Roman Sicily

ANCIENT CATANIA. NEW PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH is a miscellany of contributions written by scholars who discussed this theme in various ways and from different perspectives.
In addition to traditional archaeological reports, outlining the urban development from prehistory to the late antiquity, there are writings dealing with the history of research, including through archival records, issues concerning the identity of the ancient city and the reverberations of antiquity within the modern city, both in its urban structure as in the collective imagination.
In the contributions are included numerous informations until now unpublished, even by recent researches, which taken as a whole provide a picture of Catania and its ancient monuments certainly new.
Born from a prehistoric eruption of Etna, the Montevergine hill on which stands Catania is strategically located between the sea, the volcano and the largest plain of Sicily. Upon it, starting from the Neolithic, there was a vast settlement. However, the area was perhaps already uninhabited when, in 729-728 BC, Greeks from Chalkis in Euboea, headed by Evarco founded Katàne.
The Greek city, site of an important sanctuary of Demeter, enjoyed its best season in the fifth century BC. In 476 Hieron I of Syracuse refounded it, replacing the original inhabitants and changing its name to Áitna. From this episode, which lasted fifteen years, chanted by Pindar and perhaps topic of a lost tragedy by Aeschylus, remain silver coins among the most refined of antiquity. Once back the old name and the original inhabitants, at the end of the century, during the Peloponnesian War, Katàne sided with Athens against Syracuse. Conquered by the Syracusans in 403 BC, dispersed its inhabitants and repopulated with Campanian mercenaries, for the city began a decline that ended with the Roman conquest in 263 B.C.
Càtina became Colonia Augustea in 21 BC. From that moment the city was endowed with large public buildings that will turn it into one of the most distinguished centers of the empire which in the following centuries, until today, will influence its urban development.
The city was the site of an early Christian community and by the fourth century, if not earlier, it had a bishop. To the Christianity are linked the transformations of some buildings and the abandonment of others, and the slow process of development from the ancient city to the Middle Ages.

The work (in italian) focuses on wine processing from harvest to bottling. The main phases are investigated by analyzing the specific working areas, their building features and archaeological implications. Taking the ideal process in mind, two case-studies are investigated as for archaeological evidence: Hellenistic-Roman Sicily and Early-Mid Roman Ager Falernus (Caserta- South Italy), renowned for its wine, with the aim of reviewing the evidence published to date and creating a research framework.

This study traces the continuity of Punic cultural elements during Roman rule in three chosen areas in the central Mediterranean – the Maltese islands, Pantelleria and western Sicily – by taking a look at different socio-political and cultural aspects that are generally analysed in such comparative studies, namely administration, economy, language and religion.

The notably Punic nature of the archaeological record of the Maltese islands after the establishment of Roman authority over the archipelago in 218 B.C. and well into the 2nd century B.C. was what inspired this study in the first place.  Since Punic cultural continuity has been frequently referred to in Maltese archaeological literature without actually going in depth, this dissertation focuses mainly on the Maltese islands.  However, instead of looking at the Maltese islands on their own and in abstract fashion, this study makes comparisons with the neighbouring islands of Sicily (with a strict emphasis on the western region of the island, where Punic activity was located) and Pantelleria, which more or less passed through similar political and cultural changes.  Moreover, this study places the Punic culture in context and maps the contemporary Greek and/or Roman custom, in order to make claims about any interaction of the Punic culture with the new political and cultural regime.  Volume I comprises the main text of the thesis.

Volume II includes all the maps, figures and photographs, as well as three appendices.  Appendix I provides a chronological chart of selected principal dates that make up the historical framework of the Mid- and Late Republic and Early Empire, and which are referred to or mentioned in the main text; Appendix II lists selected sources from classical texts (with their respective translations) that are referred to in the main text; and Appendix III provides key epigraphic texts retrieved in the places under study: essentially Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions of Roman date, as well as two bilingual inscriptions (both in Punic and Greek) and two Greek inscriptions (bearing Punic names), also dating to Roman age.

