in an Alexandrian ship that was marked by the Dioscuri

παράσημος, ον (σῆμα ‘mark, sign’; Trag. et al.; 2 Macc 2:29; BGU V, 1, 194=Jur. Pap. no. 93, 194; Philo; cp. Jos., Ant. 18, 241)

① pert. to being out of the ordinary, peculiar, odd βίος queer kind of life Dg 5:2.

② pert. to being marked (on the side) so as to be distinguished, marked ἐν πλοίῳ … Ἀλεξανδρινῷ παρασήμῳ Διοσκούροις in an Alexandrian ship that was marked by the Dioscuri i.e. that had the Dioscuri (twin sons of Zeus, Castor and Pollydeuces) as its insignia Ac 28:11 (on the dat. cp. Plut., Mor. 823b ἐπιφθόνοις παράσημος=making oneself noticed by hateful deeds). Yet it is hard to escape the suspicion that the text here, as so oft. in Ac, is damaged, and that it originally contained the noun τὸ παράσημον emblem, insignia situated on both sides of the prow of a ship (Plut., Mor. 162a τῆς νεὼς τὸ παράσημον; PLond II, 256a, 2 p. 99 [11–15 A.D.]; PTebt 486; Mitt-Wilck., I/2, 248, 19; Sb 423, 5. Note esp. CIL 3=ILS 4395 [22 A.D.] navis parasemo sopharia=a ship with sopharia as insignia). LCasson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, ’71, 344f. S. Διόσκουροι.—B-D-F §198, 7. DELG s.v. σῆμα. M-M. (dat. absolute).