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IV.—Observations on an Inscription on an Olla in the Disney Collection of Marbles in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
Extract
The inscription on the olla of Accia Tullia in the Disney Collection at Cambridge will be in the recollection of the Fellows, their attention having been specially called to it on December 5th, 1867, by the Rev. H. M. Scarth, who on that evening submitted to the Society an interpretation emanating from the Rev. Dr. McCaul, the learned author of a work upon the epigraphy of Roman Britain.
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- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1871
References
page 56 note a Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2 S. iv. 26, et seqq.
page 56 note b So an olla in the British Museum is inscribed “Flaviæ Valentinæ.” (See Engravings from the ancient marbles in the B. M. page 26, plate 7, f. 2.)
page 57 note a See the Index Notarum to Gruter and to Orelli. A similar index to Henzen's Supplement to the latter gives the same explanation. B. M. F. (ibid.) means “bene merenti fecit.” Pistolesi in his Siglarium (Il Vaticano, iii. 122 in note,) renders B. F. by benefactum also. See Gerrard's Siglarium also.
page 57 note b The Deus Sol Mithras of the inscriptions. (Orelli, 1911 A, 1913Google Scholar.)
page 57 note c Paulus, lib. v. Sent. tit. De sepulchris et lugendis. “Qui corpus perpetuæ sepulture traditum, vel ad tempus alicui loco commendatum, nudaverit, et solis radiis ostenderit, piaculum committit.” As to the sacrifice, see Godefroye's note to ix. Cod. Theod. tit. xvii. p. 2.
page 57 note d Muratori, 26, 3. Guasco, 56, quoted by Henzen in Annali del Instituto Rom. N.S., ix. 304:—“Sol tibi commendo qui manus intulit ei.” “Quisquis ei læsit aut nocuit Severæ immerenti Domine Sol tibi commendo, indices ejus mortem.” (Muratori, 26. 2; Guasco, 55 ; Orelli, vol. ii. 4792; quoted also by Henzen in his paper.)
page 58 note a At the same time, in spite of the indignation expressed by some of the Fathers, there would seem to have been some approximation in feeling between this Pagan sect and the Christians. We shall see (post, in note) that the Mithraicists said that their god was a Christian. On the other side the Christians employed the gammadion as a symbol of the cross (“Une forme dissimulée,” says Martigny, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Chrêtiennes, sub voce Croix), while there can be no doubt that this sign is Mithraic; see Brace's, Roman Wall, 3rd edition, p. 263Google Scholar, where it occurs between two Mithraic panes. Perhaps the cause of all this was the constant tradition in the Catholic Church that the wise men who came from the East to Jerusalem were magi or priests of Mithras (see Martigny sub voce Mage); and thus, as from the beginning Mithraicism was attracted towards Christianity, the general Christian body may have regarded this form of Paganism with some feeling of indulgence or toleration.
page 58 note b See Julius Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum, 4. “Μίθραν νομίζουσιν οἱ Πέρσαι εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τούτῳ θύουσι πολλὰς θυσίας.Οὐκ ἄν οὖν εἰς αὐτὸν δυνήσαιτό τις τελεσθῆναι, εἰ μὴ διὰ τινῶν βαθμῶν παρελθὼν τῶν κολασέων, δείξει ἑαυτὸν ὅσιον καὶ ἀπαθῆ.” Suidas, sub voce Mithras. See also the expression used by Himerius the Sophist, “βίον τὸν κρείττονα.” (Orat. vii. 9.) In Orelli (2516) is a dedication, “ob gradum Persicum.” Tertullian, De prescriptionibus adversus hæreticos xi.: “Sed quæritur, a quo intellectus interpretetur, eorum quæ ad hæreses faciant ? A diabolo scilicet, cujus sunt partes intervertendi veritatem, qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum, in idolorum mysteriis æmulatur. Tingit et ipse quosdarn utique credentes et fideles suos. Expiationem delictorum de lavaoro repromittit, et sic adhuc initiat Mithræ. Signat illic in frontibus milites suos, celebrat et panis oblationem, et imaginem resurrectionis inducit, et sub gladio redimit coronam.” Idem, De corona militis: “Erubescite Komani commilitones ejus, jam non ab ipso judicandi, sed ab aliquo Mithræ milite. Qui quum initiatur in spelæo, in castris vere tenebrarum, coronam interposito gladio sibi oblatam quasi mimum martyrii, dehinc capiti suo accomodatam, monetur obvia manu a capite depellere., et in humerum si forte transferre, dicens Mithram esse coronam suam: atque exinde nunquam coronatur, id quod in signum habet ad probationem sui, sicubi tentatus fuerit de Sacramento, statimque creditur Mithræ miles, si dejecerit coronam, si eam in deo suo esse dixerit.”
