11-28-2012, 05:42 PM
Quote:One other thing - is this certainly a grave stelae? Could it just be a dedication by a living man?I think the epitaphs written in life by Soranus and T. Claudius Maximus provide pretty good parallels for this sort of statement, I can't think of any similarly verbose altar inscriptions... The slightly final tone ('I wanted to do all these awesome things, and having done so, my life's work is done' - at least he doesn't bemoan the lack of wine in the afterlife, if he believed in it) is also pretty fitting for an epitaph. Romans could be a lot more personal with their epitaphs than with other forms of inscription I think.
Quote:Seems obvious to me: he washed his hands in the nearest nymphaeum...One would very much hope so (doubt the Nymphs were particularly impressed though...).
