CHRISTIAN EPITAPH OF VICTURINA, AECLANUM Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN2007.56.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN2007.56 AshLI 162

A plain rectangular plaque of white marble with blue bands (probably Proconnesian, according to Susan Walker), similar to AN2007.60 (0.377 0.265 0.035). The removal of the modern mount in 2012 revealed on the right side of the slab a double moulding, most likely evidence of earlier architectural use. The back of the slab is sawn smooth. There is some damage along all of the edges of the plaque and some surface damage.

The text is inscribed on the front face. Guiding-lines are visible, with an unused set at the base of the slab. There are sporadic interpuncts (more are included in error by Guarini 1814). The last line is centred. The final letters in lines 2-3 and 5 are rather squeezed in at the edge of the plaque. There is not as much damage to the right side of the inscribed text as would appear from Mommsen’s editions of it.

 0.028 throughout. There is a ligature in line 5. In line 3, M has a line through it. The following numeral seems to be III, with the final stroke more faintly carved on the moulding The inscription originates from Aeclanum, Regio II (Apulia and Calabria). 15th May AD 462. According to Mommsen in IRNL (1852), it was in the Museo Cassitto at Bonito, near Avellino, and then in London at the time of editing CIL IX (1883), having been purchased by Charles Wilshere. Charles Wilshere (1814-1906) was a lawyer and member of the landed gentry, succeeding to his family estate at The Frythe, Welwyn (Hertfordshire) in 1867. As a supporter of the Oxford movement and Anglican layman, he had particular interest in ecclesiastical history, which he pursued during several trips to Rome between roughly 1860 and 1890, purchasing antiquities relevant to Judaism and early Christianity (Kraabel 1979: p.42). In addition to purchasing antiquities for his own collection, he presented others to the Vatican. This inscription was bequeathed to Pusey House, a noted centre for theological study in Oxford, in 1906, along with the rest of the Wilshere collection. It was subsequently loaned to and then purchased by the Ashmolean Museum. On the Wilshere collection, see Webster 1929, Kraabel 1979, and Vickers 2011. It is currently on display in the Mediterranean Gallery. Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph Photograph
hic requiescit Victurina quae vixit annos V menses III dies XV depositio eius idibus Maias consule domino nostro Severo primo Augcusto

Here rests Victurina, who lived five years, three months, and fifteen days. Her burial on the ides of May in the consulship of our lord Severus, first Augustus.

REQVIESCIT (Mommsen in IRNL and CIL, T taken from Guarini; De Rossi schedae). QVE (Mommsen in IRNL, E taken from Guarini; De Rossi schedae). AN (De Rossi, first scheda from Guarini in MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 10528); M III (Mommsen in IRNL and CIL, II taken from Guarini); III (Diehl; De Rossi, first scheda from Guarini in MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 10528). DEP (Guarini 1814; De Rossi, first scheda from Guarini). IDVS is equivalent to IDIBVS. MAIOS (Guarini 1814; De Rossi, first scheda from Guarini). COS (Guarini 1814; first scheda in De Rossi from Guarini); CON (IRNL); CONS (De Rossi, second scheda from Wilshere; Wilshere reproduced in ICI; Diehl ILCV); ligatured NS (CIL). AVC lapis; AVG (Guarini 1814; De Rossi, first scheda from Guarini; Mommsen in CIL); omitted in IRNL.

The emphasis here upon repose is typical of Christian epitaphs, which viewed death as merely a sleep before resurrection. The desire to record the exact date of burial is also typical, and would have allowed for anniversary rituals to be performed at the graveside. Felle suggests that the deceased may have been related (the daughter?) of a Victurinus who was commemorated on a slab with similar lettering from the cemetery at Passo di Mirabella (CIL IX no.1370 = ICI VIII no.36), dated AD 450. The consul is Libius Severus, proclaimed Augustus in the West in AD 461 (PLRE II pp.1004-1005) and then appointed consul on the following 1st Jan 462.

Guarini (1814) 170 no.VII; IRNL no.1297 (Mommsen, 1852); De Rossi MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 10528 f.55; CIL IX no.1373 (1883); ILCV no.3028a (Diehl 1927); ICI VIII no.41 (1993); Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities MS. Accession Register 2007.56.

Online: EDCS-12400877 [accessed 16/09/14]; EDR-135045 (last updated 15/01/14, F. Lorusso) [accessed 05/02/15]

De Rossi G.B. Schedae mss in cod. Vat. Lat. 10528, f.55 (two versions of the text, the first from Guarini, the second from Wilshere) Diehl E. 1925-1967 Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres 4 vols Berlin Weidmann Felle A.E. 1993 Inscriptiones Christianae Italiae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores vol. VIII Regio II: Hirpini Bari Edipuglia Guarini R. 1814n Ricerche sull’antica città di Eclano Naples Stamperia Reale Kraabel A.T. 1979 Jews in Imperial Rome: More Archaeological Evidence from an Oxford Collection Journal of Jewish Studies 30 41-58 Mommsen T. 1852 Inscriptiones Regni Neapolitani Latinae Leipzig Vickers M. 2011 The Wilshere Collection of Early Christian and Jewish Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Miscellanea a Emilio Marin Sexagenario Dicata Split Franjevačka provincija Presv. Otkupitelja: Kačić 41-43 605-614 Webster T.B.L. 1929 The Wilshere Collection at Pusey House in Oxford Journal of Roman Studies 19 150-154