Monday, February 21, 2011

Agape

EVCHARIS EST MATER PIVS ET PATER EST [
VOS PRECOR O FRATRES ORARE HVC QVANDO VENI[
ET PRECIBVS TOTIS PATREM NATVMQVE ROGATIS
SIT VESTRAE MENTIS AGAPES CARAE MEMINISSE
VT DEVS OMNIPOTENS AGAPEN IN SAECULA SERVET

Eucharis est mater, pius et pater est [mihi Celsus].
Vos precor, O fratres, orare huc quando veni[tis]
et precibus totis Patrem Natumque rogatis:
sit vestrae mentis Agapes carae meminisse,
ut Deus omnipotens Agapen in saecula servet.

Eucharis is my mother, and my dutiful father is [Celsus].
I ask you, O brothers, to pray when you come to this place
and with all your prayers you ask the Father and the Son:
may you keep in mind dear Agape,
so that Almighty God may save Agape forever.


The upper right side of the stone having been lost, the conjecture [mihi Celsus] was added by the German scholar Franz Buchler.

"Agapes" and "Agapen" are Greek genitive and accusative singular forms of the name Agape, meaning "Love", and her mother's name, Eucharis, is also Greek, meaning "Thanksgiving".

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Flaes

Not all Romans were Christian or Pagan.  Here is an epitaph on a marble grave marker from Naples, 4th-5th Century AD.

HIC POSITVS
EST FLAES EBR
EVS

Hic positus 
est Flaes Hebraeus.


Here is buried
Flaes the Hebrew.