FUNERARY ALTAR OF MARCIUS CLEMENS, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.36.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.36 AshLI 35

A white marble funerary altar (0.855 0.52 0.34, consisting of three separate sections: a curved pediment at the top, in the centre of which is an eagle with open wings in relief, flanked on either side by bolsters consisting of a volute containing a rosette; the main body of the altar, with moulded frame on the front around the inscription, and with a jug (urceus) in relief on the left side and a libation-dish (patera) in relief on the right side; and a pedestal consisting of a stepped base. In its present condition, there is some slight damage to the rosette at top right; the left corner of the inscription is partly broken; part of the left-hand moulded frame has been restored. The top moulding is also slightly damaged.

The inscription is enclosed within a moulded frame (0.43 0.35). It is not planned out and is inscribed with irregular lettering. The final line at the bottom of the stele is separated by a large empty space from the rest of the text. Line 4 also appears to have been added by a different hand. There are interpuncts in the first part only of the inscription. The letters in the final line are spaced out across the width of the altar. The rather indifferent quality of the inscribing seems out of line with the elegant altar on which it sits. It seems likely that, as Hübner suggested, the altar was originally inscribed with another text. This was then erased and replaced with the current one, so it is possible that the current inscription does not record the identity of the original purchaser of the altar, which might explain the discrepancy between inscription and monument. RTI has revealed traces of the bottom stems of a line of letters in the empty space just above line 5.

0.021, sloping slightly downwards (line 1); 0.018 (line 2); 0.02 (line 3); 0.023, with tall I 0.027 (line 4); 0.02 (line 5). The As lack cross-bars. Of unknown provenance, it probably originated from Rome. 1st/2nd century AD (Solin 2003: vol.2, p.1147). It was first recorded in Oxford by Prideaux (1676), as part of the Arundel Collection, given to the University of Oxford by Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1667. The Arundel marbles were first displayed in the ‘Garden of Antiquities’ outside the new Sheldonian Theatre from 1668/9 (Sturdy and Moorcraft 1999), and this inscription is visible in the proof-engraving depicting this display in the papers of Henry Aldrich (Vickers 2006: p.40-41). The marbles were subsequently transferred indoors in 1715 to ‘The Marble School’, an upper gallery in the Bodleian Quadrangle. In 1749, they were transferred downstairs to the ground floor in the former School of Moral Philosophy, and at some point 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.29, no.141), 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 inscription is currently in store. Photograph Photograph: side detail Photograph: pediment detail Photograph: pediment detail Photograph: pediment detail Photograph: pediment detail Photograph: side detail Photograph: side detail Photograph: side detail Photograph: side detail Photograph: inscription without pediment, in store Photograph: inscription detail Photograph: inscription detail Photograph: interior
dis manibus Titus Marci us Clemes fecit sibi et postaeris quae suis et Marciae Puyrallidi vixit annos XXXIII

To the spirits of the dead. Titus Marcius Cleme(n)s made (this) for himself and for his descendants and for Marcia Pyrallis. Lived 33 years.

PVRALIDI (lapis), emended to Pyrallidi (Solin).

As suggested above, the inscription appears to be a later addition to this elegant altar. The inscription was commissioned by Titus Marcius Cleme(n)s to commemorate himself and his descendants, but it later appears to have been extended to include Marcia Pyrallis (perhaps his wife and/or fellow-freedwoman) as well. As a result, it is unclear to whom the final line about age at death refers. The status of both named individuals is unclear, but given that they share the same nomen, it is perhaps likely that they are both ex-slaves.

Prideaux (1676) p.147, no.106; Maittaire (1732) p.41, no.99; Chandler (1763) p.133, no.36; CIL VI.3 no.22053 [Hübner] (1886).

Online: EDCS-13200339 [accessed 22/07/14].

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Maittaire M. 1732, 2nd edn. Marmorum, Arundellianorum, Seldenianorum, Aliorumque Academiae Oxoniensi Donatorum London William Bowyer 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 Prideaux H. 1676 Marmora Oxoniensia ex Arundellianis, Seldenianis, aliisque conflata Oxford Solin H. 2003 Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch (2nd edn) 3 vols Berlin de Gruyter Sturdy D. and N. Moorcraft 1999 Christopher Wren and Oxford’s garden of antiquities Minvera 10.1 25-28 Vickers M. 2006 The Arundel and Pomfret Marbles in Oxford Oxford Ashmolean Museum