Leventi, Ifigeneia. “Μαρμάρινα μετάλλια (« tondi ») της ελληνιστικής περιόδου: μία επανεξέταση.” In Πολύτροπος : τιμητικός τόμος για τον καθηγητή Νικόλαο Χρ. Σταμπολίδη [Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis]. 1, edited by Manolis I. Stefanakis, Mimika Giannopoulou and Maria Achiola., 567-582. Rethymno: Mesogeiaki Archaiologiki Etaireia, 2023. [available via academia.edu with many nice illustrations]

Draws heavily on

Palagia 2019: O. Palagia, “Pergamene Reflections in the Sanctuary of Diana at Nemi”. Στο S. Hemingway και K. Karoglou (επιμ.), Art of the Hellenistic Kingdoms. From Pegamon to Rome, New York: The Metropolitan Museum, 83-90. [I own book in PA, but writing this post from Brooklyn.]

Machine translation of relevant sections of Leventi:

“…The most recently identified monument of this category is the larger‑than‑life bust of Asclepius, carved in Parian marble and now housed in the Castle Museum, Nottingham (inv. no. N 832). It originates from the sanctuary at Nemi and is executed in a Pergamene style. The sculpture was studied by Olga Palagia, who attributed it to a Greek sculptor and dated it to around 100 BC.

“Palagia further proposed that a similarly conceived monument originally included a second over‑life‑size and approximately contemporary head of Diana, also from the same sanctuary and now held in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia (inv. no. MS 3483).

“Both sculptures are best interpreted as marble medallions (tondi), belonging to the same sculptural category as those discussed elsewhere in this study. Their scale, marble type, and stylistic features support their inclusion among the Late Hellenistic Greek marble medallions, rather than as Roman Imperial creations.

…

“The Asclepius from the medallion at the sanctuary of Diana at Nemi, though fragmentary, likewise shows typological affinity with the Asclepius statues from Munychia (Athens) and Ostia.

…

“conclusion

“The use of inset elements (piecing), especially for parts of the skull and hair, is common in Late Hellenistic marble medallions. Such inserted pieces may have been marble or plaster (Kalydon, Pergamon). In some cases, the circular frame itself—or part of it—or even the head was inset (Delos).

“The fully sculpted busts are usually life‑size and decorated gymnasia (Kalydon, Pergamon) or sanctuaries (Delos, Nemi), though larger‑than‑life examples are also known (Mahdia, Nemi, Pergamon Gymnasium). They were typically installed on interior walls, and more rarely in temple pediments (Delos).

“The principal centers of production—whether the works were carved from Pentelic or, more commonly, Parian marble—were overwhelmingly Athens, and secondarily Pergamon. Pentelic marble predominates at Kalydon, with the exception of the Parian marble used for the head of Leontas. At Mahdia, Pentelic marble was mainly employed, with Parian marble used in at least one case.

“It is entirely possible that Athenian sculptors worked on site. In the case of the head of Zeus from Kalydon, the reverse clearly shows that it was carved from a reused statue fragment representing the lower torso and upper thighs of a boy.

“The practice of adapting sculptural prototypes without creating exact replicas is characteristic not only of the Kalydon medallions, but also of examples from Mahdia and Atalante. These monuments represent the last phase of a period in which faithful copying of Classical monuments—even in free‑standing sculpture—was not yet the norm. This practice would only gradually become established in the early Imperial period.

“Nevertheless, exact copies do appear among the monuments discussed here, such as the Heracles head from Kalydon and the Satyriskos from Mahdia, which reproduces the head from the contemporary Invitation to the Dance group. Alongside these are works such as the heads of Zeus and Eros from Kalydon, and Asclepius from Nemi, which represent variations on Late Hellenistic sculptural types.

“The production of these monuments should therefore be placed in the second half of the 2nd century BC and the early decades of the 1st century BC. No securely dated examples from the early 1st century AD have yet been identified. The type, however, was revived in the later Imperial period, where it enjoyed renewed popularity—especially in the depiction of private and imperial portraits.”

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If Leventi is correct about this date then we would have to see this Hellenistic intervention at Nemi as predating say the interventions at other regional cult sites like Murena’s interventions at Lanuvium after his time fighting Mithridates. The question in both cases is whether the sculptures were created for the precise location or taken as plunder in the Greek East before being re-homed in Republican Italy.

The news stories are fine, the memes rub me the wrong way.

I hate to be a pedant. Or, rather, I love to be a pendant, but worry I’ll get that side-eye people give when they want to know why you cannot take a joke or just enjoy it quietly.

It is a compulsion to be accurate. I cannot resist correcting this meme and dropping some historical context on anyone who will give me the time of day.

The image on the left is a posthumous portrait of Alexander the Great. That means, AFteR hE wAs DEaD, people.

This obverse type was struck by Lysimachus 323 – 281 BCE and probably some issues even later by others. It was part of Lysimachus’ bid to be one of the successful Diadochi, or successors of Alexander. He connects himself to Alexander by showing Alexander as the son of Ammon (those horns!), and thus a (semi!) divine figure. The diadem is a symbol of kingship, particularly kingship based on struggle, the spear-one territory. Lysimachus failed. The Attalid dynasty rose in his place. He thought just because a man was a eunuch he was without ambition. Sex difference does not determine capacity to lead.