This examination of C. Duilius (consul in 260 BCE) and his achievements consists of a series of linked hypotheses, each suggested by direct evidence for Duilius' activities and contextualized by near-contemporary precedents (wherever possible) or relevant analogues from slightly later periods. Taken together, these hypotheses suggest that the elogium on Duilius’ rostral column may be read not only as an account of a capable commander who destroyed the myth of Carthaginian supremacy at sea, but also as an encomium on a generous benefactor to Rome’s citizenry. The inscription’s redactor successfully asserted Duilius’ preeminence among his peers, symbolized by the imagery and position of the rostral column commemorating his naval victory that was erected by order of the Senate and Roman people near the Comitium and Rostra. The cumulative evidence also suggests that the inscription’s reference to Duilius’ distribution of ‘naval booty’ to the Roman people involved the conversion of massive amounts of captured bronze, including the rostra removed from Punic ships, into “coinage,” i.e., the brick-sized aes signatum coins dated to c. 260 which bear naval imagery. Thus, by turning a mundane medium of exchange into a vehicle of propaganda through which his exploits and generosity could be ‘broadcast’, Duilius was able to reemphasize his new status as the first Roman celebrate a naval triumph. He could do this because the coins constituted a special triumphal/manubial issue under his authority, and he was therefore not subject to the constraints, real or implied, that kept Rome’s annual moneyers from issuing coins with personally significant types for another 125 years. His sudden emergence as a leading figure in Rome was rewarded with other honors, including a prestigious censorship in 258 and a perpetual personal honor, also bestowed by the SPQR, that allowed him to “triumph” to the end of his long life.

From the article's conclusion:
"Gaius Duilius has long been acknowledged as the first Roman to win a sea-battle, the first to celebrate a naval triumph, the first to be honored with a rostral column, and the first to present a gift derived from naval booty to the Roman people. Indeed, he came to be seen primarily as the man who set Rome on the road to maritime expansion and, ultimately, domination of the Mediterranean world. He was remembered also as the first (if not only) man to have a flute-player and wax-torch bearer accompany him home from feasts, as if he were perpetually triumphing. Now, we may add to Duilius’ list of firsts: he was the first politician to utilize Roman coinage to broadcast a new ideology of Rome’s (hoped for) naval greatness and dominance of the Mediterranean; he was also, it seems, the first Roman politician to use coinage as a medium for self-promotion, a century and a quarter before anyone would do it again."


Key words:

Gaius Duilius
Rostral Column
Naval Triumph
Naval Warfare
Battle of Mylae
Aes Signatum
Roman Navy
Roman Republic
Roman numismatics
Roman Topography
Punic Wars
First Punic War
Roman Epigraphy
Latin Epigraphy
Trireme
Quinquireme
Roman ships
Fasti Triumphales
Summi Viri
Octavian
Augustus
Forum Augustum / Augusti

The present research paper aims to introduce and discuss the special issue dedicated to The Sicilian Questions. Thanks to the increase in studies and research there seems to be an urgent need today, more than ever, to bring together all the fragments of an uniterrupted historical dialogue between Sicily, understood in its widest geo-political meaning, and the Arabo-Islamic world. The study of the Arabic elements in this history of Sicily has been presented with well-defined chronological and cultural limits (ninth to thirteenth centuries), set out in the work of Michele Amari. Nonetheless, as the present work demonstrates, a diachronic and transdisciplinary perspective allows new and unexpected viewpoints to open up. The need emerges to broaden chronological limits to the entire Middle Ages and beyond, whilst fully aware of other disciplines and areas of knowledge, which have until now been overlooked, isolated or simply considered secondary or subordinate.

During the late third and early second centuries BC Rome’s empire expanded immensely. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the changes in coinage both during and after Roman military activity throughout the Mediterranean basin, and then to determine how these changes illustrate Rome’s economic philosophy when considering provincial coinage. Iberia, Sicily, and Greece will be utilised as case studies for this thesis, each demonstrating a unique numismatic reaction to their incorporation into the Roman empire. Additionally, this thesis will explore the Mediterranean’s active Market economy during the second century BC, and both the history of Roman coinage, and the contemporary numismatic situation occurring within Rome during the second century BC. By presenting these case studies this thesis demonstrates that ancient coinage is a tangible piece of evidence for the analysis of how Rome perceived their role as an Imperial power, and the power dynamic in relation to the provincial people which accompanied it. Further, coinage is brought forward as a valuable source of evidence during a period where contemporary historical literature is scarce, and therefore, the numismatic record brings to light the local monetary response to their developing political environment.

