Roman cinerarium with genii holding reversed torches at the corners
2nd century AD
Pentelic marble
Height: 37cm, maximum
Height (body): 19cm
Width (lid): 32cm
Length (lid): 25cm
Inscription: D. M / IVVENTIVS / P̣ṚOFVTVRVS / ONESIDI. / COIVGI. B / M. F
D[is] M[anibus] Iuventius Profuturus Onesidi coiugi b[ene] m[erenti] f[ecit]
Inscription marks: Lines 1-5: the lettercutter’s guidelines are visible.
Lines 1-2: 11mm; Lines 3-6: 10mm.
Inscription note: Solin dates this inscription to the Antonine period.
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 transliteration: To the spirits of the departed. Iuventius Profuturus set it up for his well-deserving wife Onesis.
Museum number: M726
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 340