Inscribed Tombstone of Ulpia Aurelia Valeria

Dublin Core

Title

Inscribed Tombstone of Ulpia Aurelia Valeria

Date

12/04/2016

Contributor

AXA

Identifier

RO.MI.TO.2016.007

Coverage

Country: Romania (RO)
Province: Constanța (CO)
Site: Tomis (TO)
Roman Province: Moesia Inferior (MI)/Scythia Minor (SM)
Date: Late 3th/Early 4th century CE

Publisher

AKA Inventory #: BM 1864,0331.5

Source

Findspot: In situ
Findspot Description: Inscribed tombstone with sculptural decoration found in Tomis, modern Constanța, Romania. Donated by William Price to the British Museum in 1864
Findspot Attestation: Smith, A. H. 1892. A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum I-III. London. p. 345

Type

Object/Funerary/Inscription

Format

Limestone

Description

“Sepulchral monument with a banquet relief of the rudest style. Two male figures, one being bearded, recline on a couch, holding cups in their left hands. Before them is a table with food; beside it a boy with a cup and oenochoe (?), and a girl with a phiale. A woman is seated on a chair by the head of the couch, with the right hand raised to her chin. A vine branch with grapes runs round the relief and the inscribed panel. A Latin inscription states that the monument was erected in memory of a girl, Ulpia Aurelia Valeria.”--Kertch.
“Limestone, height, 7 1 inch; width, 3 feet.”
Iconography:
Gravestone decorated by surrounding vine and grapes. At the top a lunette shows a banquet scene in which three figures are participating. The head of the male figure to the right is almost destroyed. The woman seems to make a gesture of mourning for the deceased, a girl, Ulpia, three years old. The sad atmosphere of the gravestone is confirmed by the last line of the Latin inscription in which the passerby is address and asked: "Can you see something crueller than this monument?"
Epigraphy:
D(is) M(anibus) Ulpiae Aureliae ∙ Valeriae ∙ virgini ∙ dextrate {²sic}²∙ annis ∙ III ∙ mensibus VIIII d(iebus) XVII filiae Aureli Herculani v(iri) e(gregii) ducenari qui ∙ vixit annis XIII(?) mens(ibus) VIII d(iebus) XVI nepotiae pientissime {²sic}² Ulp(ius) ∙ Valerius ∙ Aurelianus ∙ v(ir) ∙ e(gregius) ∙ centenarius ∙ et ∙ Titinia ∙Mansueta ∙ stolata ∙ femina ∙ viator,resiste ∙ et ∙ lege ∙ nihil ∙ ultra ∙ crudelius ∙ h(oc)? ∙ m(onumento)? ∙ c(ernere)? ∙ p(otes)?
Select Bibliography:
Smith, A. H. 1892. A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British museum I-III. London. p. 345
Mommsen, T. et al. 1873. Inscriptiones Asiae, provinciarum Europae Graecarum, Illyrici Latinae, III. Berlin. p. 998
http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/173565?hs=139-144 (Retrieved 4/13/2016)
CIL III 6155 + 7571

Creator

Local

Subject

Tombstone, inscription, banquet, grapes, stele, child, vine, Moesia Inferior, cena funebris

Rights

Currently held by The British Museum

Relation

[no text]

Language

[no text]

Files

Tomsbtone Tomis Ulpia.jpg
Date Added
April 12, 2016
Citation
Local, “Inscribed Tombstone of Ulpia Aurelia Valeria,” Archaeology of the Later Roman Empire and SEEDD at FSU, accessed April 26, 2024, https://arh41545161lateromanarch.omeka.net/items/show/13.