BI·8

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	sipiu koil[ ]ios
Reading in original script:	[   ]
Object:	BI·8 Cerrione (stela)
Position:	front
Orientation:	270°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	7–9 cm2.756 in <br />3.543 in <br />
Number of letters:	12–15
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	damaged
Archaeological culture:	Roman republican period [from object]
Date of inscription:	100–60 BC [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Sipiu the Koil(?)ian'
Alternative sigla:	none
Sources:	Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 27–30 no. 1

Images

Stela BI·8 Cerrione with inscription BI·8 from Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013

Stela BI·8 Cerrione with inscription BI·8 from Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013

Commentary

First published in Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2011: 92.

Images in Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2011: 91, fig. 85 (photo = Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 28 [in colour]), Brecciaroli Taborelli 2011: 390, tav. 9 (drawing = Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 28).

Inscribed in two dextroverse lines running downward in the upper part of the stela. The longer line 2 on the right is damaged by a chipped-off piece of surface layer; ca. three letters may be missing, of which the lower parts of two hastae are visible after lambda. Since the damage appears to be old and the last three letters are applied with a different engraving technique than the others, Solinas (Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 28) suggests that the last part of the line was originally inscribed across the area that sustained damage, then restored at a later date in the smooth area beneath. In this case, the sequence would be shorter, but a reconstruction as koilios is only possible if the second trace of a hasta in the drawing provided is an error.

We agree with Solinas (Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013: 29) that the lines are likely supposed to be read in succession from left to right: sipiu koil(?)ios, which preserves the expected order of the onomastic elements: 'Sipiu the Koil(?)ian' – cf. at the same find place BI·1, BI·5, BI·6, as well as NO·21.1 and maybe GR·1.

The grammar and form of the onomastic formula, with on-stem individual name in -ū and patronym in -(i)i̯-, are Celtic, as are with some probability the names themselves; see the word pages for detailed discussions. The individual name sipiu appears as base of a patronym sipionios in BI·1 at the same find place; individual name and patronym may well refer to the same person (cf. maybe also BI·5 )ionios).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Brecciaroli Taborelli 2011	Luisa Brecciaroli Taborelli (ed.), Oro, pane e scrittura. Memorie di una comunità "inter Vercellas et Eporediam" [= Studi e ricerche sulla Gallia Cisalpina 24], Roma: Edizioni Quasar 2011.
Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2011	Giovannella Cresci Marrone, Patrizia Solinas, "Il messaggio epigrafico: Riconoscimento del sepolcro e strategia della memoria", in: Luisa Brecciaroli Taborelli (ed.), Oro, pane e scrittura. Memorie di una comunità "inter Vercellas et Eporediam" [= Studi e ricerche sulla Gallia Cisalpina 24], Roma: Edizioni Quasar 2011, 89–106.
Cresci Marrone & Solinas 2013	Giovannella Cresci Marrone, Patrizia Solinas, Microstorie di romanizzazione. Le iscrizioni del sepolcreto rurale di Cerrione, Venezia: Edizioni Ca' Foscari 2013.