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Inscriptions: Epitaph of the child slave Festius by his father

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Identification

Reference as: MPL01588
Title Epitaph of the child slave Festius by his father
Trismegistos-No. 556826

Object

Provenance and Location

Find Place Ferrara
Find Context Ferrara, pinnacle of the church of Sant'Antonio Abate
Latitude 0.0
Longitude 0.0
Current Location Ferrara, Lapidario Civico
Inventory number RA 796
Current Location Details
Vicinity

Object Details

Object Type stele
Material limestone
State of Preservation complete
Dimensions

width: 30.0 cm

height: 78.0 cm

depth: 20.0 cm

Letter Size in cm (min) 1.6
Letter Size in cm (max) 2.0
Execution Technique chiselled
Religion Pagan

Decoration

Decoration and Iconography Inscription on pedestal, on top of which a niche is flanked by pilasters and topped by a pediment on an inscribed architrave. On the tympanum, image of a munching hare. On the corners of the pediment, two lion-shaped acroteria. Inside the niche, portrait of a boy wearing a short tunic and clamis, holding grapes in his right hand and a bird in his left hand, over his chest.
Decoration Tags
  • Animal / bird
  • Animal / lion
  • Architecture / Acroterion
  • Architecture / Pedestal
  • Architecture / Pediment
  • Architecture / Tympanum
  • Architecture / architrave
  • Architecture / niche
  • Architecture / pillar
  • Object / Tunica
  • Person / Human figure
  • Person / child
  • Person / portrait
  • Plant / grape

Verse Layouts

  • Prose Verse PresencePraescriptum + carmen
    Prose Verse Distinction
    • Yes, by vacat
    Layout Types (Prose)
    • Centered
    Layout Types (Verse)
    • Centered
    Scriptio Continua in verse partno
    Abbreviations in verse partno
    Verse Line CorrespondenceNo, but follows metrical subdivisions
    Graphic Signs and Spaces for Easier Carmen Reading
    • To separate words - Interpunction

Text

Function funerary inscription
Language(s)
  • Latin
Verse Type(s)
  • Elegiac couplet
Rhythmisation Quantitative scheme

Inscription & Translations

On the architrave:
FESTIOPAPIRIPRISCIDELIC

PARVASVBHOCTITVLOFESTI
SVNTOSSALAPILLO
QVAEMAERENSFATOCONDI
5DITIPSEPATER
QVISIVIXISSETDOMINI
IAMNOMINAFERRET
HVNCCASVSPVTEIDETVLIT
ADCINERES
On the architrave:
Festio, Papiri Prisci delic(ato).

Parva sub hoc titulo Festi
sunt ossa lapillo,
quae maerens fato condi-
5dit ipse pater.
Qui si vixisset domini
iam nomina ferret,
hunc casus putei detulit
ad cineres.
On the architrave:
Festio, Papiri Prisci delic(ato).

Parva sub hoc titulo Festi sunt ossa lapillo,
quae maerens fato condi dit ipse pater.
Qui si vixisset domini iam nomina ferret,
hunc casus putei detulit ad cineres.
Apparatus

Text follows CIL and CLE. Picture checked by Spalla 2025.
l. 1: delic(io), Pflug 1989.

Main Translation

Translation To Festius, delicatus of Papirius Priscus.

Under this small tombstone lie the little bones of Festius, which his own mournful father has collected here. If he had been still alive, he would have already carried his master's names. His fall into a well turned him into ashes.
Citation Fabio Spalla

Other Translations

Prosopographical Information

  • NameFestius
    GenderMale
    OriginUnknown
    Legal StatusSlave
    RoleDedicatee
  • NamePapirius Priscus
    GenderMale
    OriginNative
    Legal StatusUnknown

Further Information

Comment

Dating proposed by D. Pupillo.

Squeeze

Have Squeeze? no

Dating

Date (From) 31 AD
Date (To) 70 AD
Date (Criteria)
  • palaeography
  • archaeology
  • formulae

Bibliography

Images

  • (c) EDCS

Editing History

Created 2025-04-10, by Eric Andreas Kunz
Work Status Confirmed
Import Notice Imported from Epigraphic Database Roma at 2024-08-22T15:11:56, ID there: EDR140804
Revisions
  1. by Unknown
    at 2024-08-22 15:11
  2. by Eric Andreas Kunz
    at 2024-11-08 11:50
  3. by Eric Andreas Kunz
    at 2024-11-08 11:50
  4. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2025-02-04 15:58
  5. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-01 10:26
  6. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-01 10:51
  7. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-01 11:25
  8. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-01 12:59
  9. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-01 13:59
  10. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-04-08 12:08
  11. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-10 12:24
  12. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-04-10 13:19
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