ISic003688: Epitaph for Charinos

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 M. Metcalfe 2015-12-28
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 M. Metcalfe 2015-12-28
ID
ISic003688
Language
Ancient Greek
Status
edited
Text type
funerary
Object type
stele

Edition

Jonathan Prag
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Apparatus criticus

  • Text from photograph

Physical description

Support

Description
A stele of the local limestone, in the form of a horned altar with central acroterion, a triple moulding at the base and a moulding with simple dentils at the top, with a plain field filling most of the front face. No dimensions are recorded, but it appears to be approximately 60cm high x 30 cm wide x 10 cm deep. The stone is essentially undamaged apart from a large irregular circular hole in the upper middle of the face, presumably from some later re-use.
Object type
stele
Object condition
complete
Dimensions
height: cm, width: cm, depth: cm

Material

Description
limestone
Type > subtype
stone.calcarenite > unspecified

Inscription

Layout
The text occupies five lines, filling the available epigraphic field, with a consistent left margin, except for the centred numeral on line 4.
Text condition
No data
Technique
chiselled
Pigment
No data
Lettering

Regular letters, neatly cut, with a wide module. Alpha with broken bar and extended right hasta; beta with large round eyes, not quite closed; epsilon of regular quadrate form with equal bars; Kapp with full length arms; Mu with vertical first and last, middle strokes descending no more than halfway; rhomboid omicron; rho with round closed eye and with angular closed eye; lunate but quadrate sigma. Large elegant hedera in final line.

Letter heights
Line 1: mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation line 1 to 2: mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Vittoria
Provenance found
Apparently found c.1982 during work on sewage plant by the Ippari river, below Vittoria , although likely to originate from the later Roman necropolis in contrada Canale (36.9498862,14.5383701). Observed in 2015 on display in the private Polimuseo Attilio Zarino.
Map

Current location

Place
Vittoria, Sicilia
Repository
Polimuseo Attilio Zarino
Autopsy
Observed by Metcalfe 2015-12-28
Map

Date

later Roman (AD 301 - AD 500)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

An example of a later Roman funerary inscription of a sort fairly typical in southeast Sicily, with the formula typical of the territory of Syracuse. The only known publication is a short article in the local publication 'Cittaturismo'.

Bibliography

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

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
12/9/2025