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large number of these shafts were marked with quarry inscriptions, which are usually
connected with Imperial ownership and a centralized inventory system, thus
strengthening this hypothesis. 119 While the 16 column shafts originally found at Punta
Scifo A were not sufficient to create a monument in itself, they may well have been part
of a larger consignment shipped from Asia Minor for a building project somewhere
between Croton and points further west. 120
Orsi mentioned a rectangular lead seal of 72 x 68 mm, inserted at the end of one
of the two columns found in 1909, which represents an unusual variation of the Roman
standard of using circular lead seals to mark the imperial ownership of marble items. 121 It
is a pity that this seal disappeared in the years following Orsi’s publication, since it could
have provided precious information regarding the ownership or intended destination of
the marble cargo.
Parallels for the Punta Scifo A Columns
The possibility that these columns were meant for the peristyle of a private villa,
such as the House of the Colored Capitals in Pompeii, is unlikely. While the House of the
Colored Capitals has a total of 16 Ionic columns, four on the short and six on the long
sides, with lower diameters measuring 0.58-0.60 m and shafts 4.38 m high, 122 the Punta
Scifo columns are markedly different in size. This could mean that they are part of a
mixed cargo destined for different applications or that the shipment was conceived for a
single building, whose columns were superimposed. One example of the use of
119 See Ward-Perkins 1992a, 26.
120 For a classification of small, medium, and large column shafts, see Tables 9-10, pp. 98-99.
121 Orsi 1911, 121. See Spagnoli 2002, 492-6 on Roman lead seals.
122 Sear 2006, 167-70.
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