Inscribed Tombstone of Ulpia Aurelia Valeria

Inscribed Tombstone of Ulpia Aurelia Valeria

12/04/2016

AXA

RO.MI.TO.2016.007

Country: Romania (RO)

Province: Constanța (CO)

Site: Tomis (TO)

Roman Province: Moesia Inferior (MI)/Scythia Minor (SM)

Date: Late 3th/Early 4th century CE

AKA Inventory #: BM 1864,0331.5

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

Object/Funerary/Inscription

Limestone

“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

Local

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

Currently held by The British Museum

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