Epitaph of Lucius Antonius Antullus

Description

Idno filename 22/01/0070
Type of inscription: Sepulcralis
Support: Placa
Material Description: Funerary plaque rhomboidal in shape and of considerable thickness.
Dimensions height/width/depth (cm): 32/51/-

Location

Place of discovery: Found 19 April 1828 in the Plaza del Sur in Cádiz.
Geolocation

Conservation location: In Hübner’s time it was preserved embedded in a wall of the houses of the town hall. Lost.
Location with Modern Nomenclature España / Cádiz
Location with Old Nomenclature Hispania / Baetica / Gaditanus / Gades

Chronology

Inscription's dating: Between year 70 and year 130
Dating explanation: End of 1st c. – beginning of 2nd c.

Type of verse

Type of verse: Dactílico (pentámetro)
Verse/line correspondence: No
Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

L(ucius) ▴ Antonius ▴ C(aii) ▴ f(ilius) ▴ G⁽al⁾(eria tribu)

Antullus ▴ sacerdos

homo ▴ optumus ▴ h(ic) ▴ s(itus) ▴ e(st) ▴ s(it) ▴ t(ibi) ▴ t(erra) ▴ l(evis)

te ▴ rogo ▴ praeteriens ▴ cum

5 legis ▴ ut ▴ dícas ▴ sit ▴ tibi ▴ t(erra) ▴ l(evis) ❦

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Te rogo praeteriens cum legis ut dicas: ‘sit tibi terra levis’. lkl|lkk|l||lkk|ll|l||lkk|lkk|~

Translation

“Lucius Antonius Antulus, son of Gaius, of the Galerian tribe, priest, excellent man, lies buried here. May the earth rest lightly on you. I ask you, passer-by, on reading this, to say: 'may the earth rest lightly on you.'”

Bibliography

Hübner, II 1728 (inde Ciccotti 1891, 16; Cholodniak 1904, 1214; Dessau, ILS 8131; Romero de Torres 1934, 131; Vives, ILER 3783; González Fernández, IRCa 124 (HEp 2005, 108); Gómez Pallarès – del Hoyo – Martín Camacho 2005, 203–204; del Hoyo in Fernández Martínez, CLEB, CA3, qui in linguam Hispanicam vertit; Cugusi 2012, 56. – Cf. Hernández Pérez 2001a, 245–246.

Comentary

It repeats S. T. T. L, appearing first in abbreviated form and then in full (cf. II 1848, which also contains a carmen). The scriptio plena suggests that the intention was to write a carmen at the end of the inscription.

It brings together various elements of metric epigraphy. First hemistich of a pentameter: te rogo praeteriens + an extrametrical sequence proceeding from other formulas, cum legis ut dicas + a second hemistich from a pentameter. The final result is a variant of the more familiar te rogo praeteriens: sit tibi terra levis. There is only another unique specimen in Hispania that shows this new formula, which the sentences quisque praeteriens titulum scriptum legeris y tactus pietate hoc praecor ut dicas: Ianuaria, sit tibi terra levis (CLE 133) present summarily.

This is a synthesised expression of CLE 133, the only known case in Hispania.

The deceased may be related to his namesake L. Antonius Q. f. Gal. Antullus, IIII vir aed(ilicia) pot(estate) in Gades (II 1727); and to M. Antonius Antullus de Barcino ( II 6149), dated to 107 by the consular lists.

Link to DB

Author

Author:J. Del Hoyo Calleja
Last Update2023-11-21 10:54:11

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