Dis Manibus, m. pl.
the spirits of the
dead, the divine spirits. This phrase in the dative case is regularly found
at the head of funerary inscriptions from the end of the 1st century BCE
through the 2nd century CE.
Severiana, -ae f.
daughter of
Severina, a naming practice adopted by the elite class during the Empire
which preserved the maternal line (cf. B. Salway, "What's in a Name?" in
Bibliography); it is probable that
her praenomen, Maconiana, is a derivative of an ancestor's name
from her paternal side.
dulcis, -e
sweet; cherished;
superlative form of the adjective.
Faustinianus: This formation seems to have been Maconiana's father's distinctive name, judging from its privileged placement on the stone together with his title as senator VC. It was customary in the high Empire for members of the ruling class to have a plurality of formal names (see tria nomina: Marcus = Praenomen; Sempronius = nomen; Proculus = Cognomen). The fourth name or agnomen could be honorific or a formation on the maternal nomen or the adoptive parent's (e.g. Pliny's mother's gens Plinia is preserved alongside his father's gens Caecilia in his name -- Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus -- as a result of his adoption as heir by his maternal uncle).
clarus, -a, -um
clear, bright; famous,
distinguished; superlative form. From the 2nd century CE clarissimus
becomes the formal title for senators and their wives.
Severina, -ae f.
diminutive form of
Severa; without bibliographic information it is impossible to know
whether she was a member of the gens Severa and thus related to the
Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 CE).
parens, -entis m./f.
father, mother;
parent.
[hoc monumentum fecerunt]: this formulaic
phrase of dedication is often abbreviated as H M or omitted entirely
from tombstone inscriptions; its existence is understood from the reference to
the deceased in the dative (Maconianae Severianae).
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