What is a better historical parallel to Trump signing the dollars? Well, a signature, of course. We might talk about Alexander’s father signing coins, the famous Philippoi gold coins that funded the power of his Macedonian dynasty and are so often discussed in literature.

And yet, what makes this signature on the coin so interesting–I’m sure there are other earlier examples, I’m not claiming this is a first, just a v famous example–if that Philip is not King OF anything, he’s just Philip, sovereignty rests in him alone, not the idea of a people or a place. Only he guarantees this coinage. So this too is not a very good historical parallel. Trump is signing the bills not replacing the issuing identify underwriting the worth of the dollar.

I see this as a means of assuaging Trump’s (bruised?) ego after the apparently stalled or aborted attempt to put his head on coin. Here’s the news story from last October.

So is there a good parallel for Trump’s signature on the dollar from the ancient world. Our founders idealized the Roman republic so we might as well look there to start.

Flamininus was the first living Roman (or really any Roman) to get his head on a coin. Basically, this looks like Greeks and Romans trying to figure out in 196 BCE what the status of Roman commanders were and how to treat them, when they behaved like Hellenistic kings. Do you honor them as kings? The coin type is only known from a handful of specimens and looks like a failed experiment. The next living Roman is Julius Caesar during his dictatorship and he got stabbed by his besties shortly there after. A failed experiment? Not really. Those besties then put their portraits on coins. Uber hypocrisy.

BUT we’re not talking about portraits but about signatures, the adding of individual authority to state authority and perhaps beginning to symbolically conflate the two. Julius Caesar certainly tied his own identify to Rome’s and what he started Augustus did much much better and more adeptly, creating a monarchy dressed up in the garb of a republic, but no republic at all.

Was this all new or had others experimented in this vein before? When had a supreme commander signed the coinage that was also associated with the authority of the state, not his identity alone?

Sulla marched on Rome in 88 BCE to overturn the Marian shenanigans that threatened to strip him of his command against Mithridates. After he was satisfied he’d got his way, he went East acting as any warlord would. Meanwhile back at the Ranch Rome, the Marians seized power, what we now call the Cinnan Regime. During this period, the Romans basically had two sets of individuals both with large armies claiming to be legitimately acting with the imperium of the Roman people. Imperium might here be translated here as authority, but it was basically the right to impose the will of the Roman people through any means necessary. Yes, it gives us our English words, Empire and Imperial.

So Sulla decided he has to retake Rome the city from the individuals he deems illegitimate (they of course said the same thing about him). On his way back, with lots of Eastern loot, he stops off in Athens and leaves his mark on their coins. He also there strikes some coins on Roman weight standards focusing on himself with no obvious nod to the authority of Rome itself. Then comes the coins above. They are in many ways conservative and old fashioned in style. On the obverse is the head of Roma. Roma has pretty much fallen off Roman coin designs for the whole of the previous two decades, appearing only once in the interim. Sulla is clearly reviving Roma to flag his association with conservative traditional views of the state. Likewise he allows his quaestor (roughly elected accountant-in-chief or CFO) to sign and issue on his behalf. The reverse has his name, signature if you will, and even an image of him as triumphant (a future event!), but it is not explicit that he is the authority. He is part of the authority but he still centers Rome as Rome.

Is this a perfect parallel? No. History rhymes more than it repeats, as the saying goes. But it does tell us something about how Caesar and then Augustus might have had precedence in how they conceived of their personal identities as entangled with that of Rome. I also think it may help us see clearer that Trump is open and eager to conflate his personal identity with that of our national identity.

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If this is disturbing to you, I invite you to find a street corner and meet a few neighbors who are equally disturbed. I believe in our republic. I love my country. No Kings. Only “we, the people” are sovereign, but we must exercise our rights and fulfill our responsibilities.

My lovely colleague Dr. Nudell is a fellow blogger who has a weekly tradition of publishing varia in which he collects and reflects on his week’s reading, inspiration, and thoughts. He periodically links to this blog, for which I am very grateful. My brain feels full and I wish to write with my morning coffee, but I have no one topic in mind and no particular desire for personal introspection style writing. I decided to take a page from him and just do a round up of things I wish to keep in my intellectual storehouses for future reflection.

Dr. Padilla Peralta on Campus Free Speech

This article hit hard. Princeton and the Ivies get the spotlight on these issues, but allow me to posit that they are perhaps even more fraught and painful on underfunded struggling state schools. My campus is still torn apart by the events of May 8, and even this week new hypocrisies of policy enforcement have emerged.

Among the key points that ring deeply true are the eroding and even erasure of shared governance. College presidents and the broader executive leadership teams construe the structures of shared governance much as Roman emperors used the remnants of the republican constitution to legitimate their control. The paternalistic approach to leadership sets up a dynamic wherein not just students, but also faculty and staff are positioned as childlike: reckless, unaware, and in need of protection and guidance, rather than as colleagues in the work of the university.

