Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
June 17, 1806
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 16
Notes:
At the time of this donation, the museum in Syracuse, Sicily was known as the Museo del Seminario. "In 1780 the Bishop Alagona inaugurated the Museo del Seminario which became the Museo Civico near the archbishop's house in 1808. Subsequently, a royal decree of 17 June 1878 sanctioned the creation of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Siracusa, which was only inaugurated in 1886, in its historic location on the cathedral square." Wikipedia
James Leander Cathcart (1767-1843) was at the time of this donation U.S. Consul General to the City of Tunis (1802–1807). His memoir relates that he returned to the U.S. in 1805, passing through Philadelphia in March. The Captives: Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers (La Porte, Ind., 1899), p. 308
