E07470: Fragmentary Latin inscription commemorating a dedication to *Alexander and most probably Eventius (bishop and priest, martyrs of Rome, S00127). Found in the cemetery of Saint Alexander on the via Nomentana, Rome. Probably early 5th c. [provisional entry]
online resource
posted on 2019-03-23, 00:00authored bypnowakowski
[sanctis martyrib(us) Euentio] et Alexandro Delicatus voto posuit + dedi- can- te + ae- pis- cop(o) + Urs[o]
'Delicatus erected (this) as a vow [to the holy martyrs Eventius] and Alexander. + Bishop Ursus performed the dedication.'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 22958 = EDB41547.
History
Evidence ID
E07470
Saint Name
Alexander, Eventius and Theodolus, bishop, priest and deacon, martyrs of Rome : S00127
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Inscriptions - Inscribed architectural elements
Archaeological and architectural - Altars with relics
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Language
Latin
Evidence not before
401
Evidence not after
417
Activity not before
401
Activity not after
417
Place of Evidence - Region
Rome and region
Place of Evidence - City, village, etc
Suburban catacombs and cemeteries
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Suburban catacombs and cemeteries
Rome
Rome
Roma
Ῥώμη
Rhōmē
Cult activities - Liturgical Activity
Ceremony of dedication
Cult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Other lay individuals/ people
Cult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Ex-votos
Source
Letter height 3.5 cm. The text is written on the upper (90 cm long) and right-hand (33 cm x 13.5 cm) edge of a latticework screen. The stone was retrieved in pieces from the cemetery’s basilica, and its fragments, reassembled, are displayed at the saints’ altar in the cemetery. According to Antonio Ferrua, the letters POSVI from line 1, are now lost.
Discussion
The Epigraphic Database Bari wrongly identifies the object as a sepulchral monument, and dates it to the 6th c. In fact, this is an inscription commemorating the embellishment of a cultic installation, and bishop Ursus mentioned in the text is, as argued by Antonio Ferrua, almost certainly Ursus, bishop of Nomentum/Mentana, who also appears in ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 22962 (as 'Christi signifer Ursus'), and in a letter of pope Innocentius I to Florentius, bishop of Tibur, reproaching Florentius for depriving Ursus of his see. Hence, the inscription is roughly contemporary with the pontificate of Innocentius (401-417).
Bibliography
Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB41547.
see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/41547
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 22958 (with further bibliography).