Inscriptions: Epitaph of the freedwoman Vinuleia Calena by her daughter

Identification

Reference as:	MPL02219
Title	Epitaph of the freedwoman Vinuleia Calena by her daughter
Trismegistos-No.	227700

Object

Provenance and Location

Find Place	Carthago Nova
Find Context	Found during sewage works, 1924-1925.
Latitude	0.0
Longitude	0.0
Current Location	Cartagena, Museo Arqueológico Municipal de Cartagena
Inventory number	118
Current Location Details
Vicinity	[{"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 2219, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/2219", "long_id": "MPL02219", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Vinuleia L(uci) l(iberta) Calena. Heic sitast. F\u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://cil.bbaw.de/ace/files/PH0001333.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of the freedwoman Vinuleia Calena by her daughter"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 927, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/927", "long_id": "MPL00927", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Mater, si posse[m], fili vice mortis s[---]. Nunc \u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph of Philocalus by his mother Aucta and sister Adventa"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 928, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/928", "long_id": "MPL00928", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Argentaria C(ai) f(ilia) Faustil(la) octavos cum i\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Carthago Nova \u2013 Cartagena (Hispania citerior) - HD037645"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 929, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/929", "long_id": "MPL00929", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "C(aius) Licinius C(ai) f(ilius) Torax hospes consi\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Carthago Nova \u2013 Cartagena (Hispania citerior) - HD037760"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 930, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/930", "long_id": "MPL00930", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "M(arcus) Oppius M(arci) f(ilius) fore(n)sis ars hi\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Carthago Nova \u2013 Cartagena (Hispania citerior) - HD037778"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 931, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/931", "long_id": "MPL00931", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Filiola\u0323[m] amisit pa[trem], materque sequtast ips\u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://institucional.us.es/cleo/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/mu5-scaled.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of the household slave Salviola"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 932, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/932", "long_id": "MPL00932", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Sicinia C(ai) f(ilia) Secunda filia cum matre est \u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Carthago Nova \u2013 Cartagena (Hispania citerior) - HD037805"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 933, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/933", "long_id": "MPL00933", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "[Q(uintus) Lusius] L(uci) f(ilius) Seni[ca] [molle\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Carthago Nova, bei \u2013 Cartagena, bei (Hispania citerior) - HD037944"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 2220, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/2220", "long_id": "MPL02220", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "Sei quaer\u0323i\u0323s\u0323 nomen, [co]n\u0323s\u0323i\u0323s\u0323-te et percipe\u0323 \u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://institucional.us.es/cleo/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/mu13b.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of of the freedwoman Pontiliena"}, {"coords": [37.6028, -0.987953], "id": 2227, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/2227", "long_id": "MPL02227", "place": "Carthago Nova", "text": "\|A Plotia L(uci) et F\u0323ufiae l(iberta).- Prune ha\u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/bilder/$CIL_02_03495.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of the freedwoman Plotia"}, {"coords": [39.4704, -0.376813], "id": 860, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/860", "long_id": "MPL00860", "place": "Valentia", "text": "Pius pr(a)eclarus doctor alacer facundus Iustinian\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Elogium from Valentia \u2013 Valencia (Hispania citerior) - HD024284"}, {"coords": [39.4704, -0.376813], "id": 861, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/861", "long_id": "MPL00861", "place": "Valentia", "text": "Constructu(m) p[---cu]rrunt fastigium quis[--- a?]\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Building/dedicatory inscription from Valentia \u2013 Valencia (Hispania citerior) - HD024287"}, {"coords": [39.4704, -0.376813], "id": 862, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/862", "long_id": "MPL00862", "place": "Valentia", "text": "[\u2066 - - - - - - - - - - \u2069] [b?]ona liq[uet?] [---]l\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Inscription from Valentia \u2013 Valencia (Hispania citerior) - HD024293"}, {"coords": [38.8428, 0.107511], "id": 935, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/935", "long_id": "MPL00935", "place": "Dianium", "text": "C(aius) Iul(ius) H[---] sibi et Co[rneliae] Sphr[a\u2026", "thumbnail_url": null, "title": "Epitaph from Dianium \u2013 Denia (Hispania citerior) - HD039492"}, {"coords": [38.8428, 0.107511], "id": 938, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/938", "long_id": "MPL00938", "place": "Dianium", "text": "M(arcus) Acilius Eros h(ic) s(itus) e(st), pistor.\u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://institucional.us.es/cleo/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/v7.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of the baker Marcus Acilius Eros by his freedmen and freedwomen"}, {"coords": [39.4883, -1.10044], "id": 2235, "item_url": "https://db.mappola.eu/r/Inscriptions/show/2235", "long_id": "MPL02235", "place": "Requena", "text": "Iu[---]++ +V\u0323[---] S\u0323osi-n\u0323a++g\u0323i f(ilius) Gili-t\u2026", "thumbnail_url": "https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/bilder/$ZPE_192_306_1.jpg", "title": "Epitaph of a man killed by bandits, dedicated by his son and sons-in-law"}]

