COLUMBARIUM ALLOCATION OF FREEDMAN AND FREEDWOMAN, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.120.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.120 AshLI 119

An unadorned rectangular slab of white marble (0.09 0.468 0.025) imitating a tabula ansata (in a modern mount, rear not visible). It consists of three contiguous fragments. The left side is intact, but the right has broken away. The bottom right corner is missing, as well as two smaller pieces (filled in by a modern repair) along the bottom, where the stone has fractured. The left hand side of the front surface has suffered some abrasion. A circular mark still with traces of metal and oxidisation occurs half way up on the left of the front surface, and remnants of a similar mark may be seen to the right, where the stone has fractured.

The text is inscribed on the front face, the first two lines in two separate columns, whilst line three is centred and relates to both of the individual texts above. There are triangular interpuncts throughout, except at line ends.

 0.026 (line 1); 0.015 (line 2); 0.008 (line 3). Of unknown provenance, it probably originated from a columbarium in Rome. first half of the first century AD (columbarium context; onomastics – Solin 2003, vol. 2: p.1150). It is first recorded in Oxford according to CIL, but is in fact listed in the sale catalogue (Langford 1749) for the collection belonging to Christopher Wren, Esq., of Hampton Court (son of Sir Christopher Wren), sold at auction in London as lot 54 on 6th April 1749, after his death. Lot 54 comprised a Greek inscription and seven Latin inscriptions (also C3-108, C3-109; C3-122; C3-123; C3-129; C3-133). This lot was bought by Richard Rawlinson: he is listed in the sale catalogue as one of the buyers at the auction, and also himself writes of having bought Latin inscriptions from Mr Wren’s sale (Enright 1956: p.306 - Rawlinson Bod. MS. C 989 f.123, 16 Nov 1749, letter to Bodleian’s librarian). All of these Latin inscriptions are in the Ashmolean as part of the Rawlinson Collection (Chandler 1763), which was given to Oxford University in 1753, and at first kept in the University Collection in the Bodleian Library (Enright 1956: p.340). At some point it then ended up 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.34, no.172), a list of ancient marbles transferred in Jan. 1888 from the (Old) Ashmolean Museum basement room to the marble rooms of the Randolph Building on Beaumont Street, which had been built alongside the University Galleries. The Ashmolean Museum in its current location was built behind the University Galleries, was opened in 1894, and finally the University Galleries and Ashmolean were amalgamated by statute in 1908. The epitaph is currently on display in the Reading and Writing Gallery. photograph
Marcus Antonius Marci libertus Euphranor
Aurelia U+0186mulieris liberta Chelido
ollas inferiores interiores II

Marcus Antonius Euphranor, freedman of Marcus. Aurelia Chelido, freedwoman of a woman. Two lower inner urns.

This plaque designated the entitlement of Euphranor and Chelido to have their ashes interred within urns in a columbarium, and was intended to prevent any dispute arising about the exact location allocated to them. The text is carefully arranged in two columns, representing the two owners, with an overlapping third line, detailing their joint entitlement.

Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.IV.cxx, with drawing; CIL VI.2 no.11988 [Hübner] (1882); CIL VI.4 fasc. 3 p.3911 (1933); ILS 7903 (Dessau 1974).

Online: EDCS-17201653 [accessed 29/10/15]

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Enright B.J. 1956 Richard Rawlinson: collector, antiquary, and topographer (Bod. MS. D.Phil. d.1786) Langford A. 1749 A catalogue of the genuine and entire collection of medals and statues of Christopher Wren Esq, late of Hampton Court, deceased; together with the collection of drawings of architecture of the late Sir Christopher Wren, his father (London 1749) http://artworld.york.ac.uk R. Stephens The art world in Britain 1660 to 1735 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