EPITAPH FOR PRIMA, ROME(?) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.61.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.61 AshLI 60

A white marble stele, topped by a rounded semicircular pediment in relief (0.495 0.23 0.048) (in a modern mount). There is a rosette in each top corner, and a garland in the centre of the pediment, with a ribbon fluttering to left and right. The rear remains rough. It is in a good condition.

Line 1 (DM) is inscribed in the space above the mould around the text and below the pediment. The rest of the inscription is engraved within a moulded frame (inscribed area: 0.246 0.17). There are some interpuncts. The final X in line 8 is much smaller (0.007), squeezed in for lack of space.

0.015 (line 1); 0.027 (line 2); 0.019, with tall I 0.024 (line 3); 0.018 (line 4); 0.014 (line 5); 0.022 (line 6); 0.018 (line 7); 0.021, with tall I 0.027 (line 8) It is of unknown provenance, but probably originates from Rome. 2nd/3rd century AD (from DM formula and onomastics) (Solin 2003: vol.2, p.1013) It was first recorded in Oxford by Prideaux as part of the Arundel Collection, which was given to the University of Oxford by Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1667 (Prideaux 1676). The Arundel marbles were first displayed in the ‘Garden of Antiquities’ outside the new Sheldonian Theatre from 1668/9 (Sturdy and Moorcraft 1999). The inscriptions 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). 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 in a storeroom. Photograph
dis manibus Primae sorori piissimae vixit annos XXX fecerunt Genethlius frater et Hermes coniunx

To the spirits of the dead. To Prima, most devoted sister, who lived for 30 years. Genethlius her brother and Hermes, her husband, set this up.

The single names used may suggest a servile milieu here (Solin 2003: vol.1, p.374; vol.2, p.1013), but it is also possible that the individuals are of freed status. The fact that Prima is described as having lived for 30 years may reflect the age-rounding that was common in Latin epitaphs rather than her real age at death, with numbers in multiples of 5 and 10 being over-represented after the ages of 20 and 70 respectively (Hopkins 1966).

Prideaux (1676) p.103, no.43; Maittaire (1732) p.38, no.81; Chandler (1763) p.136, no.61; CIL VI.4 fasc.1, no.25010 [Hübner] (1894)

Online: EDCS-13801263 [accessed 12/08/15]

ChandlerR. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Hopkins K. 1966 On the probable age structure of the Roman population Population Studies 20.2 245-64 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