EPITAPH OF HUSBAND AND WIFE, ROME(?) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.63.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.63 AshLI 62

An ash chest of white marble with grey veins, with an integral lid (0.34 0.295 0.30). The lid consists of a curved pediment which is decorated with two rosettes within scrolls, to the right and left of which on top are cylindrical bolsters, ending in rosettes to the front. On the sides appear a jug (urceus) (left), and libation-dish (patera) (right). It is in good condition, with minor damage at the front on the base support, and some minor surface damage to the text in lines 4-5.

The inscription is engraved on the front face, and lacks any moulded frame (inscribed area: 0.159 0.265). The text is carefully arranged, centred on each line. There are triangular interpuncts throughout.

 0.02 with tall I 0.025 (line 1); 0.018 (line 2); 0.015 (line 3); 0.013, with tall I 0.018 (line 4); 0.01 (lines 5-6) It probably originated from Rome. possibly 2nd century AD (from use of DM formula and / tria nomina) (Solin 2003: vol.2, p.855). The ash chest belongs to the Arundel Collection, 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. 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). It is included in the archive MS. ‘Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum’ p.30 no.246, a list of antique 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 a storeroom. Photograph Photograph Photograph: side Photograph: lid
diis manibus Publius Vettius Epitynchanus sibi et Vettiae Syntyche coniugi bene merenti fecit

To the spirits of the dead. Publius Vettius Epitynchanus set this up for himself and for Vettia Syntyche, his well-deserving wife.

SYNTICHE (Prideaux)

Given that husband and wife Vettius Epitynchanus and Vettia Syntyche share the same nomen, they may both have been freed by the same master, although we cannot be certain whether they were full citizens or Junian Latin in status (Solin 2003: vol. 1, p.154; vol. 2, p.855).

Prideaux (1676) p.103, no.40; Maittaire (1732) p.36, no.66; Chandler (1763) p.136, no.63; CIL VI.4 fasc.1 no.28671 [Hübner] (1894)

Online: EDCS-14802629 [accessed 12/08/15]

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities Marbles sent from Ashmolean Museum ChandlerR. 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