EPITAPH OF FREEDWOMAN AND FREEDMAN, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.133.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.133 AshLI 132

A small rectangular slab of white marble, probably from a columbarium, made up of three contiguous fragments imitating a tabula ansata with minor ornamentation (in modern mount) (0.109 0.226 0.014). The rear is rather hidden by the modern mount, but is possibly smoothed. Two circular marks still with traces of metal and oxidisation occur half way up on both right and left of the front surface. The stone has fractured down its centre, and at the top right corner.

The text is enclosed in a simple frame. The slab presents two epitaphs in separate columns, divided by a decorative leaf motif, which extends vertically down the inscribed area. Sporadic interpuncts.

 column a – 0.019 with tall F 0.021 (line 1); 0.015 (line 2); 0.013 with tall F 0.017 (line 3); 0.011 (line 4); column b – 0.017 (line 1); 0.013 (lines 2-3); 0.01 (line 4) Of unknown provenance, it probably originated from Rome. first half of the first century AD, from columbarium context and onomastics (Solin 1996: vol.1, p84). Columbaria began to be constructed in Rome from the 20s BC, flourishing until the Hadrianic period (Bodel 2008). 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; C3-129). 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, 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.36, no.184), 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
Flavia Auli liberta Fausta vixit annos XIIX
Aulus Flavius Auli libertus Eros vixit annos XXV

Flavia Fausta, freedwoman of Aulus, lived for 18 years. Aulus Flavius Eros, freedman of Aulus, lived for 25 years.

This columbarium plaque commemorates two ex-slaves freed by the same patron. Legally speaking, according to Augustus’ legislation on manumission, the lex Aelia Sentia of AD 4, slaves could not be manumitted until they had reached the age of thirty, and so Fausta and Eros must be examples of individuals with Junian Latin status rather than full Roman citizens (Lopez Barja de Quiroga 1998). This meant that they lacked important rights, such as being able to make a will; on their deaths, the property of Junian Latins reverted to their former masters. The juxtaposition of Fausta and Eros perhaps implies they were husband and wife. If this is so, they might perhaps have hoped to apply for full citizen status by producing a child one-year in age, but it seems that both died before this.

Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.IV.cxxxiii, with drawing; CIL VI.3 no.18335 [Hübner] (1886)

Online: EDCS-10200534 [accessed 04/06/14]

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 Lopez Barja de Quiroga P. 1998 Junian Latins : status and numbers Athenaeum 86.1 133-163 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. 1996 Die stadtrömischen Sklavennamen. Ein Namenbuch Stuttgart Franz Steiner