ASH CHEST OF OGULNIUS FORTUNATUS, ROME (?) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.66.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.66 AshLI 65

An ash chest of white marble ( 0.19 0.264 0.215), decorated with relief carving, with generous use of drilling technique, with a rectangular inscribed panel on the front. It is decorated with a ram’s head at each of its top corners, whilst a garland hangs across the bottom of the chest, beneath the inscribed panel. Four birds are carved sitting on the garland and pecking at it. The decoration extends around the corners of the chest. It has a rectangular cavity inside (0.19 0.14). It is in a good condition.

The epitaph is inscribed within a separate frame, at top centre. Inscribed area: 0.067 0.13 There are triangular interpuncts throughout. Guiding lines are visible throughout. The last line is roughly centred.

 0.009 (lines 1-4); 0.006(line 5); 0.007 (line 6). It is of unknown provenance, but probably originates from Rome. possibly second century AD (from use of DM formula and tria nomina). 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. It is currently on display in the Randolph Gallery. Photograph
dis manibus Numerius Ogulnius Fortunatus vixit annis VIII mensis VI Numerius Ogulnius Fortunatus pater piissimus fecit filio piissimo

To the spirits of the dead. Numerius Ogulnius Fortunatus lived for 8 years, 6 months. Numerius Ogulnius Fortunatus, his most loving father set this up for his most loving son

FORTVNATVS (Prideaux, Maittaire) OGVLNIVS (Prideaux, Maittaire)

The situation of a father having to bury his son evoked pathos, a sentiment which is perhaps heightened by the description of both father and son as piissimus, which brought to the foreground ideas of affection and loyalty between them.

Prideaux (1676) p.113, no.48; Maittaire (1732) p.34, no.46; Chandler (1763) p.136, no.66; CIL VI.3 no. 23412 [Hübner] (1886).

Online: EDCS-13300605 [accessed 28/12/14]

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