A Roman funerary urn (cinerarium) with dolphins at the corners supporting garlands and a separate lid.
Pentelic marble
Height: 34.5cm
Height (body): 18.5cm
Height (lid): 10cm
Width (lid): 30.5cm
Length (lid): 24cm
Inscription: D. M / P OCTANI / ACMAEI
D[is] M[anibus] P[ublio] Octani Acmaei
Inscription marks: Line 1: 13mm; Lines 2-3: 12mm.
Inscription note: Solin dates this inscription to the second 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.
Inscription translation: To the spirits of the departed. To Publius Octans Acmaeus.
Museum number: M406
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 337