Friday, September 23, 2016

Apuleia Crysopolis













APVLEIA
CRYSOPOLIS
QUAEVIXITANNIS VII
MES II PARENTESKARISSIME
FILIAEFECENRUNT

Apuleia
Chrysopolis
Quae vixit annis VII
M[ens]es II  Parentes carissimae
filiae fecerunt.

Apuliea  Crysopolis, who lived for seven years, two months.
[Her] parents made [this marker] for [their] dearest daughter.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Cornerstone from St. Brigid's Church, Ottowa, Ontario

[LEO]NE XIII PONT. MAX. GLORIOSE REGANTE
LAPIS ISTE ANGULARIS
SOLEMNITER COLLOCATUS EST
AB ILL[USTRISSI]MO ET R[EVERNDISSI]MO J.T. DUHAMEL
OTTOWAIEN. ARCHIEPISCOPO.
IN HONOREM SANCTAE BRIDGITTAE
TERTIO NONAS MAII. MDCCCLXXXIX

Leone XIII Pontifice Maximo gloriose regante,
Lapis iste angularis
solemniter collocatus est
ab illustrissimo et reverendissimo J.T. Duhamel,
Ottowaien(sis) Archiepiscopo
in honorem Sanctae Bridgittae
Tertio nonas Maii MDCCCLXXXIX.

While Leo XIII, Pontifex Maximus was gloriously reigning,
this corner stone
was solemnly placed
by the most illustrious and reverend J(oseph).T(homas). Duhamel,
Archbishop of Ottawa
in honor of St. Bridgid
on the third day before the Nones of May 1889 (May 5)

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Lucius Annaius Firmius

From the Ashmolean collection at Oxford. First or Second century AD.


d(is) m(anibus) / L(ucio) Annaio Firm(—) / vixit annis V / m(ensibus) II . d(iebus) VI . h(oris) VI / qui natus est / nonis Iuliis / defunctus / est IIII idus / Septembres / Annaia Feru-/sa vernae su-/o karissimo

To the spirits of the dead. For Lucius Annaius Firm(ius?), who lived 5 years, 2 months, 6 days, 6 hours, who was born on the 7th July and died on the 10th September. Annaia Ferusa set this up for her dearest household slave

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Cornerstone of the Theolgical Hall at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

Something different - a modern stone with a Latin inscription


HVNC LAPIDEM
VIR NOBILISSIMVS
LORNAE MARCHIO PRAESES CANADAE
POSVIT
A.D III KAL. JVN. MDCCCLXXIX

This Stone
the most noble man
the Marquis of Lorna, President of Canada
placed
on the third day before the Kalends of June (May 30), 1879

Several curious things:  I can't find any reference to either:  Lorna, a Marquis of Lorna, or a Praeses Canadae.  At first I thought "Lornae Marchio" was a name, but could not find any reference to anything remotely like it.  I also thought there wasn't a President of Canada, unless "Praeses" refers to something more like "Governor General"?

Here's a picture from the other side of the doorway that gives some clues:


HUNC LAPIDEM
ILLVSTRISSIMA PRINCIPISSA LOVISA
LORNAE MARCHESSA
POSVIT
A.D III KAL. JVN. MDCCCLXXIX

This stone
the most illustrious Princess Louisa
Marquessa of Lorna
placed
on the third day before the Kalends of June (May 30), 1879

From this I deduced that "Marchio" must be the masculine form of "Marchessa", and the Princess Louise is probably Louise, Princess Royal (1867-1931), the 3rd child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII, wife of Alexander Duff, the 6th Earl of Fife.

I'm guessing that "Lorna" is Latin for some part of Scotland, but I'm still not sure what "Praeses Canadae" might signify.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Medieval Lead Amulet from Central Germany

A lead amulet found in 1928 Swanscombe Börde district (Germany) during an excavation in advance of construction work on the Mittelland Canal on the site of the former Hildagsburg in Elbeu, municipality of Wolmirstedt. It comes from a child's grave near the former castle chapel. Due to its location on the neck, the excavation Director Hans Dunker classified it as an amulet.

The fortress itself was burnt down in 1129 by Albert the Bear as a result of family conflict. The Church seems to have suffered some damage, but not irreparable, and remained in use - maybe with interruptions. In any case, pilgrims still visited this site in the 13th and 14th centuries, but the Chapel has not existed since the middle of the 16th century.
 
The lead tablet is corroded in several places so that readability is heavily impaired. Moreover, the typeface has been distorted and furrowed by folding, so that the reading of individual words in the lower section is uncertain. However, with the help of electronic microscopes and grazing light shots the following decoding was managed. The problematic passages with question marks are marked in the now proposed transcription. The text is the beginning of the Gospel of John, plus a spell/curse/prayer.
 
1  + In PiNrCiPIo erAT uerbum & uerbum
2  + erat apud deu[m] et d[eu]S eArAt uerbum hoc
3  [era]T In PriniciPio APud deum omnia P[er] ipsum
4  FACTA snut et sine // circular character // ip[s]um factum
5  est nichil In nomine //  circular character // PATris eT filii
6  eT sPiriuTus scs amen (?) ...//  circular character // … Satis sit me esse(?) …
7  hAc dum tirono(?)...
8  inAculo sancte crucis    ecce cirucem
9  domi[n]i (?)  + [fug]ite P[arte]s
10                               [adversariae]… 
Abb. 1: Die Außenseite des Bleitäfelchens aus Elbeu mit den beiden apotropäischen (Unheil abwehrenden) Zeichen A/Alpha (oben) und Ω/Omega (unten), die bei der ursprünglichen Faltung des Täfelchens auf seinen Seitenflächen sichtbar waren. Deutlich sind die Spuren dieser Faltung zu erkennen.

