FUNERARY ALTAR FOR HECTOR, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1873.171.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1873.171 AshLI 135

A white marble funerary altar (0.465 0.285 0.158), with its text inscribed within a moulded frame. It was drawn by Marini MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 9131 f.11’ no.10 as a small base, with mouldings top and bottom. On its left side is a jug (urceus) carved in relief, and on its right side, a libation-dish (patera). The altar is in good condition, with slight damage to the cornice at top right.

interpuncts in line 1 only. The text is roughly centred on each line. The initial H on line 4 has been partially erased.

 0.018 (line 1); 0.016 (lines 2-3); 0.02 (line 4); 0.014 (line 5); 0.016 (line 6). It was recorded as in the villa Perucchia in Rome by CIL. 2nd/3rd century AD (from use of DM formula and onomastics) (Solin 2003: vol. 1, p.514). It was presented to the Ashmolean museum in 1873 by the Rev. Brymer Belcher (MA), Fellow of Wadham College. It must have been incorporated into the existing collection of ancient inscriptions in the basement of the (Old) Ashmolean Museum on Broad Street (now the Museum of the History of Science) (Munby 2013), since it is included in the archive MS. ‘Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum’ (p.37, no.187), a list of ancient marbles transferred from the Ashmolean Museum basement room to the marble rooms of the Randolph Building in January of 1888. It is currently in a storeroom. Photograph: front face Photograph: right side Photograph: left side
Dis manibus Hectori filio Hector pater fecit

To the spirits of the dead. For Hector, son. Hector, father, set this up.

This records the commemoration of son by father. The simple text contrasts with its relatively elaborate monumental setting.

Marini MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 9131 f.11’ no.10; Ashmolean Archive MS ‘Handlist, Inscriptions Acquired’ no.96; CIL VI.3 no.19170 [Marini] (1886).

Online: EDCS-12101078 [accessed 05/02/15]

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Marini MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 9131 Munby J. 2013 A rare collection: Oxford museums past and present Excalibur: Essays on Antiquity and the History of Collecting in Honour of Arthur MacGregor H.Wiegel and M.Vickers Oxford BAR Int. ser. 2512 75-85 Solin H. 2003 Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch (2nd edn) 3 vols Berlin De Gruyter