EPITAPH OF FREEDWOMAN, DELLIA CHRESTE, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.86.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.86 AshLI 85

A fragmentary unadorned slab of white marble (in modern mount) (0.146 0.202 0.023), virtually intact save for some breakage down its left side. Its rear is smoothly finished. The top surface is moulded, with a small hole slightly right of centre, probably relating to its modern display. It is broken off to the left, but its right side is intact. The top left corner is slightly chipped. A small circular hole at the end of line 2 is parallel to one at the start of line 2 in ANChandler.3.85.

This was originally the right side of a plaque inscribed with two epitaphs, on the left side of which was the epitaph of Dellius Ptolla (C3-85). The two inscriptions were recorded as part of the same monument by Doni and Sirmond; they indicated, however, that the stone was already split at this point, although its two parts were still adjoining. By the time the stone had become part of the Arundel Collection in Oxford, the two sides had become separated. The lettering is rather worn, though legible; there may be a faint interpunct in the centre of line 2. The text is centred on each line.

 0.026 (line 1); 0.02 (lines 2-3). Given that it was recorded by Doni and Sirmond, it probably originates from Rome. first half of century AD on onomastic grounds (Solin 1996: vol. 2, p.471). It was published by Prideaux (1676) 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 Photograph: with ANChandler.3.85
Dellia Quinti liberta Chreste

Dellia Chreste, freedwoman of Quintus.

CHRSTE (Doni MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113).

This was originally the right side of a plaque inscribed with two epitaphs, on the left side of which was the epitaph of Dellius Ptolla (ANChandler.3.85). The plaque was seen intact by both Doni and Sirmond whilst it was still in Rome, but had been damaged and split in two by the time Prideaux published it as part of the Arundel collection (1676). The juxtaposition of the two epitaphs for Dellius Ptolla and Dellia Chreste on the same plaque suggests that they were a couple freed by the same patron.

Sirmond MS. BNF Paris suppl. Lat. 1419 = Lat. 10808, no.266; Doni MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113 f.42’ (following Menestrier); Prideaux (1676) p.143, no.87; Maittaire (1732) p.43, no.133; Chandler (1763) p.137, no.86; CIL VI.3 no.16800 [Hübner] (1886).

Online: EDCS-12001697 [accessed 07/07/14].

Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Doni Giovanni Battista [Donius] 1594-1647 MS. cod. Vat. Lat. 7113 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 Sirmond Jacques[Sirmondus] 1559-1651 Recueil d’inscriptions copiées par Sirmond, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Paris suppl. Lat. 1419 = Lat. 10808 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9077728w" accessed 10/06/14. 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