A Roman double funerary urn (cinerarium) carved with pilasters and foliage and with a separate lid.
Pentelic marble urn with lid of Proconnesian marble
Height: 37.5cm
Height (excluding lid): 28cm
Width (lid): 52.5cm
Length (lid): 28cm
Inscription: 1) (LH side): M. NERIO. FAVSTO / NERIA. M. L. LAMPAS / PATRONO. SVO / MERENTI
M[arco] Nerio Fausto Neria M[arci] l[iberta] Lampas patrono suo merenti
2) (RH side): CASSIAE / HEḶPIDI
Cassiae Helpidi
Inscription marks: 1) Line 1: 12mm; Line 2: 9mm; Lines 3-4: 10mm.
2) Line 1: 11-13mm; Line 2: 13-15mm.
Inscription note: 1) Line 2: ligature AM.
1) and 2) have been inscribed by two different lettercutters. The right-hand inscription is almost cursive in its execution.
Solin dates this inscription to the first century A.D.
We are grateful to Dr. Charlotte Tupman, a scholar of epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) undertaking postdoctoral research at King’s College London, who took squeezes of the inscriptions on antiquities in the Museum in 2007, for her transliteration, translation and notes/bibliography of the inscription on this piece.
Museum number: M423
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 324