1 + In the beginning was the Word and the Word
2 + was with God, and the Word was God.
3 He was in the beginning with God. All things through Him
4 were made and without / / circular character / / Him made
5 was nothing. In the name of / / circular character / / of the Father and of the Son
6 of the Holy Spirit Amen / / circular character / /  May it be enough that I was(?)
7 here as long as the (?) recruit(?)... [In the]
8 Characters of the Holy Cross... Behold the Cross
9 of the Lord + [flee]
10 [hostile powers]...

When folded, the the two outer surfaces have the Greek letters Alpha:

Abb. 4: Der Buchstabe A (Alpha) auf der Außenseite des Bleitäfelchens.
and Omega (with a Cross drawn over the Omega).

Abb. 5: Der Buchstabe Ω (Omega) auf der Außenseite des Bleitäfelchens.








Saturday, February 4, 2012

Annobal Rufus




IMP CAESARE DIVI F AVG PONT MAX TR POT XXIV COS XIII PATRE PATR
ANNOBAL RVFVS ORNATOR PATRIAE AMATOR CONCORDIAE

FLAMEN SUFES PRAEF SACR HIMILCHONIS TAPAPI F D S P FAC COER
IDEMQ DEDICAVIT (Punic text)

Imp(eratore) Caesare Diui f(ilio) Aug(usto) pont(ifice) max(imo) tr(ibunicia) pot(estate) XXIV co(n)s(ule) XIII patre patr(iae)
Annobal Rufus ornator patriae amator concordiae
flamen sufes praef(ectus) sacr(orum) Himilchonis Tapapi f(ilius) d(e) s(ua) p(ecunia) fac(iendum) coer(auit)
idemq(ue) dedicauit

When Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of the deified (Caesar), chief priest, (was) holding tribunician power for the twenty-fourth time, consul for the thirteenth, father of the country, Annobal Rufus, adorner of his country, lover of concord, flamen, sufete, in charge of sacred things, son of Himilcho Tapapius, saw to the construction at his own expense and also dedicated it. 

This inscription is from Leptis Magna in what is today western Libya, on the coast 130 miles east of Tripoli. It is significant, of course, because of the Punic language text that appears after the Latin text.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Outside the Pantheon

A dedicatory stone erected in Rome in 1270 A.D.
Outside of the Pantheon

I(n) n(omi)n(e) D(omi)ni am(en). Anno na-
tivitatis eiusdem M° C-
C° LXX° indictione XIII
me(n)se iunii die s(e)c(un)da apo-
stolica sede vacant-
e t(em)p(o)r(e) d(omi)ni Pandulphi d-
e Sebura archip(res)b(ite)ri ec-
clesie s(an)c(t)e Marie Rot-
unde et p(res)b(ite)ri Petri p(res)b-
(ite)ri Deodati Petri Barç-
ellone Romani Iaco-
bi Romani Petri Corr-
adi Pauli Ioh(ann)is Petri
et Tebaldi de Alp(er)inis
eiusdem eccl(es)ie cl(er)icis
facte fuerunt nole
et nolarium

Here is your hosts' humble conjecture:

In the Name of the Lord, Amen. In the year of
the His birth 1270, in the 13th indiction
on the 2nd day of the month of June,
the Apostolic See being vacant, in the time of Master Pandulph
of Sebura the archpriest of
the church of Santa Maria Rotunda
and the priest Peter and
priests Deodatus, Peter of Barcelona, the Roman
Jacob, the Roman Peter Corradus, Paul, John, Peter
and Tebaldus of Alperinis,
clerics of the same church,
made the bells and the bell tower.


Something I had been completely unaware of - indiction.

Regarding "indiction"  from Wikipedia:

An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West. Each year of a cycle was numbered: first indiction, second indiction, etc. However, the cycles were not numbered, thus other information is needed to identify the specific year. When the term began to be used, it referred only to the full cycle, and individual years were referred to as being Year 1 of the indiction, Year 2 of the indiction, etc. But usage changed, and it gradually became common to talk of the 1st indiction, the 2nd indiction, and so on. Indictions originally referred to the periodic reassessment for an agricultural or land tax in late third-century Roman Egypt. .... The indiction was first used to date documents unrelated to tax collection in the mid-fourth century. By the late fourth century it was being used to date documents throughout the Mediterranean. In the Eastern Roman Empire outside of Egypt, the first day of its year was September 23, the birthday of Augustus. During the last half of the fifth century, probably 462, this shifted to September 1, where it remained throughout the rest of the Byzantine Empire. In 537 Justinian decreed that all dates must include the indiction via Novella 47, which eventually caused the Byzantine year to begin on September 1. But in the western Mediterranean, its first day was September 24 according to Bede, or the following December 25 or January 1, called the papal indiction. An indictio Senensis beginning September 8 is sometimes mentioned.