Day 4 of 234: More on RRC 486/1

Grueber 1910 (repr. 1970): 569-570 has deliciously erudite footnotes! And yet, like so often he doesn’t explain the theories he’s dismissing. I know they are wrong and so does he, but what a lot of work to make others dig through. It makes me slightly more fond of Crawford’s dismissive asides as he condemns his predecessors. at least I know where he stands and where to look.

I use the 1970 reprint of Grueber as Crawford had a hand in its re issue and correction of errors of the 1910 edition, but if you don’t have it on your shelves or happen to be in need of it away from home, there is a digitized version of the original BMCRR.

Next time I am in Rome I must make a pilgrimage to this inscription in the baths of Diocletian in the section on oriental cults! Strange to think I must have walked by it half a dozen times in the past but not noticed its numismatic connection.

What does it mean? At first reading, It seems to be that this guy Eros wanted to make a dedication to Bellona and needed Accoleius and his colleague’s permission to do so. Our moneyer’s name is in the last line. Also notice the TALL Is which Grueber discusses as a means of indicating the long vowel sound. The stone itself is from Lanuvium.

The back of this same stone has it’s own epigraphic designation in some databases:

Also of note for our current assumptions that this coin represents the cult image at Nemi, is that at two members of the same gens as the moneyer are attested at finds from the sanctuary at Nemi. One clearly played some role in local politics in the early first century CE. AND wait for it… our own dear Lord Savile scooped up this v stone (along with the vast majority of the coin finds from the excavations) and brought it to Nottingham! (I’ll be sure to pay my respects when I visit.)

The other attestation is from a list of names of uncertain function (see line five).

The Lanuvium makes sense once we look at the maps. Lanuvium is only about an hour and 20 minute walk away, and is the next nearest ancient community to the sanctuary after Ariccia.

There is only one instance of gens in epigraphy from Rome itself and that seems to have been a funerary inscription that was reused in the construction of the walls of the tomb of Caecilia Metella

Right. More to learned and share here obviously, but I’m done warming up, and am ready to tackle the to do list!

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Today

• Submit Signed Tow by 5 pm Jan 6
• Spend MORE time with Dionysius
• Contact more curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip (progress)
• BM/Rowan Follow Up
• Rutgers Follow Up
• Enter Dates of things in Family Calendar to avoid nasty surprises
• AAH Logistics (progress)
• Cancel at least one digital membership
• Princeton Follow Up (here’s a link the awesome cast bronze collection there!)

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

• Spend EVEN MORE time with Dionysius
• Teaching requests for Fall 2023
• Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
• Book flights
• Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
• Circle back to Capito project
• Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
• Begin Med school rec letter
• record mini myth
• find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
• follow up with Lafayette
• Write up Teaching Eval
• Follow up old student/tree sunset
• Rosen Fellowship refs
• Finalize AAH logistics
• Cancel at least one digital membership
• More Rutgers coordination as needed
• More Princeton coordination as needed