Notes to Sacerdotes extra Romam

Scholars: Ittai Gradel (1992), “Mamia's Dedication: Emperor and Genius, The Imperial Cult in Italy and the Genius Coloniae in Pompeii” (Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 20:43-58). D. Fishwick (1995), “The Inscription of Mamia Again: the Cult of the Genius Augusti and the Temple of the Imperial Cult on the Forum of Pompeii” (Epigraphica 57: 17-38). Alison E. Cooley, M.G.L. Cooley (2004), Pompeii: A Sourcebook (Routledge: London & New York), pp.94-97.

Honorary Dedication for Cantria Longina, Priestess and Flaminica of the Imperial Cult of Julia Titi, Magna Mater, and Isis. 1st century CE. Aeclanum (Samnite town, province of Apulia and Calabria).

Funerary Epitaph: Petilia Secundina, Priestess of Minerva
Front of stone sarcophagus, Bari c. 150-300 CE (CIL 9.307):

        D[is] M[anibus] S[acrum]
        Petiliae Q[uinti] f[iliae] Secundinae
        sacerdoti Minervae vix[it]
        ann[os] VIIII m[enses] VII d[ies] XVIII ob infa-
        tigabilem pietat[em] eius Messi-
        a Dorcas mat[er] infel[icissima] fil[iae] d[ulcissimae] b[ene] m[erenti] f[ecit]

Notes to Mamia

Mamia, -ae f.

Mamia. Her name is the feminine form of her family gens, the Mamii; during the Augustan period women still used only one name, though two names were becoming more common. Being freeborn, she can add the filiation Publi filia.

sacerdos, -dotis f./m.

priestess, priest.

solum, -i n.

ground, property.Understand ex with the ablative of source for both solo and pecunia.

pecunia, -ae f.

money. The phrase ordinarily contains sua, indicating that the building was paid for by the dedicator and not the city.

sepultura, -ae f.

burial.

decurio, -onis m.

decurion; the term for a member of the city council.

decretum, -i n.

decree.

Notes to Alleia Decimilla

aedilis, -is m.

aedile, a magistrate who was in charge of markets, buildings, and public games.

II vir = duumvir/duovir, -i, m.

duumvir/duovir. One of a board of two men who were the highest magistrates of Pompeii. Their full title was duumviri iure dicundo (“two men for speaking the law”).

praefectus, -i, m.

prefect. The praefecti iure dicundo were men delegated to administer the law in the absence of one or both of the duumviri iure dicundo.

quinquennalis, -is, -e

every fifth year. This term describes the duumviri quinquennales, magistrates appointed every fifth year for the taking of the census of Pompeii.

vivo, -ere, vixi, victum

live; understand qui as subject, with Marcus Alleius Libella filius as antecedent.

publice adverb

by or for the state; at public expense. The ground for the tomb outside the Herculaneum Gate was granted by the town council in honor of both Alleius pater and filius, since they had been councillors. Because the road from this gate led to Herculaneum, it was one of the major roads of the area, thus underscoring the importance of Alleia Decimilla's husband and son to Pompeii.

Ceres, Cereris f.

Ceres, the goddess who was concerned with agriculture, particularly grain crops, and fertility (click on the SPQR for an image).

curo, -are, -avi, -atum + accusative & gerundive

have something done; undertake that something be done; faciendum/faciundum curare is a formulaic expression commonly found in inscriptions.

vir, -i m.

husband; man.

Notes to Junia Rustica

perpetuus, -a, -um

permanent; continuous; a rare honorary title for a priestess.

municipium, -i n.

municipium; a self-governing community under the Empire that received the status of civitas sine suffragio (its citizens had Roman citizenship without the vote) in return for accepting the duties of taxation and military service.

Cartimitanus, -a, -um

belonging to the town of Cartima.

porticus, -us f.

colonnade, portico; a covered walkway with supporting columns.

vetustas, -atis f.

old age.

corruo, -ere, -rui, -ruptum

fall down, collapse; be ruined.

reficio, -ere, -feci, -fectum

rebuild; restore.

solum, -i n.

property; ground; floor; foundation; below solo suo is the ablative of place where, referring to the subject, Junia Rustica.

balineum, -i n.

bath.

vectigal, -galis n.

tax; duty. The SPQR at the end of the line shows a man paying his taxes.

vindico (1)

claim as one's own; pay. This benefaction was most unusual and very costly.

signum, -i n.

statue; sign, mark; symbol.

aereus, -a, -um

bronze.

Mars, Martis m.

Mars, the armored god of war.

piscina, -ae f.

fish pond; pool; reservoir.

Cupido, -inis m.

