ISic003390: Attic decree

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 2014-09-12
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 2014-09-12
ID
ISic003390
Language
Ancient Greek
Status
draft
Text type
dedication
Object type
block

Edition

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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from autopsy

Physical description

Support

Description
A large block of off-white marble. The under side has a concentric worked area, and a circular hole at the centre, implying that the block was fixed onto another block underneath. The upper face has a cavity scooped out of the rear centre. The block is intact on all sides, and finished smooth on the front, left and right faces. Minor abrasion to the edges of the front face, and a crack runs horizontally across the middle of the face, left to right.
Object type
block
Object condition
No data
Dimensions
height: 27 cm, width: 50.5 cm, depth: 48.5 cm

Material

Description
Very fine-grained, banded, grey, calcitic marble, likely Hymettan. Optical microscopy: heteroblastic fabric with mosaic microstructure, lineated, fine-grained areas. Digital microscopy: homeoblastic fabric (identification based on pXRF, digital microscopy, XRD, optical microscopy, stable isotopes analysis, EPR, LA-ICP-MS)
Type > subtype
stone.marble > Hymettan
Provenance
Mt. Hymettos
Map

Inscription

Layout
Lines 1-3 are arranged continuously along the upper part of the face; below are two wreaths, with words inside each wreath.
Text condition
No data
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering
No data
Letter heights
Line 1-3: 10-15mm
Line 4: 5-6mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Athenae
Provenance found
The inscription - from Athens - appears already in the museum inventory of 1885, described as 'prov. incerta', and was previously observed in the preceding museum by Julius Schubring in the 1860s. There is no record of how it came to be in Sicily, and as Manganaro observes, it most likely arrived as ballast stone in a ship (at some date prior to c.1860). Now in storage in the Museum.

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Grecia
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
5
Autopsy
Prag 2014-09, Magazzino B
Map

Date

Hellenistic (300 BC - 1 BC)
Evidence
No data

Text type

dedication

commentary

Bibliography

Digital editions
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
2/11/2026