DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0216
App. CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS. 547
the grave is erected to one or both of the 6ps\j/avres, the children are
foundlings. Especially clear in this respect is an inscription of Nikomedeia
13CH 1893 p. 5$$, A. Mowinos 'HA.etj £<ov kavrui koX rrj av}j.fiiu> eavTU>
A. Moi)(j(7ta Seou^pa Qiiado-n ([tyj . .] \x?]vas 6 . fiovXopai be km, ttjv 8pi\jfoJLcrav
f])jj.£)V redrjvai A. Movcraiav BaXepiav ko[l /xera to TtBevai (sic !) rpj.a.s prjbeva
aWov redrjvai ktX. Here husband and wife and the lady who brought
them up have a common tomb. Obviously dpe\j/ao-a here can only mean
that the lady brought up the boy and girl as foundlings, for they could
not have married, if they had been her children either by adoption or by
nature. It is noteworthy that they both take her name, which shows
that they were strictly foundlings whose names were unknown.
Salvianus says that a slave kisses the feet, an alumnus the hand, a child
the face, of the paterfamilias or mateifamilias1. A law of 331 left it to the
adoptive parents to treat the alumnus either as son or as slave2. It was
almost a branch of trade to bring up foundlings to sell as slaves or for
immoral purposes. The person who brought up an alumnus was termed
pater, nonmis3, educator, patronus.
The great number of references in Asian inscr. to Ope-rol is the one
reason for thinking that they must often be mere vernae; yet in many
of these cases a distinction is made between Ope-nroi and hovkoi {vernae
would rank among bovXoi). The subject is difficult, but appearances are
that exposure of children was a horribly common practice in Asia Minor:
compare Pliny ad Traj. 65 and 66.
The rare name Asbolos was given to one of the Centaurs, Anthol. Gr.
App. no. 129 &c. Asbolios or Asbolia are found as Chr. names, Le Blant
I pp. 64 f 4. The name probably indicates one whose sins had been black
like soot, and may be taken in this case as the baptismal name of a
convert (cp. no. 3$5)5- The term €TiUXr\v is also a sign of Christianity,
no. 400 6.
This inscr. belongs to a tomb outside the gate on the road to Tripolis.
The document reads at the first glance like an ordinary testamental
1 Ep. XL ad socerum et socrum, quoted 5 Macrina was iv (pavepa to ovopa of
by Le Blant I p. 126, who mentions sis- the sister of Basil of Caesareia : ertpoj/
teen insciiptions of Christians dedicated Se K<na to \eX?;5or ayry eneK£K\r]To Gregor.
by master or mistress to alumni. Vit. Macrin. p. 178 (Morell). In Acta
- Cod. Theod. V 7, 1. Justinian Dig. S. Sozontis 7th Sept. p. 16 the Saint was
25> 3 i Cod. 8, 52, 3. Daremberg s. v. ovupari Tapaaws Tioifii)V npopaTGiv, iv be
Expositio. tcc ayia fiaTTno-pari 2a£a>v eVexX^i;.
3 Nonnus, see Orelli 4670, Marini JVatf. c The following paragraphs follow
Arv. p. 252 B (Le Blant). Nonna, no. 658. closely my words in Expositor 888 VIII
4 But in Ammian XXVIII I, Asbolius pp. 416 ff.
palestrita is probably pagan.
O 2
the grave is erected to one or both of the 6ps\j/avres, the children are
foundlings. Especially clear in this respect is an inscription of Nikomedeia
13CH 1893 p. 5$$, A. Mowinos 'HA.etj £<ov kavrui koX rrj av}j.fiiu> eavTU>
A. Moi)(j(7ta Seou^pa Qiiado-n ([tyj . .] \x?]vas 6 . fiovXopai be km, ttjv 8pi\jfoJLcrav
f])jj.£)V redrjvai A. Movcraiav BaXepiav ko[l /xera to TtBevai (sic !) rpj.a.s prjbeva
aWov redrjvai ktX. Here husband and wife and the lady who brought
them up have a common tomb. Obviously dpe\j/ao-a here can only mean
that the lady brought up the boy and girl as foundlings, for they could
not have married, if they had been her children either by adoption or by
nature. It is noteworthy that they both take her name, which shows
that they were strictly foundlings whose names were unknown.
Salvianus says that a slave kisses the feet, an alumnus the hand, a child
the face, of the paterfamilias or mateifamilias1. A law of 331 left it to the
adoptive parents to treat the alumnus either as son or as slave2. It was
almost a branch of trade to bring up foundlings to sell as slaves or for
immoral purposes. The person who brought up an alumnus was termed
pater, nonmis3, educator, patronus.
The great number of references in Asian inscr. to Ope-rol is the one
reason for thinking that they must often be mere vernae; yet in many
of these cases a distinction is made between Ope-nroi and hovkoi {vernae
would rank among bovXoi). The subject is difficult, but appearances are
that exposure of children was a horribly common practice in Asia Minor:
compare Pliny ad Traj. 65 and 66.
The rare name Asbolos was given to one of the Centaurs, Anthol. Gr.
App. no. 129 &c. Asbolios or Asbolia are found as Chr. names, Le Blant
I pp. 64 f 4. The name probably indicates one whose sins had been black
like soot, and may be taken in this case as the baptismal name of a
convert (cp. no. 3$5)5- The term €TiUXr\v is also a sign of Christianity,
no. 400 6.
This inscr. belongs to a tomb outside the gate on the road to Tripolis.
The document reads at the first glance like an ordinary testamental
1 Ep. XL ad socerum et socrum, quoted 5 Macrina was iv (pavepa to ovopa of
by Le Blant I p. 126, who mentions sis- the sister of Basil of Caesareia : ertpoj/
teen insciiptions of Christians dedicated Se K<na to \eX?;5or ayry eneK£K\r]To Gregor.
by master or mistress to alumni. Vit. Macrin. p. 178 (Morell). In Acta
- Cod. Theod. V 7, 1. Justinian Dig. S. Sozontis 7th Sept. p. 16 the Saint was
25> 3 i Cod. 8, 52, 3. Daremberg s. v. ovupari Tapaaws Tioifii)V npopaTGiv, iv be
Expositio. tcc ayia fiaTTno-pari 2a£a>v eVexX^i;.
3 Nonnus, see Orelli 4670, Marini JVatf. c The following paragraphs follow
Arv. p. 252 B (Le Blant). Nonna, no. 658. closely my words in Expositor 888 VIII
4 But in Ammian XXVIII I, Asbolius pp. 416 ff.
palestrita is probably pagan.
O 2