Cupid, the winged god of love.

epulum, -i n.

banquet, feast.The SPQR at the end of the line shows the conclusion of a banquet.

spectaculum, -i n.

performance for public entertainment, e.g., gladiatorial show, stage play.

edo, -ere, edidi, editum

give; sponsor.

statua, -ae f.

statue; both statuas and statuam below are modified by factas.

ordo, ordinis f.

the town Senate; this is the term used for the ruling body of a municipality or province.

Cartimitanus, -a, -um

citizen of Cartima.

decerno, -ere, -crevi, -cretum

decree; decide; vote for; ordain; decretas is the perfect passive participle, modifying statuas.

remitto, -ere, -missi, -mittum

remit; release.

impensa, -ae, f.

cost, expense.

item adverb

likewise, also.

Notes to Egnatia Aescennia Procula

Di Manes, m. pl.

the spirits of the dead, the divine spirits; the abbreviation D M or the full phrase in the dative is regularly found at the head of funerary inscriptions from the end of the 1st century BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE.

Egnatia, -ae f.

Egnatia, a gens nomen found in Rome from the 3rd century BCE, notably the aedile Marcus Egnatius Rufus who in 26 BCE created Rome's first fire brigade.

sino, -ere, sivi/sii, situm

leave; allow; the perfect passive participle situs, -a, -um occurs in epigraphic formulae meaning laid in the grave, buried.

honor, -oris m.

office; reward; respect; here, the funeral duties.

fungor, -i, functum + ablative

perform, discharge, execute.

coniunx, -iugis f. m.

wife; spouse; husband; indirect object of fecit.

pudicus, -a, -um

chaste, pure; honorable; an adjective regularly found on funerary monuments in the superlative to praise wives.

fecit: the complete formula is fecit hoc monumentum, usually preceded by the name or relationhip of the deceased in the dative (here, coniugi).

Notes to Vitellia Rufilla

uxor, -oris f.

wife.

Salus, --utis f.

goddess or abstraction of well-being, safety, health; the title Salus Augusta was first given to Livia, Augustus' wife (click on SPQR for Tiberius' coin)

optumae=optimae

Vitellianus -i m.

Vitellianus. His trinomina retain his father's praenomen and nomen; his cognomen is formed on his mother's gens nomen, a tradition that arose in the 1st century CE (note Vespasianus: the emperor's name was formed on his mother's gens Vespasia).

vivos=vivus

Notes to Julia Helias

Helias, -iadis f.

Helias, a Greek patronymic, was formed on the cognomen Helius to honor the family's patron (the Sun God's seven daughters were called the Heliadai). Helias' filiation (Sex[ti] Iuli Callisti et Iuliae Nices Filiae) testifies that she was a freeborn, legitimate child of Callistus.

Callistus, -i m.

Callistus, a cognomen, the irregular superlative form of the Greek word kalos, spelled with a C, meaning beautiful.

Nice, -es f.

Nike, a female cognomen, spelled according to the Latin with a c, but declined according to the Greek; it is derived from the Greek word meaning victory.

flaminica, -ae f.

flaminica, priestess of the cult of the empress, living or deified; together with filiae it is in apposition to Heliadis.

Augustus, -a, -um

imperial; belonging to the emperor/empress.

mensis, -is m.

month; ablative of duration of time, along with annis.

Iulia, -ae f.

Julia, the nomen of all women in the Julian gens. Iuliae is nominative plural, to be applied to both cognomina, Heliane and Callistate.

Heliane, -es f.

Heliane, a female name derived similarly to that of Helias, from the cognomen of the family's patron Helius.

Callistate, -es f.

Callistate, a female cognomen, formed on her father's cognomen, it is an odd derivation from the superlative of the Greek adjective kalos (correctly formed in Callistus).

anima, -ae f.

soul, life; this is an ablative of comparison after carioris.

suus, -a, -um reflexive adjective

her own, his own, their own; while it modifies anima, its antecedents are Julia Heliane and Julia Callistrate, the subjects of the verb in line 12: curaverunt.

se, sui reflexive pronoun

herself, himself, themselves; in the dative case after carioris, its antecedents are Julia Heliane and Julia Callistrate, the subjects of the verb in line 12: curaverunt.

carus, -a, -um

dear, beloved; the comparative form of the adjective modifies sororis.

urbs, -is f.

city; it is conjectured that the city Helias died in was Rome.

ad/ffero, -ferre, -tuli, allatum

fetch; be carried (in passive); the subject of the infinitive is corpus.

curo (1)

arrange; undertake; the subjects of the verb are Julia Heliane and Julia Callistrate.

sarcophagus, -i m.

sarcophagus; a stone container for burial of a corpse. The word comes from the Greek words sarc- "flesh" and phag- "eat," as the coffin was thought to help the body decompose.

intra preposition with the accusative

within, inside.

mausoleum, -i n.

tomb building, in which one or more sarcophagi, as well as cinerary urns, statues and funerary tablets, could be interred. The term comes from the Mausoleum (353-350 BCE) built for King Mausoleus, a satrap of Persia, and his queen Artemisia II of Caria, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

condo, -ere, condidi, conditum

bury, lay to rest; the subjects of the verb are Julia Heliane and Julia Callistrate.