Likewise, Padilla Peralta, critiques the imposition of time, place, manner restrictions on free speech. He draws on speech-act theory to point to the functions of speech beyond persuasion and also addresses inequalities of between what and whose speech is protected and institutionally amplified.

These are perhaps the biggest points, but I was equally grateful for his discussion of how contingent labor (adjuncts!) and staff speech is not accorded the same freedom as those of us with the privilege of tenure. He interrogates the audience of the book and the ways in which alumni and external funders (donors) are prioritized and targeted for appeasement and justification of university policies around speech and protest. In many ways those of us in the university are not the audience at all. We know where our free speech is curtailed by policy and cultural norms. We know that reputation is valued over our rights, and even our responsibilities.

Padilla Peralta has chosen to leave Princeton for Arizona State. We often assume that professors with a platform and a willingness to be in the public eye are obsessed with personal status. And, in truth, some are. I admit to having concern for my own dignitas and honos. Padilla Peralta’s has many critics and skeptics in our discipline–do not tell me you haven’t been in conversations with the eye rolls and dismissive comments, because if people will say them to me, they will surely say them to anyone. I, however, know I’ve never had a better ally in uplifting and amplifying the voices and careers of young scholars, especially those without access to the ivies or even the disposable income to get train to one. Our voices are different. Even as we are both republican historians with a near obsessive need to focus on the details and a love of Theory, capital T. Our experiences are different. Even as we are both individuals who experienced being unhoused as children and through slew of scholarships to private educational institutions eventually found ourselves in graduate school at Oxford. A great deal of that difference has to do with race. I often wonder if I am so much less threatening to colleagues and my speech more acceptable because I am white, I don’t have the platform afforded by an ivy affiliation, and my femininity allows my own advocacy to be construed as gentle and nurturing, individual rather than political. Or, maybe I’m delightfully unaware of how colleagues in the wider field trash-talk me in a similar manner behind my back. All of this to say that I think Padilla Peralta will love the work he can do at Arizona State. I only wish CUNY had the vision and resources to make him a counter offer.

Oh. I guess this post did have a theme.

Right. There was other varia I’m sure of it.

Yesterday, I finally got to read the amazing profile in our alumni magazine of Dr. Lawrence Brown III, a fellow numismatist who specially for coin on US issues. The profile mentions not one word about coins, but that is just fine. Dr. Brown’s life story is inspirational. You will never find a better embodiment of the American dream, a true hero. His service to the country and his community are inspirational. His story is about why she need to be funding public education and not just in ‘trades’ or economically driven industries. I couldn’t be prouder Brooklyn College is part of his journey and that he continues to give of his wisdom to our campus community, most especially our students!

Oh yes, I have research on my brain too. Nemi!

Having seen the extensive excavation photography, I’ve long wondered about notes and papers associated with the same. So yesterday, I decided to poke around the National Archive catalogue helped me find that Sir John Savile Lumley-Savile, 1st Baron Savile of Rufford (1818-1896)’s papers and correspondence are on deposit with the Nottinghamshire Archives. I’ve written to see how much materials is there from his as the UK ambassador in Rome (1883 onwards). I need to decide if I budget for a trip to Nottingham to hold and feel those papers (I yearn to do so!) or if instead I pay to have a local researcher digitize the collection. I do love the archive.

In the process of tracking down the institution holding those papers, I learned more about the family. I’ve posted to social media before about how this Lord Savile was the eldest of the five children borne out of wedlock to his father and how I cannot find his months name, just that she was ‘of french extraction’. Interesting and strange. Even stranger, as eldest, his father left the estate to a younger brother. He didn’t inherit until his brother died. There is a story there. Why didn’t the father marry, why did he not prefer his eldest? That same father was apparently MAIMED AS CHILD through the violence of his own father, my Lord Savile’s grandfather. Is this why my Lord Savile never married or had children? His estate and title was inherited by a nephew and my the early 20th century when a 12 year old inherited the executors sold of the family seat, Rutherford Abbey. It all screams inter-generational dysfunction.

Frankly, I want to read ALL the letters rather than just those related to the excavation. The human is as fascinating as the problems and questions I have regarding the context of the finds.

I’ve also learned that Lord Savile has no known entanglements with enslavement or the profiting from enslaved labor, he was an artist himself, and collected art of all periods. He is becoming human in my mind’s eye.

I’m not sure where my Nemi obsession is heading but it is definitely gaining momentum beyond the coins. I think I can do much good story telling about religion, economy, and disciplinary history through this exceptional case study.

Is that it? Surely I had more in my brain. I think that is all I need to write before 8 am. Perhaps more later.

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If you’re still here. Perhaps you are feeling tired. Maybe you need some inspiration. Here’s a favorite poem.

For Margie Smigel and Jon Dopkeen

You are holding up a ceiling
with both arms. It is very heavy,
but you must hold it up, or else
it will fall down on you. Your arms
are tired, terribly tired,
and, as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.

But then,
unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens:
Someone,
a man or a woman,
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.

So you finally get
to take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your partner’s arms tire,
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.

And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.