Nel testo si fa una disamina delle modalità di occupazione umana nell'area dei Monti Nebrodi (Sicilia) dall'epoca arcaica a quella classica, prima della nascita delle poleis ben conosciute per la fase ellenistico-romana (Halaesa, Kalé Akté, Halontion, Apollonia, ecc.) alla luce delle recenti scoperte archeologiche ancora parzialmente inedite

This paper offers a full edition and discussion of the Latin inscriptions on 7 of the bronze rostra recovered in recent years in the course of underwater survey in the vicinity of the Egadi Islands off western Sicily. The rostra come from the site of the final battle of the First Punic War (the Battle of the Aegates Islands, 10 March 241 BC), and the majority of them (nos. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11) bear third-century BC Latin inscriptions recording the activities of Roman officials (quaestors and seviri) in the production of the rams, providing important early evidence for the quaestorship and probatio, as well as contributions to mid-Republican prosopography.

Sundials in Roman and Byzantine Mosaics (1st – 9th Century AD). A scientific monograph. The sundials on ancient mosaics have not been the subject of scientific studies so far. The author has gathered together  in this  publication  the sundials  already known (Torre Anunzaiata, Sarsina, Trier, Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Antioch and Brading; Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9) and those which have  not  previously  been  identified.  Thanks  to  the author’s  new  identifcations,  the  catalogue  has  been enlarged  by  six  new  sundials (Grand,Tarsus, Antiochia – interpreted by H. Pamir; Figs.  3, 6,  8, and 10. Tayibat al-Imam, Jerusalem and Umm al-Rasas (Sebastis); Figs. 10, 11, 12) and three monumental gnomes-columns with multiple functions that were used as monumental sundials [Madaba (Jerusalem), Umm al-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa) and Rome (Jerusalem); Figs. 13–15]. In addition, recognizing fully John H. Humphrey’s  interpretations,  the  author  enriches  the catalogue  by  eight  ancient  mosaic  representations  of obelisks in  circuses (Lyon, Barcelona, Volubilis, Piazza Armerina - two mosaics, Girona, Carthage and Gafsa; Figs.  16–23).  They  performed the roles of monumental sundials. In this way, the catalogue includes  twenty-three  mosaics with  the representations of sundials. They come from the Western and Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. The first mosaic is dated to the beginning of the 1st century AD and the last dates to the 9th century AD. The author, after  a  short  description  of each monument,  summarizes the issue discussing the role of sundials in Roman and Byzantine society, their complex signifcance and symbolic dificult linked with the progress of time on which nature and human life are dependent. See Pdf : https://www.academia.edu/22653583/

This paper offers an overview and reassessment of the evidence for the cities and civic life in Sicily in the last two centuries BC, the period of the Roman Republican prouincia. The paper begins with a brief critique of the traditional historical narrative and the extent to which this has been bound up in questionable assessments of city status, constructed primarily on the basis of the literary evidence. This critique is underpinned by an Appendix, which contains a detailed analysis of the interpretation of a key passage of Cicero (In Verrem 3.12-13). This first part is followed by three sections which offer an indicative overview of evidence for institutional civic life on the island, brief consideration of the constitutional form of Sicilian cities in the period (increasingly timocratic, dominated by a narrow elite), and a survey of the current state of the evidence for urban monumentalisation on the island. These elements are then brought together in a discussion of Sicilian elite behaviour in the urban context and within the wider historical context. A theme which runs throughout the paper is the extent to which ‘Roman’ Sicily can be usefully understood by comparison with patterns in polis life in the Late Hellenistic eastern Mediterranean, albeit moderated in various ways by the early encroachment of Roman provincial government.

THE ACROPOLIS OF CATANIA IN PREHISTORY - In the area between the Ancient Theater and via Teatro Greco was brought to light a stratigraphic sequence on the oldest human presence on the Montevergine Hill, where was the Acropolis of the ancient city and today is the historic centre of Catania. Two phases have been identified. The first, radiocarbon dated to the second half of the 6th millennium BC, probably belonging to the use of one (or more than one) rock shelter, from the beginning of the Middle up to the Late Neolithic. The second phase, radiocarbon dated at the end of the 5th millennium BC, belongs to a huts village dating back to the Early Eneolithic. The new excavation data and the previous knowledge examination allow us to reconstruct the original Acropolis orography and environment and provide information on the economy and the activities of the first human presence in Catania.

Archaeological research conducted along the south-west coast of Sicily has identified a number of villages situated near river mouths, datable to the 4th/6th centuries AD. These rural settlements, it seems, were part of a network involving coastal shipping activity, which put these villages in touch with more important harbor settlements elsewhere. In the reconstruction offered here, it is suggested that rivers
probably played an important role in the distribution of goods, especially reinforcing the connection between the coast and the interior.
The villages which have been found, located only a few meters away from the shoreline, often show the same lay-out, with rectangular buildings built of pebbles and consisting of several rooms, separated by open areas. They were used as domestic dwellings and also sometimes for the storage of goods.