Notes to Vibia Modesta

Victoria, -ae f.

Victory; the godess is usually shown winged and often standing on a globe (see SPQR). Although it is gone, the dedication on the marble base indicates that it once supported a statue of the goddess.

Libo, -onis m.

Libo;her father's cognomen, his full name being Gaius Vibius Libo.

oriundus, -a, -um

originating from; descending from. Vibia Modesta either emigrated with her family from her place of birth or married a native of Italica.

Mauretania, -ae f.

Mauretania. After the Second Punic War, Mauretania became a client province of Rome and was ruled by Juba II and his descendants. Emperor Claudius made it a Roman province in 44 CE, dividing it into Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis.

itero (I)

repeat, renew. An ablative absolute construction.

honos, -oris m.

public office, public appointment.

bis indeclinable

two times. Scholars are not certain whether sacerdos is in apposition to flaminica or whether she held two positions, as imperial flaminica and sacerdos coloniae.

argenteus, -a, -um

made of silver, silver; from the noun argentum. A much more costly dedication than a marble statue.

pondus, -eris n.

weight; the statue totaled a bit over 132 Roman pounds.

libra, -ae f.

a Roman pound; in the genitive case following pondo, it is equivalent to about 3/4 of our pound.

uncia, -ae f.

an ounce; in the genitive case following pondo, it amounts to 1/12 of a libra.

semuncia, -ae f.

a half-ounce; in the genitive case following pondo.

inauris, -is n.

earring.

tres, tres, tria

three; modifies [mar]garitis; for an example, click on the SPQR.

margarta/margarita, -ae f.

pearl; the earrings were presumably pendant, with either five or ten levels each.

berullus/beryllus, -i m.

beryl; a mineral, usually green but also blue, rose, white, and gold, both opaque and transparent (including emerald and aquamarine).

corona, -ae f.

crown.

aureus, -a, -um

made of gold, golden; from the noun aurum.

gemma, -ae f.

gem, jewel.

gemareis Z: despite the fact that the markings are clear (see image), their meaning is not (see variant readings).

accipio, -ere, -cepi-ceptum

accept, receive. An ablative absolute construction with loco. It is not clear where the statue was placed, whether before the temple of Trajan or elsewhere in town.

locum, -i n.

location; position.

splendidus, -a, -um

illustrius; bright; striking; the superlative form of the adjective, modifying ordine.

ordo, -inis m.

the city/town council.

suus, -a, -um

one's own; as always, the reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence; here it indicates not that Modesta was responsible for building the temple but rather that she served it as flaminica.

flaminalis, -e

of a flamen or flamina. Perhaps the flaminical crown was mounted with tiny portraits of emperors and empresses, an appropriate adornment for an imperial priestess (see SPQR).

capitulum, -i n.

small head; bust.

domina, -ae f.

mistress; lady; a respectful title for the goddess, in apposition with Isidis.

Isis, -idis f.

Isis, the Egyptian goddes who became one of the most widely worshipped deities in the Roman Empire. To her followers she promised life after death. Emperor Septimius Severus favored the worship of the African deities Serapis and Isis to strengthen his claim to power. Italica had a Temple to Isis within the walls of the old city.

alter, -era, -erum

another; a second.

Ceres, Cereris f.

Ceres, the goddess of grains and fruits. Her importance as a deity to the emperors and the empire is reflected in her title Ceres Augusta, an identification of the goddess and imperial prosperity made visible in a number of empress statues.

manibus: the inscription clearly reads MAANIB[us], which has been explained as a carver's misspelling of manus.

item adverb

likewise.

Iuno, -nonis f.

Juno, the queen of the Olympian deities, wife of Jupiter. As Juno Regina, she was the patron goddess of Rome and the empire.

Notes to Coelia Victoria Potita

divus, -a, -um

deified. Livia was deified by her grandson Claudius in 42 CE.

Augusta, -ae f.

Augusta, the title Augustus bestowed upon his wife Livia in his will (14 CE); a distinction later emperors awarded to wives they considered deserving.

sacer, -cra, -crum

consecrated/holy to a deity; followed by the dative case.

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus was twice proconsul of Africa (41-43 CE) and his name appears on many inscriptions in that province. He dedicated a temple in Leptis Magna to the Dei Augusti.

quindecim vir, quindecim viri m.