This poem is titled, A Marriage, and was written by Michael Blumenthal, and published in a book called Against Romance. We printed it in our wedding program. In may ways if feels as sacred to my marriage as our vows or our very origin story. It encapsulates our partnership and shared endeavor. That every moment is a choice. a re commitment. Lately when life is hard we’ve been re formulating metaphor to say that there are times when we’re so tried holding up the roof takes both our arms together standing shoulder to shoulder. If you didn’t know the poem was written with a marriage in mind you might take it also a metaphor for any share work and the solidarity necessary to move forward in to the future or some times just tread water.

I had the urge to purge a bit here in my Brooklyn office. I’m horrified to find that one set of filing cabinets is locked and I don’t seem to have a key. Secretary is requesting one. Not that there can be anything that important in there given how long it has been since I opened it.

I’m instead tackling a draw labelled off-prints. I’ve not used it actively since 2013 based on the top level of detritus shoved inside. And yet it is still hard to purge. I’m trying to follow the rule everything online goes. And the rest is set aside to scan. Do you know how hard it was to put a Mesagne hoard print out in the recycling bin?! It is fine. I will never use that piece of paper, it has no notes on it. Literally just a bad print out.

I found a piece of paper with the large scrawl of Bob Viscusi my old mentor long past. It has a list of places outside Rome, including Castello Orisini. Lately I’ve been thinking a great deal about Orsini because of Nemi. It felt like a whisper, a blessing from the past on my present. I have no idea what we were discussing that day. It has no date. I’m guessing maybe early 2012 before I took my beloved to Rome for the first time. Perhaps it is a list of places Bob wanted me to experience. I’m keeping it.

Ooo I found handouts and lots of notes from the Yale 2015 conference on Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Gold dust.

The process is proving hard and overly nostalgic. I have a stack of stuff already I want to scan to PDF to ensure I can have it on ready access. I feel I could just keep it all to re read in retirement. I know this is wrong.

I also found an outline I made by hand late 2005, early 2006 for a seminar paper I gave on my 30th birthday in Oxford.

It turned into this chapter.

‘Heracles, Coinage, and the West: Three Hellenistic Case-Studies’ in J. Quinn and J. Prag (eds.) The Hellenistic West (Cambridge University Press 2013)

I find it astounding how much of my methodologies and questions of interest have remained stable for 20 years.

And I see now that I was pretty good even then at roughing out the big picture, even as I was struggling intensely with finding my voice and feeling like I was doing justice to the evidence. The joy of this blog is watching that voice develop and using hyperlinks to track my sources rather than this rather overwhelming draw of papers. I did however find a remarkably systematic organization beneath the haphazard top layer.

A follow up to the reverse analysis. See previous post for earlier bibliography. Again I offer two reference photos to help illustrate engraving variations but it is best to train one’s eye on numerous specimens, not just one or two.

I dealt with prosopography back in 2023, so I’ll leave that alone. Suffice to say the family is well enough connected to the region and site of Nemi to make the association of types with that sanctuary plausible. Orthographically notice the deliberately tall I. Grueber noted this in 1910 as a key feature as the tall I replaced EI as a means of indicating a long-i. Isn’t that fun? Reminds me of our convos about apices. Orthography matters.

Massa-Pairault, Françoise-Hélène. “Diana Nemorensis, déesse latine, déesse hellénisée.” Mélanges d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’École Française de Rome LXXXI (1969): 425-471. Doi: 10.3406/mefr.1969.7581 [open access!]

Massa-Pairault aptly uses this head as a point of comparison.

Beyond the hair the short forehead (eyes to high up the face), the large eyes and line like eyebrows all make excellent parallels.

The bronze head has short hair and suggests to me the depiction of a young man. The coin obverse image has a cloth covering one I might call a sakkos, the bust clearly wears a chiton with no over garment or jewellry visable

The large amount of bust shown on the obverse might itself be considered Italic (one post, another post)

Compare especially numismatic representations of Feronia and what I propose to call Aequitas. I really should publish this material properly I’m realizing.

I’d point to the following other busts on the republican coin series as particularly “Italic” in style.

I take further comfort that such busts were perceived in antiquity as particularly ‘republican’ because of how they have a revival on the anonymous coinage of the year of the four emperors

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We can also see the celebration of Nemi’s specific honoring as part of a increasing tradition to honor cults in greater Latium

RRC 449/1 – c. 48 BCE, Jupiter A(n)xur(us) and a presumed connection between the moneyer and Terracina

I’m of course obsessed with Juno Sospita and Lanuvium

Praeneste – RRC 405

So I’ve got a number of posts from early in 2023 on this type, but I never really made up my mind about it. And, that has started to bother me as I have some up coming talks where I need to contextualize my particle accelorator investigations of Nemi material and that means giving an overview of the cult site. In sum in 2023 I went back and looked at old pre-Crawford iconographic interpretations and didn’t like any of them. Prosopographically, I was satisfied that the moneyer might want to celebrate the cult at Nemi. Also I am inclined to follow Woytek on making the date of the coin later chronologically.

Crawford follows this interpretation.

