FAMILY EPITAPH, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.134.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.134 AshLI 133

An unadorned rectangular slab of white marble (in a modern mount) (0.107 0.212 0.02). The text is unevenly inscribed, with letter heights varying within individual lines. The stone is chipped around its edges. Two neatly cut round holes on the right and left sides of the front surface (not in alignment with each other) may relate to its modern display.

Inscribed on the front face. Simple interpuncts throughout, except at line ends. Only the outline of D is visible at the end of line 1. In line 3, the first R in Arrio has mistakenly been cut as a B.

0.02-0.023 (line 1); 0.016-0.019 (line 2); 0.015-0.019 (line 3). Of unknown provenance, it probably originated from Rome. possibly first or second century AD. 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 64 on 4th April 1749, after his death. Lot 64 comprised seven marble inscriptions (also C3-110; C3-113; C3-117; C3-118; C3-128; C3-132). 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.36, no.185), 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
Vibia Titi filia Secunda Publius Arrius Hilarus sibi et Abrrio filio

Vibia Secunda, daughter of Titus; Publius Arrius Hilarus for themselves and their son Arrius.

ABRIO (lapis)

The fact that the name of Vibia Secunda appears before that of her husband P. Arrius Hilarus is worth noting, since it is more usual for a man to precede his wife in such epitaphs (cf. Flory 1984). In this case, she specifies that she is freeborn by including her filiation, whereas Arrius Hilarus does not indicate explicitly either that he is freeborn or freed, which perhaps suggests that he was in fact freed, and so of legally inferior status to his wife. Hilarus is a common name among slaves at Rome (Solin 1996: vol.1 pp.71-73; Kajanto 1965: p.134). Their son Arrius must have been born after his father had been manumitted, since he takes his name from his father.

Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl.IV.cxxxiv, with drawing; CIL VI.4, fasc.1 no.28889 [Chandler] (1894)

Online: EDCS-14802852 [accessed 04/06/14]

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) Flory M.B. 1984 Where women precede men: factors influencing the order of names in Roman epitaphs The Classical Journal 79.3 216.224 Kajanto I. 1965 The Latin Cognomina Helsinki Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 36.2 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. 1996 Die stadtrömischen Sklavennamen Stuttgart Steiner