Quindecem viri (sacris faciundis) were fifteen men who belonged to one of the four major priestly colleges. Their main duties were to preserve and consult the Sibylline books and to provide to the Senate the religious actions the books recommended for portents and prodigies.

fetialis, -e

belonging to the college of the Fetiales, whose members were concerned with the procedures, laws, and practices involved in declaring wars and making treaties.

proconsul, -sulis m.

proconsul, a magistrate with consular authority.

curo, -are, -avi, -atum + accusative & gerundive

have something done; undertake that something be done; faciendum/faciundum curare is a formulaic expression commonly found in inscriptions.

Notes to Avidia Vitalis

Avidia, -ae f.

Avidia is the feminized form of her family gens nomen; her cognomen or personal name is Vitalis.

Concordia, -ae f.

harmony, concord; an abstraction which became personified as a goddess of familial and civic accord (see SPQR for Nerva's coin); her oldest temple dates to 367 BCE. The deity was closely associated with Augustus, who brought peace to the Roman world, and with Livia who preserved harmony in her marriage.

Iulius, -a, -um

Julian; it was Roman practice to incorporate the founder's gens nomen in the name of a colony.

Karthago, -inis, f.

Carthage, the Punic city, founded in the early 9th century BCE, legendarily by the Phoenecian Queen Dido.

flamen, -inis m.

flamen, priest of the imperial cult.

meritum, -i n.

merit, desert; in honorary inscriptions for priestesses and patronesses, the word is a general reference to their benefactions.

Notes to Lucilia Cale

sobrius, -a, -um

abstinent, temperate. Mercurius Sobrius was the name the Romans gave to the Punic god of traders when his cult was imported to Rome.

Genius, -i m.

male spirit, divine guardian; the locus, Sesase, was an administrative unit (pagus) in the territory of Thuburbo.

Pantheus, -a, -um

having the attributes of all the gods. In late 1st century CE, altars sprang up in the Roman world dedicated to Pantheus Augustus. Click SPQR for the syncretic deity Pantheus on a coin of Hadrian (minted in Alexandria c.132) with the head of Serapis, the ram's horns of Zeus Ammon, the aegis of Athena, and the radiate crown of Sol, holding the trident of Neptune and the cornucopia of Fortuna.

salus, -utis f.

health, welfare.

Caesar, -aris m.

Caesar; during the empire it was a title equivalent to imperator. Here the title and name (Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus Pius Felix) signify the Emperor Caracalla (198-217 C E), eldest son and heir of the Emperor Septimius Severus.

Iulia Domna was the mother of Caracalla (b. 187 CE), she was born in Emesa, Syria (c. 170 CE), and married Septimius Severus in 186 CE.

castra, -orum n. pl.

military camp. The honorific title mater castrorum was awarded originally to Faustina Minor by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius because his wife accompanied him on several military expeditions and was revered by the troops. Julia Domna was the first to receive this extended title.

Thurbicensis, -e

of Thuburbo. Thuburbo Maius, a Punic city, was made a colonia by Augustus in 27 BCE. Honored by several emperors, its official name was Colonia Iulia Aurelia Commoda.

solum, -i n.

base/foundation of a structure; bottom; ab solo = from the ground up.

libens, -entis

willingly, gladly; ablative of manner.

animus, -i m.

mind.

votum, -i n.

vow.

solveo, -ere, solui, solutum

pay; fulfill, accomplish.

Notes to Marcia Pompeiana

Pompeiana, -ae f.

Pompeiana, her cognomen is an adjective derived either from the town of Pompeii or from the gens Pompeia; perhaps she was a descendent of one of the Pompeian Optimates who fought Caesar or even of Sextus Pompeius, the son of Magnus (note her father's praenomen).

Caesariensis, -e

inhabitant of Caesarea, a town on the eastern coast of Mauretania; dative case, in apposition with Pompeianae.

Capito, -onis m.

big head (literally), it is the cognomen of Marcus Nonius. His tripartite name marks him as a free Roman citizen; its case, genitive of possession, indicates that he is the husband of Pompeiana.

Leptitanus, -a, -um

of/belonging to Leptis;in apposition with Pompeianae.

optimus, -a, -um (irregular superlative of bonus)

best; most virtuous; noblest.

femina, -ae f.

woman; wife. Although her title of office makes it clear that she is a woman, feminae, placed in the center of its own line, stresses her gender and, linked with optimae, asserts her virtue as a matrona of rank.

fecerunt hoc monumentum: this phrase vel sim is as often omitted as it is found. It is the convention of dedication that the dedicator's name is in the nominative case and the honoree's name is in the dative case.

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