Massa-Pairault, Françoise-Hélène. “Diana Nemorensis, déesse latine, déesse hellénisée.” Mélanges d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’École Française de Rome LXXXI (1969): 425-471. Doi: 10.3406/mefr.1969.7581 [open access!]

I’ll do a deep dive but as a matter of principle I better start with reading the iconography on my lonesome.

Reverse first. Examples of two specimens. I also used the Schaefer Archive images to train my eye on the variations with in the depictions to distinguish what was key to the design and what might be a simple engraving variation.

There are three figures facing the viewer. All three have what appear to be plant material coming from their heads but the representation is does not have any precise parallels with any other trees on the Roman coin series. On some interpretations they could be standing in front of trees. We might also consider if something other than plant material might be intended by the artist. Perhaps fire or flames? The central figure has a much larger bush emerging her head than the other two figures. This may mark her as more important or may be dictated by the circular composition. All three figures have tight cloth around their legs with a strong central seam or line. The geometric fabric folds create an arrow like patter pointing upwards and echo the downward lines of the decoration on top of the heads.

There is a strong horizontal line that seems to be behind the necks of the three figures. On some specimens it appears to rest on their shoulders an they hold it up with their hands. Some have interpreted this as a wall from behind which the plants or trees appear. Between the three women emerge two larger tree-like elements from the horizontal line directly above where their hands meet.

The central and right hand figures have the same costume with breasts clearly visible and vertical lines come down from theme to suggest a further layer of drapery. The left hand figure has a different top. No breasts are depict and instad there is a strong sweeping line of cloth from her left shoulder down to below her right hip. In her right hand she holds what is reasonably interpreted as a bow. The right hand figure holds an uncertain object that might be a stylized flower with three petals above the hand and a stem curving away.

The garment of the above Hekate figurine seemed a notable parallel (another more fragmentary). A cast of another Hekate wearing a similar garment. another perhaps better garment parallel. The garment does seem generally typical of archaizing representations of Hekate as a triple goddess. I’d also note that on some late antique representation of Hekate she is shown with stars over her head or on her crown.

This clearly suggests a relationship between the sanctuary and trees, as do the more poetic references by Vergil and Ovid (topostext link)

There are numismatic depictions of the three-faced goddess similar to the statues shown above and closely linked with iconography on gems.

I’ve toyed with the idea that the RRC 486/1 is trying to represent a three-faced statue group unrolled, but I think not. My reasoning for this is from a detail of a terracotta votive found at Nemi in the form of a temple.

It has as a central focal point a depiction of three women side by side. The style is very different but it still suggests to me that three Nemi cult might have emphasized the three distinct aspects of the goddess.

Among votives depicting a goddess from the sanctuary the vast majority show a young woman in a short chiton, Diana in the garb of a huntress.

But there is enough variation in the depiction of presumed goddesses to permit us to speculate that the triple aspects of the goddess was part of the local cult.

In the image below note the triangular relief. The one that has been defaced is clearly diana the huntress. Does this make the one on right another aspect of the same goddess?

Also those apices/spikes coming out of their heads! Is this just for the purposes of the triangular composition? An artistic variation or something specific to the cult at this site? Could it be a stylized version of those trees popping out of the heads on the coins?

Update: Two of these antefixes made it to Copenhagen. Once again proving my rule to always buy the museum catalogue. I feel so glad for past-me acquiring these books.

There is very little that I’ve seen from the Nemi sanctuary that suggests an inclination towards archaizing, but there is one little figure that we’ve presumed to be archaic, but now checking my pXRF readings I see at least on surface it reads nearly identical to all of the figural bronze votives in a more hellenistic style.

Also notice the archaizing votive has something stiking out the top of the head. If I was being poetic I might call it a rising full moon.

The other evidence for archaizing is the portrait herm of Fundilia

I’m totally enchanted by her side view and how pointy this hair style is.

So taken all together I’m more and more comfortable endorsing the identification of the three women as three aspects of Diana as worshipped at Nemi.

To be continued.

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Massa-Pairault 1969: 459:

Notice the front most statue has something pointy almost like a lotus flower coming from her head while the other two seem to have crescent moons. The acroteria on the column and on the bridge in the background are clearly meant to evoke truly archaic terracotta architectural elements in a similar style.

Comparative iconography from Powers, Roman Landscapes (2023):

I think the catalogue is incorrect that there are only 2 statues in the scene of Diana bathing I think the figure I’ve outline in blue is Diana the huntress with her bow.

The prevalence of triple statues of Hekate/Diana/Selene need not surprise us. Her cult is associated with wild places and thus fits nicely into Roman preferences in landscape painting. They need not all be coded as “Nemi” but they do help us see that the coin would be readily interpreted as associated with this tripartate divinity.

Full entry of inscription in Imagines Italicae below.

I am the well [enclosure] of Cupra Mater; the cistern was built at a cost of 159 nummi under the maronate of V. Varius, son of L., and of T. Fullonius, son of C.

Sacred objects could not be removed from sanctuaries. This created a problem. You want to spiffy up the place and make new exciting BETTER dedications and buildings for your super cool patron god(dess), but where does the old stuff go? A pit. We’ve talked about this on the blog I’m sure, but maybe not specifically.

