DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15100#0178
118
There are some difficulties in the way of a correct interpretation
of the inscription arising from the abbreviations of the words and
the uncertainty of the proper names. The insertion of the father's
name between the two names of the son, is very unusual, but does
sometimes occur. There is authority for interpreting AVG. N.
DISP. as Augusti nostri dispensator in an inscription published
by Gruter.1 MON may probably be intended for monetae, al-
though no instance of such an expression or such an office has
been actually discovered. The interpretation of NF is more con-
jectural than could be desired, for these letters are not separated
from each other or from the previous word by any stop or mark,
and more resemble NE. The name would then be Cseliane which
is scarcely admissible, and therefore as marks are, in ancient in-
scriptions, very carelessly inserted and omitted, and as upon this
monument in particular it is very difficult to distinguish by its
form an E from F the above interpretation has been hazarded.
The figures carrying armour have been frequently called Genii,
but it is more correct to style them Cupids. They are fre-
quently represented in ancient art thus employed,2 and in his de-
scription of the marriage of Alexander and Roxana as painted
by Aetion, Lucian3 mentions a group of Cupids playing with the
armour of Alexander as part of the composition, and further states
that the artist thus expressed the martial character of the monarch
in typical association with his love for Roxana. The motive of
the monument before us may very possibly have been somewhat
similar. The arrangement of the hair upon the top of the head
is peculiar to Cupid. The practice of writing inscriptions on
shields was by no means uncommon among the antients, and the
1 Gruter, xviii. 7-
2 See Museum Marbles, pt. i, pi. 6. Clarac, Musee de Sculpture, pi. 187- Labus,
Museo di Mantova, iii. taw. 43-4. Gall, di Firenze, Ser. iv. vol. 1, pi. 30-1.
3 'Ercpu/Qt St tt)q ukovoq, aXXot tpwreg iruic,ovaiv \v roig uttXoic; rov ' AXe^avSpov'
There are some difficulties in the way of a correct interpretation
of the inscription arising from the abbreviations of the words and
the uncertainty of the proper names. The insertion of the father's
name between the two names of the son, is very unusual, but does
sometimes occur. There is authority for interpreting AVG. N.
DISP. as Augusti nostri dispensator in an inscription published
by Gruter.1 MON may probably be intended for monetae, al-
though no instance of such an expression or such an office has
been actually discovered. The interpretation of NF is more con-
jectural than could be desired, for these letters are not separated
from each other or from the previous word by any stop or mark,
and more resemble NE. The name would then be Cseliane which
is scarcely admissible, and therefore as marks are, in ancient in-
scriptions, very carelessly inserted and omitted, and as upon this
monument in particular it is very difficult to distinguish by its
form an E from F the above interpretation has been hazarded.
The figures carrying armour have been frequently called Genii,
but it is more correct to style them Cupids. They are fre-
quently represented in ancient art thus employed,2 and in his de-
scription of the marriage of Alexander and Roxana as painted
by Aetion, Lucian3 mentions a group of Cupids playing with the
armour of Alexander as part of the composition, and further states
that the artist thus expressed the martial character of the monarch
in typical association with his love for Roxana. The motive of
the monument before us may very possibly have been somewhat
similar. The arrangement of the hair upon the top of the head
is peculiar to Cupid. The practice of writing inscriptions on
shields was by no means uncommon among the antients, and the
1 Gruter, xviii. 7-
2 See Museum Marbles, pt. i, pi. 6. Clarac, Musee de Sculpture, pi. 187- Labus,
Museo di Mantova, iii. taw. 43-4. Gall, di Firenze, Ser. iv. vol. 1, pi. 30-1.
3 'Ercpu/Qt St tt)q ukovoq, aXXot tpwreg iruic,ovaiv \v roig uttXoic; rov ' AXe^avSpov'