EPITAPH OF T. STABERIUS FELICISSIMUS, ROME (?) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.76.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.76 AshLI 75

The top part of a stele of white marble (0.272 0.276 0.047), with a rounded top flanked by acroteria, in a modern mount. The rear and sides are rough. Its lower part is missing.

The text is inscribed on the front face of the stele. There are sporadic triangular interpuncts. Some care has been taken in laying out the text.

 0.022, throughout. It is of unknown provenance, but probably originates from Rome. possibly second century AD (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. The ash chest is currently in a storeroom. Photograph Photograph
dis manibus Titi Staberi Felicissimi vixit annos LIII menses VIII

To the departed spirits of Titus Staberius Felicissimus, who lived for 53 years and 8 months.

M. VIII (Maittaire); MEN. VIII (Maittaire p.562)

The social status of the deceased is unclear, but Felicissimus is a particularly common slave name (Solin 1996: vol 1, p.94), suggesting that he may have been of freed status.

Prideaux (1676) p.263, no.122; Maittaire (1732) p.42, no.108 + 562; Chandler (1763) p.137, no.76; CIL VI.4 fasc.1, no.26718 [Hübner] (1894)

Online: EDCS-14200908 [accessed 05/09/15]

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. 1996 Die stadtrömischen Sklavennamen Stuttgart Steiner Sturdy D. and N. Moorcraft 1999 Christopher Wren and Oxford’s garden of antiquities Minerva 10.1 25-28