Funerary carmen

Funerary carmen

Description

Idno filename 22/01/0078
Type of inscription: Sepulcralis
Material Description: Reddish limestone.
Conservation status: Broken at the top left corner. The break affects at least 7 lines of text.
Dimensions height/width/depth (cm): 36.8/22.8/8.5
Epigraphic field:
- Layout: Good "ordinatio". Triangular interpunctions.
- Epigraphic field execution: Guidelines can be detected except in l. 1.
Preserved

Lyrics

Font:Capital cuadrada
Letter size:2,2-2,4, with an I longa in l. 2 of 2,5 cm
Description of the letters:Deeply cut.

Location

Place of discovery: Found before 1954 in the Camino Viejo de Almodóvar (Córdoba).
Geolocation

Conservation location: M.A.P. in Córdoba, room III.
Inventory number: 12321
Location with Modern Nomenclature España / Córdoba / Camino Viejo de Almodóvar
Location with Old Nomenclature Hispania / Baetica / Cordubensis / Corduba

Chronology

Inscription's dating: Between year 160 and year 199
Dating explanation: End of the 2nd c., according to STYLOW II2/7, in view of the shape of the letters.

Type of verse

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

Epigraphic edition

‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑

[-17?-]+u

[-14?-]que · re-

[-10?-]ṣ▴ antiqui

5 [‑ ‑ ‑co]niunxit

[-4?-]ṇtem ▴ vos ▴ rogo

[pe]r superos ▴ per ▴ sanctum

lumen ▴adoro ▴ parcatis

tumulo ▴ Manes quod ▴ con-

10 tegit ▴ alte

sit ▴ tibi ▴ terra ▴ levis

Text divided into verses and metric signs

[ – – -]que re[- – -] [ln|ln|ln|ln|l]kk|[l~]

[- – -]antiqui [- – -] co]niunxit [- – -]ntem. [ln]|ll|x[n|l]/l|lk[k]|l~

Vos rogo per superos, per sanctum lumen adoro, lkl|l/kk|l/l|ll|lkk|l~

parcatis tumulo Manes quod contegit alte. ll|l/kk|l/l|l/l|lkk|l~

Translation

“... ancient ...united... I beseech you by the gods, by the sacred numen (?) I implore you, to respect this tomb which holds, deep within, its Manes. May the earth rest lightly on you.”

Bibliography

Santos 1954, 155, n. 32 cum im. phot. (inde Vives, ILER 5790); Stylow, II2/7, 569, cum im. phot. in microchartula; Fernández Martínez – Carande, CLEB, CO9, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; Cugusi 2012, 26. – Cf. Hernández Pérez 2001, 256–258, 289 adn. 128.

Apparatus

1–6 litteras vestigiave priora om. Santos. –1 [-18?-] Stylow. – 2 …uere Santos; uere Vives; [-13?-]que re Stylow. – 3 santi qui Santos; [-10?-]S antiqui Stylow. – 4: n iunxit Santos, Vives, [—co]niunxit Schmidt. – 5 i]tem Vives, [-5?-] ++em Stylow. – 6 [pe]r superos Schmidt.

Comentary

Funerary carmen in dactylic hexameters, of which only the last two survive intact, followed by a formula. The base is fragmented on the left side and we only preserve completely the last three lines, which allow to calculate the space and the approximate number of missing letters. The layout shows that that the division of words has been avoided, except if it is a compound (ll. 8-9 con / tegit). In l. 2 we could read [parum]que re[siste], but variations such as recumbe, recondit, relinquens, relicto, repente, etc. are also acceptable. Earlier editions interpreted that there were only two verses (l. 5 vos rogo… y l. 7 parcatis…). However, because of the unchanging size of letters and for not resorting to metric or prosody, it is advisable to understand that the carmen begins before. Surprising invocation to the sanctum lumen in ll. 6-7, a clearly Christian expression (cf. Avg. passim) in the sense of “the light of faith”. This may be an error on the part of the cutter, making an L instead of an N.

Images

Photo author: M. Fuentes Aguilar.

Link to DB

Author

Author:R. Carande Herrero, C. Fernández Martínez
Last Update2024-01-31 16:34:59
Autopsy date:2001

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