Christian inscription dedicated to Achilles

Description

Idno filename 22/01/0009
Type of inscription: Sepulcralis Christ.
Material Description: White marble tablet
Conservation status: Broken into two well-assembled fragments. Bottom left corner missing; polished on the epigraphic surface, roughly cut behind and on the top and bottom sides, with a small break in the bottom right corner, subsequent to the engraving of the text
Dimensions height/width/depth (cm): 29.5/15/2.5
Epigraphic field:
- Layout: Poor collation; words and syllables are cut off. At the end of v. there are traces of an interjection that may have been a small palm.
- Decoration: Large chrismon at the top, with alpha and omega, enclosed in an irregular laurel wreath; in the two upper corners, two doves looking towards the chrismon. The cutting is irregular and not very deep, 2/0.8, more careful in ll. 1-5 (prose) than in ll. 6-8 (carmen). The prose text is separated from the verse by a plant motif in the form of a branch.
Preserved

Lyrics

Font:Irregular
Letter size:More careful in ll. 1-5 (prose) than in ll. 6-8 (carmen) cm
Description of the letters:The cutting is irregular and not very deep, 2/0.8. Degenerated capital lettering, in particular the cutting of the letters of the last word, which is so deficient that it makes it almost impossible to read. <A> has no crossbar in l. 4. <E> has a curved line at the bottom corner in l. 1. <F> has an oblique upper stroke which reaches the following letter. <G> is very similar to <C>, with a small oblique stroke to distinguish it. <L> has an undulating lower stroke; in l. 5, the first <L> encroaches on the space of the second. <P> has a very narrow and almost triangular volute. <R> has an unclosed virute. In l. 2, <SV> are joined above. In l. 3: <IX> joined below, as is <RE>. Between ll. 6-8, the letters are very crudely cut owing to the lack of space: in l. 8, the <O> of vobis is rhomboid in shape.

Location

Place of discovery: Found near the Huerta de San Francisco, on the outskirts of Montilla, at the beginning of the 1980s Stylow (1987, 109).
Geolocation

Conservation location: After having been kept for some years in the office of the Grupo Arqueológico “Amigos de Montilla”, it is now on display in the Museo Histórico de Montilla
Location with Modern Nomenclature España / Córdoba / Montilla
Location with Old Nomenclature Hispania / Baetica / Astigitanus / Ucubi

Chronology

Inscription's dating: Between year 370 and year 430
Dating explanation: Dated (II2/5,555) between the end of the 4th c. and beginning of the 5th, in accordance with a number of details: type of chrismon, from the end of the 4th c.; the formula receptus in pace. In addition, the date of death does not appear, cf. Fernández Martínez 2000, and there is no mention of the period. This is therefore one of the oldest Christian inscriptions of the conventus Astigitanus. C.F.M.-R.C.H.

Type of verse

Type of verse: Trocaico (septenario)
Verse/line correspondence: No
Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

⊂duae columbae⊃

⊂chrismo⊃

Peregrin-

us sum fel-

5 ix receptus

in pace (vacat)

Achilles ▴ ⊂palma⊃

omnes qui pereg-

rini sites (!) ad me be-

10 (vac.) ne vobis erit ▴

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Omnes qui peregrini sitis ad me bene vobis erit ll|lww|ll|lw||ll|wwl|lw|~

Translation

“A pilgrim I am, happily in the bosom of peace, Achilles. All you who come to me as pilgrims will be blessed.” C.F.M.-R.C.H.

Bibliography

Sánchez Jiménez 1983, 17 ss. cum im. phot.; Stylow 1985, 36–38 cum im. phot. (AE 1985, 558); id. 1987, 107–129 cum im. phot.; id., II2/5, 555; Fernández Martínez – Carande, CLEB, CO15, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt. – Cf. Garramida Prieto 1982, 30, cum im. phot.; Muñoz García de Iturrospe 1994, 586, cum im. phot.; ESCOLÀ 2013, 113.

Comentary

Christian funerary inscription dedicated to Achilles (Achilles is a novelty in Christian onomastics in Hispania, the normal form being Achilleus, cf. Diehl 399, ICERV 484b, according to Stylow 1987, 111 n. 15.). In the first part the deceased calls himself peregrinus, a word which is repeated, in the nominative plural, in the carmen. From this Stylow 1987, 111 deduced that this deceased Achilles must not have been from Montilla and perhaps not even from Hispania. The epitaph, however, does not seem to recreate the topos of death in a foreign place, nor is there any trace in it of any of the usual formulae in this lamentatio motif, cf. Hernández Pérez 2001a, 58-66. Rather, it seems reasonable to consider a metaphorical development of this adjective, deriving from the early Christian world, cf. Muñoz García de Iturrospe 1994, vol. 3, 586, taking this peregrinus to be one who is walking towards the City of God. Cf. also Vulg. II. Cor. 5, 6-8, audentes igitur semper et scientes quoniam dum sumus in corpore peregrinamur a Domino. Per fidem enim ambulamus et non per speciem; audemus autem et bonam voluntatem habemus magis peregrinari a corpore et praesentes esse ad Deum; Vulg. Hebr. 11,13, iuxta fidem defuncti sunt omnes isti non acceptis repromissionibus sed a longe eas aspicientes et salutantes et confitentes quia peregrini et hospites sunt supra terram; Vulg. I Petr. 2,11, carissimi obsecro tamquam advenas et peregrinos abstinere vos a carnalibus desideriis quae militant adversus animam.

Between lines 6 and 8 and after interpunction and a change in letter type and size, we read a trochaic septenarius with a likely change in interlocutor: Christ, or the Church, expressing an apostolic message (cf.Vulg. gen. 12,13, dic ergo obsecro te quod soror mea sis ut bene sit mihi propter te et uiuat anima mea ob gratiam tui; Vulg. deut. 5,16, et bene sit tibi in terra quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi; Vet. Lat. sirach.1, 13, timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis et in die defunctionis suae benedicetur, etc.). Note sites (l. 7), spelled with an e from the open quality of short i in final position (cf. Mariner 1952, 18, Väänänen 1967 § 55).

Images

Photo author: C. Fernández Martínez

Link to DB

Author

Author:C. Fernández Martínez, R. Carande Herrero
Last Update2024-02-01 13:38:29
Autopsy date:2003

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