"Gli interi colonnati". Un'ipotesi per l'iscrizione dell'Apollonion di Siracusa

This contribution proposes a new reading of the famous dedicatory inscription engraved on the stylobate of the temple of Apollo in Syracuse (590-580 BC). After the review of previous reconstructions of the text, a new reading is suggested for its damaged central part: namely, the adjective ἐντελής (complete, entire, perfect), in the neutral plural form, correlated with the next word: τἐντελε͂ [i.e. τ(ὰ) ἐντελε͂ ] στύλεια, as the only direct object of the causative verb ἐποίεσε. The text is reconstructed as follows: “Kleo[...]es, the son of Knidieidas, had the entire colonnades erected for Apollo: well done works!”. The inscription was placed on the stylobate as the base of the dedicated columns, and it would refer not to the temple as such, but to its most innovative, eye-catching and ambitious part, both from a technical and economic point of view: the numerous and massive stone columns. In line with the practice, attested in the archaic Greek world, of funding columns or parts of temples by wealthy donors, Kleo[...]es, perhaps the contractor or supervisor in the construction of the temple, would have covered at his own expense the cost and setting up of the columns. This achievement was all the more remarkable in light of the complexity of the entire project, which was well accomplished and therefore celebrated as καλὰ ϝέργα.