This inscription was the mouth to such a pit so more old dedications could be hidden a way by dropping them through the opening into the cistern. Safely out of sight but still in in the custody of the divine and on sacred land.

UPDATE: All this above is true in the abstract, but I’m going to defer to Francesco Marcattili’s interpretation of the cult site. Near the end of this post you’ll find quotes in translation from his 2017 article summarizing his interpretation.

Cupra is the name of both a goddess and places dedicated to her; Strabo even tells us that this is the Etruscan named for Juno. (Topostext)

The page numbers in the citation to the original publication are incorrect but I was still able to easily find it.

In the original publication it is compared to an inscription in Assisi:

Post(umus) Mimesius C(ai) f(ilius) T(itus) Mimesius Sert(oris) f(ilius) Ner(ius) Capidas C(ai) f(ilius) Ruf(us) /
Ner(ius) Babrius T(iti) f(ilius) C(aius) Capidas T(iti) f(ilius) C(ai) n(epos) V(ibius) Voisienus T(iti) f(ilius) marones /
murum ab fornice ad circum et fornicem cisternamq(ue) d(e) s(enatus) s(ententia) faciundum coiravere

EDCS-12700059 = CIL 11, 5390 = CIL 1, 2112

This Assisi inscription is dated to 140-101 BCE while Crawford places the Fossato di Vico inscription c. 150 BCE based on letter forms. The letter forms of the two inscriptions are completely different.

The original transcription

I’m curious about what was found in the cistern itself. Crawford mentions architectural elements. I’ve ILLed the 1940 re excavation. There is a publication that tempts me but it is more a fancy not a desire. I’m not sure it is worth having it shipped via ILL, but I’ll try to consult when I’m next at ICS.

Maurizio Matteini Chiari, Antiquarium di Fossato di Vico. Materiali archeologici, iscrizioni, sculture, elementi architettonici, ceramica, monete. Electa Editori Umbri [2007], Perugia, 2007 Con 363 illustrazioni in b/n e a colori n.t. Catalogo regionale dei beni culturali dell’Umbria Numero di tavole: 363 pp.315 altezza 0 larghezza 0 Esemplare in buone condizioni.Copertina con leggero ingiallimento, alcune macchie di polvere e minimi segni di usura ai bordi e agli angoli.Pagine leggermente ingiallite ai bordi.Testo in Lingua Italiana.

The purpose of this post is to think what N(ummi) would mean to someone in this part of Italy in the mid 2nd Century BCE. Is the unit of account some form of AS. Is this suggesting 15.9 denarii? That seems to low doesnt it? Surely it cost more to have the pit dug and lined and bronze plaque attached to the well head even if that is humble terracotta.

So are they thinking in denarii did this enterprise cost 159 denarii? That seems a great deal. How big is this cistern!?

Orsara – 2 denarii

Fano – 120 victoriati

Montoro Inferiore – 337 asses

Lacco Ameno – 30 denarii

Rome – 121 denarii, 2 victoriati

Petacciato – 224 denarii, 6 victoriati

I was expecting more hoards from north central, Umbria, Etruria… Funny. I’m guessing a reporting problem.

I think I want to think more about what the heck nummi might mean in this period in this part of Italy. I find I still have a question mark in my brain. Post hannibalic war there is no more local coinage in Italy it is all Roman.

Puzzling.

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Marcattili, Francesco. “Il santuario di Cupra a Fossato di Vico.” Studi Etruschi 80 (2017): 115-129.

A re-examination of the excavations at Aja della Croce reveals that the artifacts consistently point to the presence of a sanctuary at the site, featuring an area dedicated to ritual ablutions—specifically, a small shrine housing a wellhead situated above an underground cistern. These structures played a significant role in the female rituals associated with the cult of the goddess Cupra—rituals similar to those dedicated to Venus and Bona Dea—while the ancillary rooms within the sanctuary complex, though not sacred spaces themselves, reflect the domestic and feminine dimensions of the cult.

Notes:

“The sanctuary developed on a system of artificial terraces built on a hill overlooking the Via Flaminia. In Roman times it was situated within the territory of the statio of Helvillum.”

“…the rituals performed in the sanctuary, rituals that followed liturgical customs comparable to those of Bona Dea and Venus”

“at Fossato di Vico that we can identify clear archaeological confirmation of Varro’s famous expression cyprum Sabine bonum, a phrase rich in historical and religious implications which suggests, on a theological level, the identification of the goddess Cupra—defined by Asinius Pollio as Veneris antistita (“attendant of Venus”)—with the Roman Bona Dea.”

The Vicus Cyprius ‘Good Row,’ from cyprum, because there the Sabines who were taken in as citizens settled, and they named it from the good omen: for cyprum means ‘good’ in Sabine.

Vicus Cyprius a cypro, quod ibi Sabini cives additi consederunt, quia bono omine id appellarunt: nam cyprum Sabine bonum.

Varro LL 5.159

De Melo 2019: 784-785 affirms in his commentary that Varro is correct in his etymology here and draws a connection as well to the Umbrian goddess.

