Household object

Household object

Reference AE 1965, 54 | Description | Lyrics | Location | Chronology | Epigraphic edition | Translation | Apparatus | Comentary | Type of verse | Text divided into verses and metric signs | Images | Bibliography | Link to DB | Author |

Household object

Description

  • Idno filename 22/01/0092
  • Type of inscription: Incerti generis
  • Support: Poculum
  • Material: Plata     
  • Conservation status: Broken and reconstructed. It measures 19.5 cm in diameter and 6 cm in height, standing on a circular foot, 4.5 cm in diameter and 0.5 in height; in the convex part there is a handle 2.5 cm in diameter set in a small heart-shaped piece (3.5 x 3.5 cm) and soldered to the dish.
  • Epigraphic field:
    • Layout: Very accurate ordinatio. The width of the circular space in which the letters are inserted measures 0.9 cm and the letters themselves 0.4 cm. "Hedera" with curved stalk and three superimposed points, separating the beginning from the end.     
    • Decoration: A geometric decorative floral frieze, regular in size (2 cm high) surrounds the inner perimeter, framed above and below by a zig-zag. At the bottom, there is a circular medallion surrounded by the inscription. The width of the circular space in which the letters are inserted measures 0.9 cm.

Lyrics

  • Font:Capital cuadrada
  • Letter size:0,4 cm
  • Description of the letters:Perfectly executed letters, all the same size and at the same distance, with well finished-off edges and corners. "Scriptio continua".

Location

  • Place of discovery: Accidentally found in the 1960s in a skip of rubble from work on La Casa de la Cultura, over the Roman Theatre in Málaga (Malaca). According to verbal information from SERGIO FERNÁNDEZ, current director of the Museo de Málaga, the first person to see it and put it into circulation was a restorer of La Alcazaba called Molina. It was in fragments and was reconstructed in the Museo de Málaga for an exhibition which took place in December 2002. It is conserved in the Museo de Málaga (Avda. de Europa, 49, building of the Biblioteca Pública, first floor), but is not currently on display, only in store (inv. nº. 1980).
  • Geolocation
    •
  • Conservation location: Museo de la Aduana en Málaga.
  • Location with Modern Nomenclature España / Málaga
  • Location with Old Nomenclature Hispania / Baetica / Gaditanus / Malaca

Chronology

  • Inscription's dating: Between year 300 and year 399
  • Dating explanation: Second half of the 4th c. (AEA, ILMM, by the decoration). DI STEFANO, who has seen a photograph of the piece, confirms the dating from the paleography as being between the 3rd and 4th c. Following an electronic consultation, Stylow supports this and, after examining photographs of the piece, proposes rather a 4th c. dating from the type of letter, which ties in with practice initiated in the 3rd c.

Type of verse

  • Type of verse: Dactílico (pentámetro)
  • Verse/line correspondence: Si
  • Prose/verse distinction: Si

Epigraphic edition

accipe me sitiens forte placebo tibi ▴▴▴❦

Text divided into verses and metric signs

Accipe me sitiens forte placebo tibi. lkk|lkk|l||lkk|llk|~

Translation

You who are thirsty, take me; perhaps I will please you.

Bibliography

Casamar 1963, 5 (inde García y Bellido 1963, 187 sq., cum im. phot.; AE 1965, 54; [inde HAE 17–20, 1966–1969, 2247;] Rodríguez Oliva 1976, 53–62; Puertas 1982, 210; ILMM, n. 43, 45, cum im. phot. et del. a García y Bellido facta; Baena – Loza 1986, 12–17); Fernández Martínez – Carande 2004, 36, cum im. phot., quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt; eaed., CLEB, MA1, cum im. phot, quae in linguam Hispanicam verterunt (inde HEp 2007, 466). – Cf. Cugusi 2004c, 100; id. 2007, 53; id. 2012, 61.

Comentary

Single pentameter inviting one to assuage his thirst. Objects presumably similar to this poculum are mentioned in literature, cf. Ou., Her. 16,252-3, Met. 8 ,670, Lucr., 1,494, Verg., Aen. 9,263-4, Plin. 34,47 and Val. Flac. 1,260. Decorative motifs of possible eastern origin (paralleled in the treasures of Mildenhall and Traprain). No literary parallels have been found, except occasional separate occurrences of accipe and sitiens; as for placebo, it only appears in Mart. 3,51,2, occupying the same place in the line. Nor do we find exact parallels in verse or prose epigraphy and there is only one example which can be compared with the pentameter from the poculum malacitanum: AE 1997, 01136, in Soissons (Belgium): haec lagona prouocat sitientes (in prose). As regards prosody, the final -o of placebo is short, consistent with the possible abbreviation of this type of verb ending from the Augustan era on.

Images

Photo author: C. Fernández Martínez

Link to DB

Author

  • Author:C. Fernández Martínez, R. Carande Herrero
  • Last Update2023-11-20 15:33:38
  • Autopsy date:2003

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