Siracusa / Athenaion

PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 10 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - lion - sejant

Scene Description: seven or eight? [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 16 October 2013 by Peter Blanchard for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 4 November 2013)

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: on the sides of the capital that is used as the lower base of the font

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 16 October 2013 by Peter Blanchard for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 4 November 2013)

design element - motifs - handle - 2

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 October 2013 by Peter Blanchard for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 4 November 2013)

view of church exterior - northwest view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2009 by Sailko [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ortigia,_duomo,_facciata_04.JPG] [accessed 5 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior - southwest view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 October 2012 by Berthold Werner [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Syrakus_BW_2012-10-06_14-42-41.JPG] [accessed 5 October 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - south aisle - detail

Scene Description: the Doric columns are from Athena's original temple here

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2009 by Sailko [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ortigia,_duomo,_interno_05.JPG] [accessed 5 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 October 2013 by Peter Blanchard for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 4 November 2013)

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital image of a B&W undated postcard by Fotocelere, Torino. ediz. G.C.di A., Siracusa

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font and cover in context

Scene Description: inside the baptistery chapel

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2009 by Sailko [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ortigia,_duomo,_fonte_battesimale_02.JPG] [accessed 5 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font and cover in context

Scene Description: inside the baptistery chapel

Image Source: digital photograph taken 15 June 2009 by Sailko [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ortigia,_duomo,_fonte_battesimale_01.JPG] [accessed 5 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 07896SIR

Church/Chapel: Duomo / Cattedrale di Santa Maria delle Colonne

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Country Name: Italy

Location: Siracusa, Sicilia

Directions to Site: Located about 100 km SE of Catania

Ecclesiastic Region: Arcidiocesi di Siracusa

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the S aisle, cappella del Battistero

Century and Period: 3rd to 13th century [composite font], Medieval / composite

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Peter Blanchard for his photograph of this font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Font noted in Giuseppe Maria Capodieci (1816, t. I: 121): "Nella regia Cattedrale Chiesa si osserva un Vaso antichissimo di marmo con due grandi manichi per uso di Fonte battesimale, alto palmi 3., e ii circuito palmi 8., e once 6. Nel giro tutto del labbro si legge una greca Iscrizione, ma alquanto logorata, dalla quale rilievansi le seguenti lettere: ANAOH .. A ... IH ... [delta]. I[sigma]MA .... Nel ventre poi vi son due linee, ma non intere, perchè anche corrose cioè: ZIMO[gamma][theta]EO[delta][omega]PO .. [delta] .. A .... / TONKH[?][gamma]I ........ I ..... / Zosimi Deo donun hoc Vas (sive) hunc Craterem ......... Venne questo Vaso ritrovato prima dell' invasione de' Saraceni nelle Catacombe, dette di S Giovanni, ov' eravi l'antichissima Cattedrale Chiesa di S Marziano, primo Vescovo, e Martire di Siracusa, e in cui giacea il di lui Corpo, e sin oggi n'esiste il sepolcro." Described in the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia: the "baptismal font is fashioned from a large Greek crater, resting upon seven small lions of bronze, found in the catacombs of San Giovanni" [source: www.newadvent.org/cathen/14395b.htm]. Described elsewhere [cf. infra] as a composite baptismal font made up of three very different elements: the basin is a recycled Greek vase of the 3rd century; the stem of the base is a marble capital of the Norman period; the lower base is made up of eight little bronze lions of the 13th century. [source: www.ortigiaonline.com/I%20monumenti.htm -- original text in the source: "Nella navata di destra la fonte battesimale, è ricavata da un cratere greco (III sec. a.c.) adagiato su di un largo capitello marmoreo di età normanna, e circondato da otto leoncini di bronzo del XIII sec." The basin has a Greek inscription on the upper side, below the rim. The web site of the Comune di Siracusa gives the number of lions also as seven [to be corroborated]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 37.059425, 15.292888

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 37° 3′ 33.93″ N, 15° 17′ 34.4″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: mixed, clay, stone and metal

Font Shape: round (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: Greek

Inscription Location: on the sides of the basin, up below the rim

Inscription Text: [full text unavailable -- cf. FonrtNotes for a partial transcription]

Inscription Source: [cf. FontNotes]

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern?

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: round and flat, with 'wings' to cover the handles of the basin

REFERENCES

Capodieci, Giuseppe Maria, Antichi monumenti di Siracusa, illustrati dall'antiquario[...], [s.l.]: [s.n.], 1816