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time, costing 200 denarii per Roman foot, while Proconnesian was only 40 denarii per
Roman foot. 112 Further study of this material should include isoptopic analysis of the
marble to corroborate the visual identification.
Reconstructing the Cargo of a Roman avis Lapidaria
The Punta Scifo A shipwreck, as we have seen, was almost completely salvaged,
and the five artifacts still under water do not accurately reflect the original size and
dimensions of the ancient marble carrier. Consequently, any reconstruction of the original
assemblage can only be attempted after a meticulous review of Orsi’s original reports and
articles, Pensabene’s analyses and Freschi’s data, along with a comprehensive overview of
the disparate artifacts, currently scattered throughout Calabria. Some of the marble
elements are stored in the Archaeological Museum of Croton (Fig. 16), some are housed in
the Nautical Museum of Capo Colonna, some have been used in the modern monument
representing Ulysses’ ship in Caputi Square in Croton (Fig. 30), a few more are located in
Corazzo, and one basin is in Tarentum.
Combining all of the available information, my calculations show that a total of at
least 69 marble items were carried on board the Punta Scifo A merchantman (Table 7).
Even this must be considered a conservative estimate; due to the hasty nature of the
112 In Diocletian’s Edict the lowest-paid worker, a farm laborer, earned 25 denarii per day, while 50 denarii
were the daily wages of a mason, and 150 denarii of a frescoes painter. The lawyer, who had the highest-paid
job, received 1,250 denarii for a trial. (Giacchero 1974, 276-9). These data give a general idea of the cost of
marble in antiquity. For more information regarding the Edict, see Appendix 4.
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