The Asinius Pollio fragment is from a late grammarian Charisius, one whose manuscripts are full of unfortunate lacunae.

“a cistern lined with cocciopesto (fig. 1, A), intended for water storage. At the time the sacred area was abandoned, the cistern was transformed into a deposit for heterogeneous architectural and ceramic materials.”

Wikipedia: “Its main advantage over opus caementicium was that it is waterproof, the reason for its widespread use in Roman baths, aqueducts, cisterns and any buildings involving water. In floors it provided damp-proofing.”

“Stefani suggested that this terracotta fragment originally belonged to the mouth of the cistern itself. Traces of mortar adhering to the external surface of the fragment support the hypothesis that it formed part of a masonry parapet marking the cistern’s opening.”

“Micheletti—the landowner who conducted the 1869 excavation—recorded that additional fragments of the terracotta structure were found. These appeared to belong to a cylindrical, slightly truncated-conical vessel, around 60 cm in diameter and approximately 50 cm tall, notably without a base. This strongly suggests that the object functioned as a terracotta puteal (puteal fittile).”

“The Doric capitals and column drums found inside the cistern at Fossato di Vico—made of travertine and belonging to two Doric columns—likely formed the architectural elements of a structure designed to frame and monumentalize the puteal and underlying cistern. Given their modest height, these columns probably belonged to a tholos or monopteros, undoubtedly roofed, as confirmed by the presence of tiles.”

“Such a structure would have visually and symbolically emphasized the sacred nature of the water contained within the cistern. Similar installations are known from the Roman Forum (marking the mundus), from Pompeii’s Doric Temple in the Forum Triangulare, and from the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina, where a tholos marked an underground oracular cavity.”

“The Umbrian term bio, present in the inscription, corresponds semantically to the Latin saeptum. Its etymology connects it to Indo‑European roots meaning “to enclose” or “to confine.” The bio of Cupra Mater, therefore, was likely a deliberately enclosed sacred structure—specifically the puteal and its protective architectural frame.”

“At Fossato di Vico itself, Stefani identified two large contiguous basins lined with cocciopesto near the cistern. Their size, waterproof construction, and associated loom weights emphasize the female, domestic, and ritual character of the cult space.”

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Further bibliography to explore

Paci, Gianfranco. “Dall’umbro al latino: i frammenti ceramici a v. n. iscritti dal santuario di Cupra a Colfiorito.” Picus 42 (2022): 109-118.

An analysis of twelve graffiti dating to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC—inscribed in the Latin alphabet but featuring gentilicia bearing the Umbrian genitive singular ending “-ie(s)”—reveals a phase of Romanization that was still in its early stages. While the link to Roman colonization remains valid, black-gloss pottery—both as a consumer good and a trade commodity—could also find its way into the hands of individuals lying outside the scope of that process.

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Some people like to wing it, some people like a road map. No judgements. This is the type of advice I typically give to those who want concrete suggestions. Definitely not fixed in stone.

1. Ask those offering the interview if they have any specific advice on how to prepare to make the most out of your time in conversation together. It is often now considered best practice not only to ask all candidates the same questions, in some cases interviewers may even send a sample list of questions ahead of time, but not all programs or interviewers are this formal. Even if questions are provided, interviews remain spontaneous and you may be asked follow-up or individual questions specific to your application.
2. Ask if it would be appropriate for you to be in contact with any of their present graduate students to discuss the program and to ensure you’re well informed about the student experience. You may also work your network and your mentors’ networks to look for those who may have been through the program or its interviews previously.
3. Most interviews start with a softball question.  “Tell me about your self”, “Tell us more about your research interests”,  “tell us more about why you want to study here”.  The goal of this answer is to show you can be succinct and direct using concrete examples to illustrate your answer.  Keep you answer to about 2-3 minutes max unless they specifically tell you they want longer.  End with something like “did that answer get at the question?  Would you like me to elaborate on anything?”
4. Keep a notebook near you during the interview and take notes as you are asked questions.  It can help to nod and smile as you take notes.  Once the interviewer finishes talking, if you have any doubts about what they want (academics can ramble!), look up and paraphrase the question back to them.  “So it would be helpful for me to share something about…”. Pause to get confirmation or redirection and then answer.
5. Prior to the interview prepare 12 notecards.  On one side write a concrete experience (a specific paper, or class, or presentation, or group work, or part of a trip…), on the back of the card list all the ways that experience exemplifies your skills and aptitude.  Things that the interviewers may want to know about you (resilience, ability to take feedback, adaptability, ability to work independently, depth of research, overcoming personal challenges, sustaining a research interest over a long period and across projects, connecting ideas and disciplines, asking for help etc…)
6. Ask a trusted mentor to set up a mock interview with experienced interviewers who can give you feedback on your skills and also things like body language and camera background.
7. Research your interviewers.  If possible ask others who may know them about their conversational style.  There may be YouTube clips of them giving talks.  You don’t have to watch the whole thing, but you may find it comforting to see their mannerisms and typical tone of voice ahead of the interview itself.
8. After the interview, send a short thank you note email, saying you are happy to answer any further questions and look forward to hearing from them.
9. Almost all interviews ask you about a time you overcame a challenge or dealt with a difficult situation or your greatest weakness.  Anticipate this.
10. Almost all interviews end with the interviewers asking you to if you have any questions for them. Prepare two or three. Ask only one or two max.

