<rs type="textType">Funerary</rs> inscription for Marcus Aurelius Epinikos and Aurelia Zenonis and family

Joyce M. Reynolds2007

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Originally published in Reynolds and Isik (2007).

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Description of Monument

White marble garland sarcophagus with lid; for full description see Isik 118.

Description of Text

i. a. inscribed on the lid, (length 2.09); i. b on the tabella, impinging on the moulding (0.29 x 0.41), l. 1 on upper moulding, ll. 17-18 on lower moulding; i. c on the projections. On one of the vertical projections an earlier text has been erased and ii has been added..]

Letters

i. a fair version of the second-to-fourth-century style, a: 0.020; b: 0.015; c: 0.025; ii. roughly cut and aligned, with cursive forms, 0.015-0.02. Unconventional spellings in i a, l.1, ii, ll.1, 3.

Date

For i. perhaps the first half of the third century (lettering, nomenclature); ii. presumably relates to a secondary use at a later date.

Edition
ἡ σορός ἐστιν καὶ αἱ ὑποκειμεναι ἐν τῷ βαθρικῷ ἰσῶσται Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Ἐπινείκου β τοῦ Μουσαίου ἐν ᾗ σορῷ κηδευθήσονται ὅ τε Ἐπίνεικος καὶ Αὐρηλία Ζηνωνις Ἀδράστου τοῦ Ἀπολλωνίου τοῦ Δημητρίου ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἐπίνεικος γ τοῦ Μουσαίου ὁ υἰὸς αὐτῶν καὶ Αὐρήλιος Κλαύδιος Ἐπίνεικος ὁ υἱὸς τεγθεοσ ὁ ἐγγονος Μάρκου αηρλαγκια νουυἱὸς
ηια ἕτερος δὲ οὐδεὶς ἕξει ἐξουσιαν ἐνθάψαι τινὰ ἐν τῇ σορῷ οὐδὲ ἐκθάψαι σωμάτειον ἐπεὶ ὁ ἐπιχειρήσας ὑπεναντίον τι ποιῆσαι τῶν προγεγραμμένων ἔστωι ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἐπάρατος καὶ τυμβωρύχος καὶ ἀποτείσατω
On the projections: Ζῶσιν
On the left projection the text has been erased and a new one added: κὲ αὕτὴ ἡ σορὸς Ἀντωνείνου κὲ
Translation

i.a: The sarcophagus and the burial places below it in the base of the monument belong to Marcus Aurelius Epinikos son of Epinikos the son of Mousaios. In this sarcophagus Epinikos and Aurelia Zenonis, daughter of Adrastos the son of Apollonios the son of Demetrius, his wife, will be buried and Epinikos third of the name after Musaios, their son, and Aurelius Claudius Epinikos the son and theus their grandson.

b: No one else will have the right to bury anyone in the sarcophagus nor to remove a body from it; for anyone who undertakes anything contrary to what is written above is to be considered sacrilegious and accursed and a tomb-breaker and is to pay etc. ]

c: They are alive

ii: This sarcophagus also belongs to Antoninos and

Commentary

The owner and his wife are both Aurelii and both have genealogies with names cited in the Greek manner. So the date must be after A.D. 212, but perhaps not very long after. They provide a burial place in the future for their son Epinikos 3 (his genealogy justifies the supplement in l. 4) and for an Aurelius Cl(a)udius Epinikos (Claudius is a probable correction of the text), but the damage to l. 5 obscures the latter's family connection. The simplest solution is that he was the grandson mentioned there, son of the owners' daughter whose name, in the genitive case, underlies the partly (and surely wrongly) read letters after υἱός and of the man Marcus Aurelius ?Lankianos named towards the end of the line. Since the presumed grandson has two nomina, Cl(a)udius as well as Aurelius, his father should have done so too and should , perhaps, be interpreted as M. Aur(elius) Cl(audius) [ .. ]ianos. They appear to be quite a prosperous group, but although Claudii must be related to a family of the old Aphrodisian élite these are probably from a dependent branch. That accords well with a decision to adopt the names M. Aurelius alongside Cl(a)udius.

Locations

Necropolis, North-east, Ata Eymir: in a tomb Findspot Museum (1994)

Text Constituted From

Transcription (Reynolds)

History of Recording

Excavated by the Aphrodisias Museum in 1992 (Museum inventory 92/2; Sarcophagus 309)

Bibliography

Published by Mahir Atici, IV. Müze Kurtama Kazilari Semineri Marmaris, 1993, (Department of Antiquities, Ankara, 1993), 101-108, whence mentioned SEG 1995.1506, BullEp 1995.513; by Reynolds and Isik, no. 118

Photographs

Sarcophagus (1994)
Sarcophagus (1994)
Sarcophagus (1994)