This paper examines the evidence for military activity in the Republican provincia of Sicily from the Punic Wars to the Civil Wars, and the implications of this for our understanding of Republican Sicily and Republican imperialism. After the Second Punic War there was very little use of Roman or Italian allied soldiers on the island, but extensive use, by Rome, of local Sicilian soldiers. The rich evidence for gymnasia suggests one way in which this use of local manpower was based upon existing civic structures and encouraged local civic culture and identity. These conclusions prompt a reassessment of the importance of auxilia externa under the Roman Republic and of models for Republican imperial control of provinciae.

Sicily, the first transmarine ‘provincia’ of the Republican empire offers a number of new perspectives on the developing processes of Roman imperialism, and the relationship between Roman imperialism and local communities. This paper explores a number of examples of such imperial interaction in Sicily and considers their implications for Republican imperialism in the west. These examples include: the marking out of the first known Roman road outside of Italy, during the First Punic War; the beginnings of taxation and magisterial rule of western Sicily immediately after the First Punic War; the use of kinship diplomacy in Sicily in the third century BC; the development of epigraphic practice in Sicily in this period, and the contemporary development in epigraphic practice across the western Mediterranean (with a particular focus upon the interpretation of the specific phenomena of tesserae hospitales and bronze epigraphy); the use of local military manpower by the imperial power; and the potential formation of a ‘Sicilian’ identity in conjunction with the creation of the province.

On a shield emblem from the Notitia dignitatum.
Re-assessment of a tomb fresco depicting the late antique soldier Flavius Maximianus from the Villa Maria-Catacombe in Syracuse (reg. Siciliana / I):

In 1964, an arcosolium of a late Roman soldier with an extensive mural fresco was discovered in the northern part of Syracuse, together with the Villa Maria-catacombe. The wall mural fresco shows the buried Flavius Maximianus in his military vestment. So far, only the depicted ridge helmet has been received while the other details have remained almost unaffected. After an accurate image analysis, the inscription on the shield, which is difficult to decrypt, could now be deciphered and identified as the emblem of the Mattiarii iuniores listed in the Notitia dignitatum, which furthermore allows to decrypt the Numerus mentioned in the tomb inscription. Therefore, in spite of their partially unknown and varying transcriptional history, the emblems of the late medieval and early modern copies of the Notitia dignitatum still seem to be considerably close to the late antique original in the light of these new discoveries.

Il volume di studi in onore di Sebastiana Lagona raccoglie una serie di scritti di colleghi e allievi che hanno avuto l'onore di collaborare con la Studiosa nelle numerose iniziative di ricerca in Italia e soprattutto in Turchia, cui la nostra ha indirizzato l'instancabile impegno di archeologa e di organizzatrice di attività scientifiche e di alta divulgazione. La sua lunga e proficua carriera didattica e scientifica si è svolta sia nell 'ambito della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Ateneo catanese -dove è stata assistente ordinario di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte greca e romana, poi professore ordinario di Topografia Antica, di Archeologia Classica e dal 1998 (fino al 2003) direttore dell'Istituto di Archeologia -sia presso l'Università della Calabria di Cosenza, per un breve ma proficuo lasso di tempo, dove ha ricoperto per un triennio (1976-1979) la carica di Preside della Facoltà di Lettere. Alle notevoli responsabilità accademiche, Sebastiana Lagona ha saputo far fronte con competenza, considerevoli doti organizzative e uno spirito di dedizione fuori dal comune. La Studiosa, oggi Professore Emerito dell'Università di Catania, ha al suo attivo la fondazione di due centri di ricerca, Nello svolgere le attività scientifiche e istituzionali, la professoressa Lagona ha dato vita a numerose iniziative di ricerche e di scavi archeologici in Sicilia, in Calabria e in Turchia, unitamente all'organizzazione di Convegni e alla pubblicazione dei relativi Atti, dimostrando grandi capacità organizzative. La vastità dei suoi interessi è documentata dalle numerose pubblicazioni scientifiche su materiali fittili, su problemi topografici dell'area magnogreca e dell'Asia Minore, sulla statuaria (tra cui si segnala il lavoro su Pitagora di Reggio), sull'acquedotto e sul porto romano di Catania, sulla collezione Santapaola di Lentini, sullo scavo della necropoli di "Cava sant'Aloe" presso Lentini e, non ultimi, dai numerosi studi su Kyme eolica. Le grandi doti organizzative, non disgiunte dalla notevole carica di simpatia umana, hanno consentito alla professoressa Lagona di muoversi con naturalezza in una realtà complessa, quale quella della moderna Turchia, e di dare vita a una delle iniziative più prestigiose che hanno coinvolto l'Università degli Studi di Catania all'estero, vale a dire la costruzione, sulla base di un protocollo d'intesa stipulato nel 1992 tra l'Università (Rettore il prof. E. Rizzarelli) e il comune turco di Aliağa (con fondi dell'Ateneo catanese su un terreno donato dal comune di Aliağa), di un edificio polifunzionale destinato ad accogliere gli alloggi della Missione Archeologica Italiana di Kyme eolica -fondata dalla Lagona nel 1982 -nonché i laboratori di restauro e i depositi dei materiali rinvenuti negli scavi. L'iniziativa ha suscitato l'unanime riconoscimento e la gratitudine incondizionata delle autorità turche ed italiane, manifestati alla professoressa in più occasioni: da parte turca nel 1995, con l'intitolazione a suo nome del lungomare della città di Aliağa e nel 2009 con il conferimento del Premio per la cultura del Ministero turco della cultura. Da parte delle autorità italiane ricordiamo il conferimento nel 1994 del titolo di Commendatore della Repubblica e nel 2007 l'assegnazione della Targa alla carriera da parte dell'Ambasciata Italiana di Ankara. Nel dare un titolo al volume di saggi che qui si presenta, si è voluto richiamare il nome di una celebre donna di Kyme eolica, Archippe, onorata pubblicamente dai concittadini per i benefici che aveva arrecato alla città, alla cui conoscenza il nome di Sebastiana Lagona è e rimarrà inscindibilmente legato.

