A BOY’S EPITAPH, ROME Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANChandler.3.90.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.90 AshLI 89

A stele of white marble (0.384 0.213 0.043), incised in relief with a rounded pediment flanked by a pseudo-acroterion on each side (in a modern mount, which conceals the rear). The centre of the pediment is decorated with something, possibly a garland. The stele is missing its bottom right corner. The front surface is very worn, and parts of the inscription hardly legible. In the centre of the top edge is a hole, probably relating to its modern display.

The inscription is enclosed within a simple moulded rectangular frame ( 0.241 0.154). In line 1, DM is centred, as a heading.

: 0.019 (line 1); 0.013 (line 2); c.0.015 thereafter, but the letters are rather too worn to be accurately measured. Underlined letters are derived from earlier editions, but can no longer be seen. The exact findspot of this inscription is unknown, but, according to Chandler (1763: p.xviii), it was once on display in Rome at the Palazzo of Cardinal Crescenzi, near the Pantheon in Rome. At least thirteen inscriptions from Cardinal Crescenzi’s residence at Rome ended up among the Arundel Marbles by 1628, when Selden’s first edition of Marmora Arundelliana appeared, but C3-90 was not included in that work. perhaps second century AD (from use of DM formula, tria nomina) (Solin (2003) vol. 1: p.605). It is first recorded in Oxford as part of the Arundel Collection, presented to the University in 1667 by Henry Howard, grandson of Thomas Howard 2nd Earl of Arundel (who died in 1646) (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), and this particular inscription is recorded as on display there (‘in the Theatre Yard’) in 1710 by Thomas Hearne (Doble 1886: vol. 2, p.379). 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 stele is currently in a storeroom. Photograph Photograph
dis manibus Lucio Annaio Firm vixit annis V mensibus II diebus VI horis VI qui natus est nonis Iuliis defunctus est IIII idus Septembres Annaia Feru sa vernae su o karissimo

To the spirits of the dead. For Lucius Annaius Firm(---), lived 5 years, 2 months, 6 days, 6 hours, who was born on the 7th July and died on the 10th September. Annaia Ferusa (did this) for her dearest household slave.

Line 2 [F]IRM (Chandler); FIRM. (Fabretti, Orelli); L/I/IAIO (Hübner in CIL) Line 3 [VIXI]T (Chandler); VIXIT (Fabretti, Orelli) Line 6 IV[////] (Chandler, Hübner); IVLIIS (Fabretti, Orelli); no line division between lines 5-6 (Orelli) Line 7 DEFVN[C]TVS (Chandler); no line division between lines 7-8 (Orelli) Lines 8-12 EST IIII /D/S│SEPTE…│AN…│SA. VE…│O ° KARI… (Chandler); EST ° II////│/////│/N///│//V////│OI////// Hübner) Line 9 SEPTEMBRIS (Prideaux, Fabretti, Orelli) Line 11 VE[RAEN SV] (Chandler); SA VERN visible on RTI Line 12 Downstroke of K is visible on RTI

This epitaph is set up by a woman, Annaia Ferusa, whose social status is unclear. Ferusa is an alternative form of the Greek name Pherusa. She commemorates her verna, whose abbreviated cognomen could be expanded in a variety of ways. The term verna is usually interpreted as referring to a slave who was born and brought up within a household (Herrmann-Otto 1994). Such slaves often appear to have been favoured by their owners (see also C3-65 and C3-122). Despite being a 5-year old household slave, this child possesses tria nomina, sharing the nomen of the epitaph’s dedicator, indicating that he had been freed. This may reflect two trends in Roman society: firstly, that slaves could have monetary value only once they had reached the age of five (Digest 7.7.6.1, Ulpian); and secondly, that the category of vernae was exempt from the usual rules on granting freedom (Mander 2013: p.124), and could be freed below the normally prescribed age limits (thirty). The close relationship that is evident here (not least through the precision with which the age at death is given) between Annaia Ferusa and her slave may well have resulted in her granting him his freedom. It is possible that she did so as he was on his death-bed, so that he might die free (Weaver 2001: p.103). Given his description as vernae suo karissimo, it is clear that even once freed, the original close relationship was uppermost in the mind of Annaia Ferusa at any rate (Herrmann-Otto 1994: p.58).

Prideaux (1676) p.77, no.6; Fabretti (1702) p.347 no.8; Maittaire (1732) p.39, no.85; Chandler (1763) p.138, no.90; Orelli (1828) II 4341; CIL VI.2 no.11673 [Hübner] (1882).

Online: EDCS-17201353 [accessed 21/07/14].

Chandler R. 1763 Marmora Oxoniensia Oxford Clarendon Press Doble C.E. 1886 Remarks and Collections of Thomas Hearne Vol. 2 (March 20 1707-May 23 1710) Oxford Clarendon Press/ Oxford Historical Society Fabretti R. 1702 Inscriptionum antiquarum quae in aedibus paternis asseruantur explicatio et additamentum Rome Herrmann-Otto E. 1994 Ex Ancilla Natus Stuttgart Franz Steiner Maittaire M. 1732, 2nd edn Marmorum, Arundellianorum, Seldenianorum, Aliorumque Academiae Oxoniensi Donatorum London William Bowyer Mander J. 2013 Portraits of Children on Roman Funerary Monuments Cambridge Cambridge University Press 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 Orelli J.C. 1828 Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio vols I-II I-II Turici 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 Minerva 10.1 25-28 Weaver P. 2001 Reconstructing lower-class Roman families S. Dixon Childhood, Class and Kin in the Roman World London and New York Routledge 101-14