EPITAPH OF FOSTERCHILD, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS URBICUS, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.131.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.131 AshLI 130

A squarish slab of white marble (in a modern mount) ( 0.199 0.221 0.042). In the middle at the top, outside the frame, is some sort of decoration, but damage to the stone disguises what this might be. The rear is smoothly finished. The stone is broken off at the top and bottom, and at its corners.

The inscription is placed within a single-line frame. The text is carefully laid out, with first and last lines centred. There are simple interpuncts throughout, except at line ends. Guiding lines for the stonecutter are visible throughout.

 0.024 (line 1); 0.021 (line 2); 0.018 (line 3); 0.017 (line 4). Of unknown provenance, it probably originates from Rome. possibly second century AD (from use of DM formula and onomastics) (Solin 2003: vol.2, p.956). It formed part of the collection of the London antiquary John Kemp (1665–1717: Goodwin 2008) until his death in 1717 (Ainsworth 1720), and it may earlier have been part of the collection of John Gailhard, much of whose collection was bought by John Kemp in 1695 (Nichols 1812: p.249). In his will, Kemp stipulated that Robert Earl of Oxford or his son should inherit the collection and books for 2,000 pounds, but the bequest was not accepted on these terms. Kemp’s collection was subsequently sold for just over 1,000 pounds in total in London in 1721: the auctioneer’s catalogue for March 1721 includes several entries for ‘Latin inscriptions’. Six Latin inscriptions were bought by Richard Rawlinson (though at the time touring the continent) in the auction of Kemp’s collection of antiquities, and brought to Oxford. They were among the collection of Latin inscriptions donated by Rawlinson to the University in 1753, at first kept in the University Collection in the Bodleian Library (Enright 1956: p.340). At some point this inscription 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.36, no.182), a list of antique marbles transferred from the Ashmolean Museum basement room to the marble rooms of the Randolph Building in January of 1888. It is currently on display in the Reading and Writing Gallery. Photograph
dis manibus Tiberio Claudio Urbico Tiberius Claudius Filinus alumno

To the spirits of the dead. For Tiberius Claudius Urbicus. Tiberius Claudius Filinus for his foster-child.

This epitaph gives some insight into lower-class relationships at Rome during the imperial era. The name Filinus is a Latinized form of the Greek name Philinus. The names Ti. Claudius Filinus and Ti. Claudius Urbicus together suggest low social status, not necessarily themselves freedmen, but probably of a freed background. The word alumnus was used in a variety of situations to describe an orphan, relation, foundling, or apprentice, children who were in a quasi-familial relationship with an older individual, but not formally adopted, whose natural parents were for some reason unwilling or unable to raise them (Rawson 1986). The majority of alumni whose age is known at Rome were under the age of 14 (Rawson 2003: 251-254). Epitaphs for alumni generally, as here, tend to be set up by a male foster-parent alone, which perhaps suggests that foster-relationships were generally initiated by men (Gallivan and Wilkins 1997: 254).

Ainsworth (1720) p.39 n.6; Muratori (1740) vol.3, p.1454 no.6 (with information sent by Henri Joseph de Thomassin de Mazaugues, who had seen it in John Kemp’s Museum); Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.IV.cxxxi, with drawing; CIL VI.3 no.15318 [Hübner] (1886).

Online: EDCS-09600192 [accessed 24/07/14].

1721 A catalogue of the antiquities of the late ingenious Mr John Kemp, F.R.S. consisting of two of the finest mummies (esteem'd so by the curious) ... with a valuable collection of books of antiquities Ainsworth R. 1720 Monumenta vetustatis Kempiana London Vaillant Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Enright B.J. 1956 Richard Rawlinson: collector, antiquary, and topographer (Bod. MS. D.Phil. d.1786) Gallivan P. Wilkins P. 1997 Familial structures in Roman Italy: a regional approach The Roman Family in Italy. Status, Sentiment, Space B. Rawson P. Weaver Oxford Oxford University Press 239-80 Goodwin Gordon 2008 Kemp, John (1665–1717) Philip Carter Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press online edn [accessed 24/07/14] 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 Muratori L.A. 1739, 1740, 1740, 1742 Novus thesaurus veterum inscriptionum I-IV Milan Nichols J. 1812 Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. Vol. 5 London Nichols, son, and Bentley Rawson B. 1986 Children in the Roman familia Family in Ancient Rome. New perspectives B. Rawson London and Sydney Croom Helm 170-200 Rawson B. 2003 Children and Childhood in Roman Italy Oxford Oxford University Press Solin H. 2003 Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch (2nd edn) 3 vols Berlin De Gruyter