In primo luogo è mio dovere ringraziare il sindaco di Catania, on. prof. Umberto Scapagnini, che mi ha consentito di pubblicare il materiale compreso nel presente volume. Voglio anche ricordare con sincera gratitudine Anna Lucia D'Agata che, nell'ambito del lavoro di riordinamento da lei condotto delle collezioni archeologiche del Museo Civico di Catania, mi ha invitato ad occuparmi di quella epigrafica.

The re-appraisal of Motya even after Dionysious’s siege and violent destruction of 397/6 BC started with Vincenzo Tusa’s work at the 'Cappiddazzu' Temple and it was resumed in the last decade by Sapienza University of Rome in the Sacred Area of the Kothon, where Sanctuary C3 was uncovered, and in Areas B and D, where remains of later occupation where also brought to light. A careful screening of available data showed that the island hosted from the one side rural villas ( ‘Casa dei Mosaici’ and possibly in the ‘Cappiddazzu’ area) and, from the other, industrial activities ( ‘Industrial Area’, pottery kilns along the collapsed and plundered city-walls). Some sparse remains of Roman/Carthaginian presence seem also relevant, like the Punic pugio found east of the Kothon itself, when the sacred pool of Baal had already been transformed into a fish farming device. The Area of ‘Cappiddazzu’ hosted a villa rustica at the time or a sanctuary, soon transformed into an Early Christian complex (as a recently uncovered table altar testifies to), and, after then in the 9th century AD, into a small mosque.

Con questo contributo si aggiunge un ulteriore tassello alla carta di distribuzione degli insediamenti e dei cimiteri tardo antichi della cuspide sud-orientale della Sicilia. Scendendo nel dettaglio, sono state già approntate le schede dei siti ricadenti all'intero dei confini amministrativi dei comuni di Modica e Pozzallo 1 , di Scicli 2 e di Rosolini 3 . Nel contempo si sta procedendo al censimento di tutte le altre evidenze tardo-antiche che insistono nei territori comunali di Noto, Pachino, Portopalo di Capo Passero, Ragusa e Giarratana, per comporre una mappatura completa del territorio compreso tra i fiumi Irminio e Tellaro, che radialmente si dipartono dal massiccio del Monte Lauro. Nel contempo, le linee di ricerca sulle quali ci si muove sulla base dei dati acquisiti riguardano soprattutto il processo di cristianizzazione 4 , aspetti sociologici 5 , questioni sulla determinazione della cronologia degli ipogei funerari 6 , oltre che indagini paleoantropologiche 7 .

