One of the advantages of currently co-directing an excavation at the beautiful site of ancient Halaesa is that it means that we’re based in Sicily for a whole month.
The hill of ancient Halaesa (Tusa, ME), seen from the south
This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to make a series of visits to museums and sites all over the island, in pursuit of inscriptions. It has also provided an extended opportunity to study the epigraphy of Halaesa in depth, which is unusually rich, and a subject to which we shall return in another blog post.
This summer’s travels included the chance to visit a whole series of locations rich in epigraphy, including a return to Catania to continue to work on the material in the Castello Ursino (Inscriptions in the Castello Ursino, Catania), but also visits to the sites of Tyndaris and Soluntum, both equipped with excellent antiquariums.
In addition, several museums extended a very warm welcome to us. Modern San Marco d’Alunzio sits on the site of ancient Haluntium, and has a wonderful civic museum hosting Norman and Byzantine frescoes, but also a fine collection of Hellenistic and Roman inscriptions from the ancient town.
‘Temple of Herakles’ at San Marco: an Italic temple re-used as a later church
Termini Imerese, site of the Hellenistic refoundation of ancient Himera, and later a Roman colonia, has a beautiful civic museum, which includes a particularly rich collection of Hellenistic and especially Roman inscriptions from the ancient town.
The Museo Civico at Termini Imerese
Last, but hardly least, Agrigento, besides the wonderful temples, also has the splendid Museo archeologico regionale P. Griffo, in the middle of the site of the ancient city, and with a recently curated epigraphic gallery.
The ‘Oratory of Phalaris’ (an Italic temple, source of an early Latin inscription), the ekklesiasterion, and a wing of the Museum at Agrigento
In the next few posts we shall report on each of these site visits and their inscriptions. Then, all that remains is to process all the new photographs and autopsy records and get them into I.Sicily…