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Advice to Mentees

Things I learned from Fergus Millar

Cracking the Personal Statement (Job App Letter)

How to be (or not be) on the Job Market

Handling a Heavy Reading Load

Writing Styles, Finding your Voice

On (not) Reviewing Books

Should I put part of my dissertation in a conference volume?

How to say NO to service

Tips on coping with Learning Disabilities

A new open access journal article.

Eisenberg, Michael, Arleta Kowalewska, and Gregor Staab. 2026. “Learn! – A New Type of Inscription on a Sling Bullet from Hippos of the Decapolis.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, March, 1–5. doi:10.1080/00310328.2026.2641294.

Regular readers of this blog will know my love of glans, esp. those with inscriptions (earlier posts).

In the press (not the article) another type of sling bullet from the same site is illustrated that with the scorpion. Thunderbolts (fulmen) I know of as a bullet symbol from the Western Mediterranean but scorpions feel new to me in this context but v fitting given their regular appearance on intaglios and as secondary symbols on coinage.

A selection of posts that mention if briefly scorpions.

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In the BM’s modest collection of such bullets (47 from the Classical World), scorpions are well attested (5 from Kamiros, 1 from the Nile Delta, 1 Kalavarda, 1 from Corfu).

Thanks to a comment by John B. Van Sickle I had the opportunity to read this 2022 post. I find myself largely in agreement with your line of thought. Regarding the engraved plates in the early numismatic literature, which may have influenced certain forgers, there are indeed several documented examples of this phenomenon ( https://www.biddr.com/astarte/auction?a=6047&l=7450876 ). As for the structure and material of the moulds: some time ago I came across a cast as that showed a very peculiar mould trace on the reverse: it almost looked as if there had been a supporting strip, or more likely a repair patch in the mould matrix. This is a feature I had never encountered before and one that would be difficult to reconcile with stone moulds ( https://www.numisbids.com/sale/1573/lot/350 ).

Andrea Pancotti commenting on a January 2022 Post on this Blog

His comment is too valuable to be lost in the bowels of this blog. And frankly, I’d forgotten about that 2022 post and how much it captures my thinking before I started my metallurgical analyses. All these questions I was asking are still very much part of why I’ve been writing (and winning!) grants.

A correction. The coin from the Badian collection the one I was sure was a forgery, tested just fine under pXRF analysis. It fits comfortable in with a body of surface readings from specimens presumed to be genuine. Yes, I nearly fell out of my chair when those readings came in and re ran it again and again until I was certain. That doesn’t mean it is genuine. The only way to be sure a coin is real to for it to come out of a documented undisturbed archaeological context. However, what this did teach me is that style and stylistic variation are not reliable means alone of judging authentication. A good forger can emulate style. (Becker to name one of the greatest.) A good forger can melt down old coins to make a better fake. (I worry about this with disputed Brutus Aureii a great deal.).

I’ll want to think more about that above miscast more once we get to experimental archaeology and attempts to replicate the casting process of aes grave once we’re satisfied we know the original recipe. Maybe, hopefully, after this next set of experiments in May at Isis. Right now based on surface analyses and preliminary muonic xray results were pretty sure we know the approximate admixture and are confident it has almost the same if not more lead than tin. So much lead the admixture isn’t a true alloy and that it is very hard until we have more data to model how cooling will have effected readings at different depths. The other major question from experimental archaeology will be replicating the quelching process for the aes grave. In the air? with water? In the mold? Does the mold retain heat? It is even possible that heat was used to slow the cooling process in some way like is common now in modern glassblowing for large heavy pieces.

Why yes! My almost 11-year-old kiddos did just make glass paper weights yesterday and we cannot pick them up until Wednesday as they have to sit in the kiln to cool properly for the colors to form and cracking not to occur. And yes, the whole time I watched all I did was think about ancient manufacturing processes.

If there was a way to search replace my whole blog for spue to sprue, I would. It is one of my worst and most insidious typos. And yet, there ya go. I am a typo-queen.

Now one more pesky thought.

I’ve been worried for a while about an unusual RRC 25/1 sold in the Hirsch 1914 auction and illustrated by both Marchi and Garruccii in drawings. I’ve held what I believe to be this coin, now in a private collection.

Kircher Collection

The wing shape on. the helmet of Mercury is very very strange it has a single sweeping curve on the left rather than the more familiar S shape.

Wing Shape on Early Aes Grave, and various other initial thoughts on Haeberlin’s collection

Now I’m wondering if the specimen might derived from a bad drawing in a catalogue!?!? Not a happy thought. But again no archaeological context no real way to authenticate anyway. We can just say unusual style.

I still want to know how the Hirsch sale ended up with so many coins that probably should be in the National collection at Rome…. There is 100+ year old mystery of how exactly stuff moved from Museo Kircheriano to new places… One day I’ll dig up answers. Or perhaps someone will save me the time and just clue me in!

Further key words: Tuder