Attraverso lo studio della documentazione topografica (Itinerarium Antonini e cartografia militare settecentesca di S. von Schmettau), toponomastica e materiale in questo contributo si propone la ricostruzione del tratto a Catania-Philosophianis lungo la strada a Catina-Agrigentum, attraverso l’identificazione di Capitoniana (prima statio di sosta che si incontrava con la villa rustica rinvenuta in Contrada Favarotta-Tenuta Grande nella piana del Margi in territorio di Mineo) e, grazie ad una lectio difficilior del Cod. Escor. dell’Itinerarium Antonini, di quella di Gela o Gelasium, mutatio nei prediis Philospohianis, identificabile verosimilmente nei resti dell’insediamento di Contrada Maddalena, già riconosciuto da altri studiosi come un emporium lungo la viabilità della piana di Caltagirone.

Ricognizioni topografiche, ricerche di archivio, indagini nei magazzini hanno consentito di definire meglio le caratteristiche del paesaggio minerario agrigentino. Sono stati chiariti numerosi aspetti riguardanti la cronologia di alcune produzioni, le relazioni che i siti produttivi avevano con il tessuto insediativo e con il porto principale di Agrigentum. Complessivamente si è indagata un’area di circa 11 km2 partendo dai siti che hanno restituito tegulae sulphuris e in relazione ai più vicini filoni solfiferi. L’indagine ha permesso di individuare due dei centri estrattivi, noti finora, solo epigraficamente mentre il fortunato rinvenimento di una tegula sulphuris databile al VI d.C. ha consentito di datare la produzione solfifera fino, appunto, all’età bizantina, dato, quest’ultimo, confermato dal record ceramico. L’interesse per lo zolfo spiega la centralità di Agrigentum per tutta l’età romana come principale bacino di approvvigionamento e, in particolar modo, la sua erezione a colonia in età severiana.

This is a scientific monograph. The sundials on ancient mosaics have not been the subject of scientific studies so far. The author has gathered together  in this  publication  the sundials  already known (Torre Anunzaiata, Sarsina, Trier, Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Antiochia and Brading; Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9) and those which have  not  previously  been  identified.  Thanks  to  the author’s  new  identifcations,  the  catalogue  has  been enlarged  by  six  new  sundials (Grand,Tarsus, Antioch – interpreted by H. Pamir; Figs.  3, 6,  8, and 10. Tayibat al-Imam, Jerusalem and Umm al-Rasas (Sebastis); Figs. 10, 11, 12) and three monumental gnomes-columns with multiple functions that were used as monumental sundials [Madaba (Jerusalem), Umm al-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa) and Rome (Jerusalem); Figs. 13–15]. In addition, recognizing fully John H. Humphrey’s  interpretations,  the  author  enriches  the catalogue  by  eight  ancient  mosaic  representations  of obelisks in  circuses (Lyon, Barcelona, Volubilis, Piazza Armerina - two mosaics, Girona, Carthage and Gafsa; Figs.  16–23).  They  performed the roles of monumental sundials. In this way, the catalogue includes  twenty-three  mosaics with  the representations of sundials. They come from the Western and Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. The first mosaic is dated to the beginning of the 1st century AD and the last dates to the 9th century AD. The author, after  a  short  description  of each monument,  summarizes the issue discussing the role of sundials in Roman and Byzantine society, their complex signifcance and symbolic dificult linked with the progress of time on which nature and human life are dependent.

Con l'intento di apportare nuovi dati alla conoscenza della classe della ceramica comune 1 , ancora così poco studiata, vengono qui presentati dei lotti di materiali conservati nel Museo Civico "F.L. Belgiorno" di Modica, provenienti dall'area sud-orientale dei Monti Iblei, territorio che recenti indagini 2 hanno rivelato essere occupato in maniera capillare durante la tarda antichità: i numerosi insediamenti sono documentati, quasi esclusivamente, dalle necropoli ( ).

Some selected samples of coarse and cooking ware found at Carabollace, a late Roman settlement near the coast of Sciacca, in western Sicily, at the mouth of the Carabollace river, have been analyzed by thin section petrography. This research intends to point out the circulation and the importation networks as well as the local productions of pottery, with the aim to provide an answer to several historical questions. The location near the river and the sea suggests that this settlement may have been an emporium for transmarine commerce and for goods from the local markets of the hinterland. Ceramic evidence attests that Carabollace was strictly linked to the African trade in the 5th and 6th century AD. Thin section analysis helped us also to recognize some local and regional products that present interesting similarities with coarse ware attested in the near site of Verdura whose samples can be grouped in the same petrographic group.