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Inscriptions: Funerary inscription of Helvia Prima

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Identification

Reference as: MPL01892
Title Funerary inscription of Helvia Prima
Trismegistos-No. 514895

Object

Provenance and Location

Find Place Beneventum
Find Context Benevento, on the Via Latina, foundations of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, about 1840.
Latitude 0.0
Longitude 0.0
Current Location Napoli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Inventory number 3691
Current Location Details Depot.
Vicinity

Object Details

Object Type slab
Material local stone
State of Preservation complete
Dimensions

width: 74.0 cm

height: 42.2 cm

depth: 14.0 cm

Letter Size in cm (min) 2.0
Letter Size in cm (max) 2.3
Execution Technique chiselled
Religion Pagan

Decoration

Decoration and Iconography Inscription within moulded frame.
Decoration Tags
  • Architecture / frame

Verse Layouts

  • Prose Verse PresenceCarmen
    Layout Types (Verse)
    • Centered
    Scriptio Continua in verse partno
    Abbreviations in verse partno
    Verse Line CorrespondenceYes, achieved by usage of nexus
    Graphic Signs and Spaces for Easier Carmen Reading
    • To mark a pentameter in an elegiac couplet (indentation)

Text

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

Inscription & Translations


TVQVISECVRASPATIARVSMENTEVIATOR
ETNOSTRIVOLTVSDERIGISINFERIEIS
SIQVAERISQVAESIM:CINISENETTOSTAFAVILLA
ANTEOBITVSTRISTEISHELVIAPRIMAFVI
5CONIVGESVMCADMOFRVCTASCRATEIO
CONCORDESQVEPARIVIXIMVSINGENIO
NVNCDATASVMDITILONGVMMANSVRAPERAEV͡M
DEDVCTAETFATALIIGNEETAQVASTYGIA

Tu qui secura spatiarus mente, viator,
et nostri voltus derigis inferieis,
si quaeris quae sim: cinis en et tosta favilla,
ante obitus tristeis Helvia Prima fui.
5Coniuge sum Cadmo fructa Scrateio
concordesque pari viximus ingenio.
Nunc data sum Diti longum mansura per aeu͡m,
deducta et fatali igne et aqua Stygia.

Tu qui secura spatiarus mente, viator,
et nostri voltus derigis inferieis,
si quaeris quae sim: cinis en et tosta favilla,
ante obitus tristeis Helvia Prima fui.
Coniuge sum Cadmo fructa Scrateio
concordesque pari viximus ingenio.
Nunc data sum Diti longum mansura per aeu͡m,
deducta et fatali igne et aqua Stygia.
Apparatus

l.1 reg., orig. spatiarus
l.2 reg., orig. inferieis
l.4 reg., orig. tristeis
l.7 reg., orig. aeum

Text follows CIL 09 and CLE. Picture checked by Spalla 2025.
l. 5: Coniuge sum Cadmo (dilecto) fructa Scrateio, to reconstruct the hexameter, CLE (F. Bücheler)

Main Translation

Translation You who walk by with peace of mind, traveller, and turn your eyes down to me, if you ask who I am: behold! I am ashes and glowing embers, before my painful death I was Helvia Prima. I enjoyed the company of my husband Cadmus Scrateius, and we lived in harmony and synergy. Now I have been entrusted to Pluto, to remain here for all eternity, carried away by a funereal fire and the Stygian waters.
Citation Fabio Spalla

Other Translations

Prosopographical Information

  • NameHelvia Prima
    GenderFemale
    RoleDedicatee
  • NameCadmus Scrateius
    GenderMale

Further Information

Comment

Dating proposed by Bücheler in CLE.

Squeeze

Have Squeeze? no

Dating

Date (From) 50 BC
Date (To) 1 BC
Date (Criteria)
  • formulae
  • palaeography
  • language

Bibliography

Images

Editing History

Created 2025-05-28, by Anna Pokorny
Work Status Confirmed
Import Notice Imported from Epigraphic Database Roma at 2024-08-29T10:18:55, ID there: EDR167668
Revisions
  1. by Unknown
    at 2024-08-29 10:18
  2. by Anna Pokorny
    at 2024-10-17 10:34
  3. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-04 15:31
  4. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-04-04 16:45
  5. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-05-12 13:00
  6. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-05-12 13:03
  7. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-05-19 15:38
  8. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-05-20 13:52
  9. by Fabio Spalla
    at 2025-05-20 14:11
  10. by Chiara Cenati
    at 2025-05-28 15:21
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