EPITAPH OF PONTIA TELESPHORIDIS, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.62.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.62 AshLI 61

A plain rectangular plaque of marble (0.294 0.294 0.055), which becomes thicker at the bottom edge. Its rear is smooth. Its letters are worn.

The text is inscribed on the front face. The first and last lines are roughly centred. There are sporadic interpuncts.

 0.018-0.023 variable in height, becoming taller in the middle (line 1); 0.025 (line 2); 0.025 (line 3); 0.023 (line 4); 0.023 (line 5); 0.028 (line 6) It probably originated from Rome 2nd/3rd century AD (use of DM formula, onomastics) (Solin 2003: vol.I, p.395). The altar belongs to the Arundel Collection, given to the University of Oxford by Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1667 (Prideaux 1676). It probably originated from Rome. 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 altar is currently in a storeroom. Photograph
dis manibus sacrum Pontiae Telesphoridi quae vixit annis XXXII mensibus II diebus XVI coniugi bene merenti hic sita est

‘Sacred to the spirits of the dead. To Pontia Telesphoridis, who lived for 32 years, 2 months, 16 days, well-deserving wife. Here she is buried.’

The social status of the deceased woman, whether freed or freeborn, is unclear.

Editions

Prideaux (1676) p.127, no.69; Maittaire (1732) p.36, no.64; Chandler (1763) p.136, no.62; CIL VI.4.1 no.24755 [Hübner] (1894)

Online: EDCS-13801004 [accessed 05/02/15]

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 Study D. and N. Moorcraft 1999 Christopher Wren and Oxford’s garden of antiquities Minerva 10.1 25-28