Object Details

Object Type	slab
Material	limestone
State of Preservation	incomplete
Dimensions	width: 49.5 cm height: 31.0 cm depth: 19.0 cm
Letter Size in cm (min)	3.0
Letter Size in cm (max)	5.0
Execution Technique	chiselled
Religion	Pagan

Decoration

Decoration and Iconography
Decoration Tags

Verse Layouts

Prose Verse Presence	Praescriptum + carmen
Prose Verse Distinction	No distinction
Layout Types (Prose)	Centered
Layout Types (Verse)	Centered
Scriptio Continua in verse part	no
Abbreviations in verse part	no
Verse Line Correspondence	No
Graphic Signs and Spaces for Easier Carmen Reading	To separate words - Interpunction

Text

Function	funerary inscription
Language(s)	Latin
Verse Type(s)	iambo-trochaic rhythm
Rhythmisation	Accentuating scheme

Inscription & Translations

Diplomatic Interpretative Verse Visualisation

VINVLEIALL
CALENA

HEIC
SITAST
FILIAVTPOTVIT
5NONVTVO[]IT(scil. POSVIT)

Vinuleia L(uci) l(iberta)
Calena.

Heic
sitast.
Filia ut potuit,
5non ut vo[lu]it (scil. posuit).

Vinuleia L(uci) l(iberta) Calena.

Heic sitast. Filia ut potuit, non ut vo[lu]it (scil. posuit).

Apparatus

l.3 reg., orig. sitast

Text follows CIL and CartNova. Picture checked by Spalla 2025.
ll. 2-5: cf. CLE 02113, ut potuit potius quam ut voluit posuit (pentameter).

Main Translation

Translation	Vinuleia Calena, freedwoman of Lucius, is buried here. Her daughter to the best of her ability, not how she wanted it.
Citation	C. Cenati, V. González Berdús, P. Kruschwitz

Other Translations

Aquí yace Vinuleia Calena, liberta de Lucio. La hija (lo hizo) como pudo, no como quiso. (Spanish, A. Beltrán)

Prosopographical Information

Name Vinuleia Calena
Gender Female
Legal Status Freedman / Freedwoman
Role Dedicatee

Name	Vinuleia Calena
Gender	Female
Legal Status	Freedman / Freedwoman
Role	Dedicatee

Further Information

Comment

Dating proposed by Abascal Palazón and Ramallo Ascensio (CartNova). Degrassi and Krummrey (CIL 1 [2nd ed.]) propose a dating to the end of the Republican period. Cugusi (CLE 4) also proposes the same dating, based on palaeography. Cenati, González Brdús and Kruschwitz further narrow the range to the first quarter of the 1st century BC, also based on palaeography, though dating remains uncertain. Found beside the epitaph of the freedman Lucius Vinuleius Philogenus (CartNova 03, 00191).

Squeeze

Have Squeeze?	no

Dating

Date (From)	1 AD
Date (To)	30 AD
Date (Criteria)	formulae palaeography

Bibliography

ILER 06479
CIL 01 (2nd ed.), 03449k (also on alternative dating)
CartNova 03, 00192 (with photo, tab. 169; also on dating)
ELRH C48
CLEHisp 00158
CLE 02935 (also on alternative dating)
D. Jiménez de Cisneros Hervás, Nuevas inscripciones romanas de Cartagena, Bol. Ac. Hist. 96, 1 (1930), 254-255 (with drawing) 🔗 link
A. Beltrán, Las inscripciones funerarias en Cartagena, Arch. Esp. Arq. 23, 81 (1950), 433, nr. 111 (with Spanish translation) 🔗 link
C. Cenati, V. González Berdús, P. Kruschwitz, Ceterum censemus Carthaginem Novam esse legendam: Roman poetry as cultural history, Exemplaria classica. Journal of classical philology 28 (2024), 119-120, nr. 7 (with english translation and photo, 120; also on alternative dating) 🔗 link
EDCS-24700286 🔗 link
HD037846 🔗 link
HEpOl 8164 🔗 link
MQDQ 🔗 link

Images

Epitaph of the freedwoman Vinuleia Calena by her daughter.
Source: EDCS-24700286 (c) Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum - BBAW

Editing History

Created	2025-09-08, by Fabio Spalla
Work Status	Complete
Import Notice

Revisions

by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-08-28 07:37
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-08-28 08:27
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-08-28 08:29
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-08-28 08:29
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-08-28 08:30
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-09-07 13:04
by Fabio Spalla
at 2025-09-07 13:06
by Chiara Cenati
at 2025-09-08 12:50
by Chiara Cenati
at 2025-09-08 12:51
by Chiara Cenati
at 2025-09-08 12:53

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