Author: Bill Jennings

Valgia Silvilla

Valgia Silvilla by MrJennings

I love this tombstone!

Valgia Silvilla set this up for herself and her husband Tiberius Claudius Auximus, probably at some point in the first century CE.

What I like about it:
A. First of all, she begins with her full name (in the nominative), letting us know that she’s the one who set up this stone. (VALGIA SILVILLA).

B. Next comes the fact that she set this up for herself (SIBI).

C. Only then do we learn that she also set this up for Auximus (ET TI CLAUDIO AUXIMO)

D. … and that he is her spouse (CONIUGI SUO) and he is well-deserving of commemoration (BENE MERENTI), a cliche found on thousands of Roman tomb inscriptions.

E. Next she set this up for the freedmen and women (LIBERTIS LIBERTABUS/QUE) that they used to own.

F. But Valgia makes sure to specify that some of these belonged to her (SUIS) and some to her husband (ET AUXIMI).

G. Finally, she also set this stone up for the children (POSTERISQ) of the freedmen and women (EORUM).

Valgia Silvilla is also known for another inscription that she dedicated to Bona Dea Castrensis. No mention of her husband there, unsurprisingly. Both inscriptions were found in Rome, and one street which displayed the Bona Dea inscription is now named Via Valgia Silvilla in her honor. (I wonder how Auximus must feel.)

dis manibus
sacrum
Valgia Silvilla
sibi et
Ti. Claudio Auximo
coniugi suo
bene merenti et
libertis libertabus
que suis et Auximi
posterisq eorum

“Dedicated to the spirits of the dead.
Valgia Silvilla [set this up]
for herself and
for Tiberius Claudius Auximus,
her husband,
well-deserving, and
for the freedmen and freedwomen,
both hers and Auximus’s,
and for the children of those [freedmen and women].”

(original photo by me)

Elogium of Aeneas

Elogium of Aeneas by MrJennings

This inscription, which would have been underneath a statue of Aeneas, was found in the building of Eumachia in the forum of Pompeii. This is a reproduction and reconstruction in the Museo della Civilta Romana. The letters in red are reconstructed.

CIL 10.808 + 8348

Aeneas Veneris
et Anchisae f. Troianos
qui capta Troia bello super
fuerant in Italiam adduxit
bellum suscepit
[…] en […]
[…] lbu […]
oppidum Lavinium condidit et
ibi regnavit annos tris in
bello Laurenti subito non con
paruit appellatusq est indigens
pater et in deorum numero relatus (est)

Aeneas, son of Venus and Anchises, let into Italy the Trojans who had survived when Troy was captured in war. He undertook a war […] founded the town Lavinium and reigned there for three years. In the Laurentine war he suddenly disappeared , and was called Father Indigens, and was received in the number of the gods.

(original photo by me)

Gladiator Graffito

Gladiator Graffito by MrJennings

Sketch reproducing an ancient Roman graffito of a gladiator, originally from Pompeii.

When I went to Capua in 2004, the Gladiator Museum had an exhibit of replica gladiator graffiti, originally found on the podium of a tomb in the necropolis outside the Nucerian Gate of Pompeii. Many of the graffiti show drawings of gladiators.

Another Flickr user identified this type of gladiator as a Thraex = Thracian.

(original photo by me)

Tomb of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus

Tomb of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus by MrJennings

A. Umbricio A. f. Men
Scauro
II vir i.d.
huic decuriones locum monum.
et HS [][] in funere et statuam equestr.
in foro ponendam censuerunt.
Scaurus pater filio.

[In Latin inscriptions, there is a special symbol which I have represented as HS. It stands for "sestertius". In this inscription, I was unable to reproduce the two symbols that immediately follow the HS. These look somewhat like a modern infinity symbol, and they stand in for the Latin word "milia". Combined, they mean "two thousand sesterces".]

"For Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, son of Aulus, of the Menenia tribe, duumvir with judiciary authority. The city councilors voted the site for a monument to this man and two thousand sesterces toward the cost of a funeral, and that an equestrian statue be set up in the forum. Scaurus the father (set this up) for his son."

Aulus Umbricius Scaurus was Pompeii’s one of the most successful manufacturers of garum, the well-known Roman fish sauce. Approximately 30% of the garum containers discovered in Pompeii and nearby were made in one of the factories of the Scaurus’ family. Scholars can tell this because the containers were stamped with identifying labels, an early form of branding. One container of garum with the Scaurus brand has been found in southern France.

Scaurus’s house in Pompeii can also be identified, since he had mosaics showing amphorae of garum with his name on it in the atrium of the house. Amphorae with some garum still preserved have been excavated in the house.

(original photo by me)

You Are There: Old Time Radio

Over at Archive.org, you can find a large number of episodes of the old time radio series You Are There to stream or download. This unique series combined major historical events with then-modern journalistic techniques, as each week it imagined how a CBS News radio crew would document important moments in world history.

Some episodes of interest that are available on the site:

“The Last Days of Pompeii” (originally aired August 25, 1947, and rebroadcast on April 11, 1948)
“The Assassination Of Julius Caesar” (originally aired February 15, 1948, and rebroadcast on April 24, 1949)
“The Death of Socrates” (originally aired March 14, 1948)
“The Fall of Troy” (originally aired April 25, 1948, and rebroadcast on October 24, 1948)
“The Conspiracy of Catiline” (originally aired April 12, 1948)
“The Rise of Alexander the Great: Peace Offer” (originally aired March 6, 1949)
“The Rise of Alexander the Great: Battle for Asia” (originally aired March 13, 1949)
“The Rise of Alexander the Great: Mutiny in India” (originally aired March 20, 1949)
“Thermopylae” (originally aired April 16, 1950)