Inscribed marble lid of a cinerary urn. block form with a round boat Translation: To the Di Manes [the divine spirits of the dead]. Curiasia Telete, a freedwoman, made this for Curiasia Primigenia, well deserving. Dating: The EDR (Epigraphic Database Roma) says 2nd century CE based on the form of the object and the shape of the lettering (entry here). The U.S. Epigraphy Project dates it a bit earlier, to the 1st or early 2nd century CE (record here). I'm not an expert in dating inscriptions that were not excavated archaeologically, but these are both reliable sources and both dates are very plausible to me. General information: This object would have been set above a cinerary urn. The hole in the middle is there so that libations could be poured through the epitaph into the urn below. (Description provided by Darcy Tuttle)
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collector:
Alfred Emerson
Materials:
Marble (rock)
Object type:
archaeology
Object class:
Cremation urns
Accession date:
November 12, 1902
Department:
Classical Mediterranean
Loans:
S1965-1966 #82: Design Department (UC Berkeley) (April 21, 1966–June 9, 1966) and S1993-1994 #12: The Jewish Museum of San Francisco (February 14, 1994–June 30, 1994)