CE, L. Afinius Gallus, alongside Publius Marius, but the letter forms are much more obviously those of the third than the first century CE. Afinius Gallus was also honoured at Halaesa on the north coast (see ISic003588. Note however the funerary epitaph for Gallicanus (ISic000325), vilicus at a location called Afiniana, in the vicinity of Catania, perhaps reflecting property belonging to the family at an earlier date on the island.

Bibliography

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

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
5/11/2026