EPITAPH OF MACRINIUS MAXIMINUS Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1947.285.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1947.285 AshLI 144

Stele of white marble 0.415 0.375 0.055, with rounded top, damaged on all sides but with intact bottom left corner, with a relief picture within a recessed frame, with inscription below (inscribed area: 0.09; 0.36). The rear is smoothed. The relief shows a horseman in a short tunic, with his cloak flapping out behind him and his right arm raised (now damaged), riding his horse with bridle and saddle, and in the act of just having speared a wild animal. It is striking that the huntsman is not looking towards the animal being hunted, but is looking out towards the viewer; this allows the relief to emphasise his chubby features which, along with the pony-like features of the horse both draw attention to the huntsman’s surprisingly young age, as described in the inscription. The horse is rearing up over the animal that has emerged from undergrowth or a cave; a hunting dog appears crouching below, next to the horse’s rear legs, facing the animal. The animal being hunted may be a wild boar: it has a crest or mane going down its back and a rather squat muzzle, but no obvious snout or tusks. Strong (1908: p.41) describes the image as ‘he has just pierced with his spear a monster that issues from a cave on the right and at which a dog is barking furiously’. A short spear can be seen having penetrated the animal’s head, and it is possible that the animal is depicted as already dead, with eye and mouth closed, slumped down upon its front legs (but the detail in the relief is not completely clear).

The inscription is carved beneath the relief, at the bottom of the stele. Its first and last lines are roughly centred.

 0.014 (line 1); 0.014 with tall I 0.02 (line 2); 0.013 with taller numeral I 0.017 (line 3); 0.009 (line 4); 0.011 (line 5). Letter As lack their cross-bar. There are irregular interpuncts. The carving of the text lacks accuracy: at the end of line 2, the word FILI[O] appears as EIII[O], but the reading is certain from context; similarly in line 3 the word DVLCISSIMO appears as DVLCLSSIMO. Line 4 also appears to contain inaccurate carving, probably INSIRV for INSTRV[xit]. perhaps 3rd c. AD This stele was part of the art collection of Sir Frederick Cook (died 1920) in Doughty House, 142 Richmond Hill, Richmond, Surrey (Michaelis 1882). He had inherited the vast collection from his father, Sir Francis Cook (Welch 2004), on his death in 1901, who had been merchant and art collector. A gallery was created in Doughty House in around 1880 for Sir Francis’ collection of antiquities and paintings, and it was extended by Sir Frederick in 1915 (Historic England, List entry Number: 1249955). The stele originates from Sicily, according to Michaelis (1882), who does not, however, give any reason for this assertion. It was purchased by the museum in 1947, along with other objects from Cook’s collection (Ashmolean MS. Accessions Register). The inscription is currently on display in the Rome Gallery. Photograph Photograph
dis manibus Macrinìo Maximino feiliio dulcissimo qui vixit anno I mensibus Macrinius Maximinus instiruxit praefectus castrorum fecit

To the departed spirits. To Macrinius Maximinus, sweetest son, who lived for one year and [?] months. Macrinius Maximinus Insiru[-], prefect of the camp, set this up.

FILIO (Strong); at line end, EIII (lapis) DVLCLSSIMO (lapis) INCIΔV (Michaelis, followed by Strong); INSIRV (lapis), corrected here to INSTRV[xit] - at the line end, there is a tiny trace of the top of a letter, which could be X. The doubling up of main verbs, with both instruxit and fecit, is not common but can be paralleled from a funerary inscription at Ostia, where the verbs appear together as inst(r)uxit fecit/que: AE 1950, 38. A possible parallel for letters INSIRV(XIT) in place of instru(xit) seems to be shown by Bulletin Archéologique du Comité des Travaux Historiques (1894) p.340

This is an example of a child’s tombstone where he is being represented as behaving far beyond his actual years, in a prospective image, intended to highlight the tragic premature death and to lament that he did not reach his potential (on prospective images on boys’ funerary monuments, see Mander 2013: pp.59-60). As described above, the depiction of the toddler on the relief is designed to draw attention to his tender years, as he looks out directly towards the viewer, allowing us to see clearly his babyish features, and he is riding something that resembles a child’s pony rather than a fullscale horse. The unrealistic scenario depicted, of the toddler having just speared a wild boar whilst out hunting, is intended to depict the qualities of bravery and hunting skill which the young boy was never destined to be able to realise in real life.

Although Michaelis (1882) attributes the stele to Sicily, the closest iconographic parallels for the heroic figure on horseback appear to come from the Black Sea region (Conrad 2004: pp.76-77), where several funerary stelai from the second and third centuries AD use the motif of the young rider to heroise the deceased, sometimes explicity, as neos heros (Pfuhl and Möbius 1979: no. 1296, Bilecik; no.1399, Istanbul, 2nd c.; no.1412, Byzantium, 3rd c., without inscription; no.1403, Tomi, 3rd c. for a son; no.1415, Dubrotic, second half of 2nd c., a young rider, with dog, described as neos heros in Greek = Conrad 2004: p.213, no.323/ Taf. 49, 2); no.1416, Odessos, 2nd c.; no.1418, Odessos, 2nd c., hero, 18 years). In spirit these seem close to our example, but this stele does remain unparalleled in the extreme youth of the rider. This is brought out by a stele from Rome, now in Palermo Museum, where the epitaph of two-year old Sindrilius is accompanied by the motif of a horseman and wild boar, but the relief actually depicts him being carried along in the arms of an older rider (CIL VI 9484; Bivona 1970: p.249, no.333, with Tav. CLX).

Michaelis (1882) p.643 no.81; Strong (1908) p.41 no.66, with pl.23; Ashmolean Museum Dept of Antiquities MS. Accessions Register 1947.285; Ashmolean Museum Report (1947) p.21

Online https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/rider-reliefs

BivonaL. 1970 Iscrizioni latine lapidarie del Museo di Palermo Palermo S.L. Flaccovio Editore Conrad S. 2004 Die Grabstelen aus Moesia Inferior Leipzig Casa Libri 1999 National Heritage List for England, ‘Doughty House, List entry Number: 1249955’ https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1249955 [accessed 10/06/16] Mander J. 2013 Portraits of Children on Roman Funerary Monuments Cambridge Cambridge University Press Michaelis A. 1882 Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, translated by C.A.M. Fennell Cambridge Cambridge University Press Pfuhl E. Möbius H. 1979 Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs 2 Mainz am Rhein Philipp Von Zabern Strong E. 1908Antiques in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bart., at Doughty House, Richmond Journal of Hellenic Studies 28 1-45 Welch C. Davies H. 2004 Cook, Sir Francis, first baronet (1817-1901) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford Oxford University Press, online edition [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32541, accessed accessed 20 Dec 2013