EPITAPH OF FREEDMAN PUBLIUS CURTIUS CISSUS, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.129.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.129 AshLI 128

An attractive rectangular slab of white marble made up of two contiguous fragments imitating a tabula ansata (in a modern mount) (0.082 0.243 0.022). It is decorated on the front surface at the top and bottom edges around the inscription with two patterns. At the top is a line of 22 triangles symmetrically arranged according to a pattern of loops at their tops; at the bottom is a wavy line, which has small dashes in between it, alternating above and below. These decorative motifs are also found on C3-108. There is some surface abrasion on the front. The rear is not visible because of the modern mount.

The text is inscribed on the front face, within the decorative border, on a single line. There are simple interpuncts throughout, except at the end of the line. A double set of guiding lines for the stonecutter are visible, relating to both taller and shorter letters.

 0.06 with a tall P and T: 0.022. It is of unknown provenance, but probably originates from Rome. possibly first century AD (from columbarium context). 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; C3-120; C3-122; C3-123; 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 later that year 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, 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.35, no.180), 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. It is currently in a storeroom. photograph
Publius Curtius Publi libertus Cissus

Publius Curtius Cissus, freedman of Publius.

The plaque’s format suggests that this epitaph originated in a columbarium, which in turn would suggest a date between the last quarter of the first century BC and the Hadrianic period (Bodel 2008).

Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.IV.cxxix, with drawing; CIL VI.3 no.16639 [Hübner] (1886)

Online: EDCS-12001540 [accessed 20/10/15]

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Bodel J. 2008 From columbaria to catacombs: communities of the dead in pagan and Christian Rome Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context L. Brink O.P. Green D. Green Berlin/New York De Gruyter 177-242 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