page 58 note c The enlightened spiritual state of the worshipper after initiation is described by Himerius the Sophist, who had the honour of being initiated with Julian the Emperor (Orat. vii. 2, p. 60, of Didot's edition), in a speech made by him at Constantinople upon the occasion of a temple being erected to Mithras by the Emperor in that city. He says (ibid. 9) in laudatory reference to Julian: “—ἀλλ' ὁτι τοῦτο μεν αὐτὸς τὸν κωλύοντα ζόφον ἀνατείνειν χεῖρας εἰς Ἥλιον ἀρετῇ καθήρας, εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέπειν οἷον ἐκ ταρτάρου τινὸς καὶ ἀλαμποῦς βίου δεδώρηται, τεμένη μὲν ἐγείρων θεοῖς, τελετὰς δὲ θείας καθιδρύων τῇ πόλει ξένας,—” Justin Martyr, Pro Christianis Apologia, 11: “ὁπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Μίθρα μυστηρίοις παρέδωκαν γίνεσθαι μιμησάμενοι οὁ πονηονεοι οἱ πονηροὶ δαίμονες, ὅτι γὰρ ἅρτος καὶ ποτήριον ὕδατος τίθεται ἐν τοῖς τοῦ μυουμένου τελεταῖς μετ' ἐπιλόγων τινῶν, ἤ ἐπίστασθε ἤ μαθεῖν δύνασθε.” The following strange observation of St. Augustine completes the approximation (Expositionis in Evang. Johannis tractatus vii., c. 1) : “usque adeo ut ego noverim aliquo tempore illius pileati sacerdotem solere dicere, et ipse pileatus Christianus est.”
page 60 note a “Quid docuit sub terra quærere solem,
Cum sibi forte pyrum fossor de rure dolasset,
Diceretque esse deum comitem, Bacchique magistrum.”
I have taken these verses from an anonymous poem of the fourth century, published by M. Léopold Delisle in the Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes (6e serie, tom. 111, p. 297). I can find nothing in Nonnus to explain the meaning of the words “Bacchi magister.”
page 60 note b See ante, page 3, note b.
page 60 note c An epigram by Dioscorides shows the Persian custom :—
“Εὐφράτην μὴ καῖε, Φιλώνυμε, μηδὲ μιήνῃς
πῦρ ἐπ' ἐμοί. Πέρσης εἰμὶ καὶ ἐκ πατέρων,
Πέρσης αὐθιγενής, ναὶ δέσποτα πῦρ δὲ μιῆναι
ἡμὶν τοῦ χαλεποῦ πικρότερον θανάτου.
ἀλλὰ περιστείλας με δίδου χθονί μηδ' ἐπὶ νεκρῷ
λουτρὰ χέῃς σέβομαι, δέσποτα, καὶ ποτάμους.”
(Tauchnitz's edition, vol. i. p. 258.)
page 60 note d Muratori, mcmxc. 4. “Δυσσεβὲς ἀπέσχου, λύσιοι κόνιν ὁρῶσι.” These words deserve a commentary.
page 61 note a Gauthier's edition, c. 1.
page 61 note b Orelli, 2354.
page 61 note c Grüter, 1102. 2. Orelli, No. 2553. See Muratori, ccclx. 4, “pater sive pontifex Dei Solis,” “pater sacrorum invicti Mithræ” (ibid, ccclxxxvii. 2). Eunapius (Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, Didot's edition, p 476) says, “πατὴρ τῆς Μιθριακῆς τελετῆς.” So in Orelli (2550), “pater et sacerdos.” Other functionaries in this worship were “pater patrum,” “pater leonum” (Orelli 1955, 2552, 6042. b.). Paulina uses the expression “imbuor:” for an analogous word see Orelli, 6041, “delibutus mysteriis sacratissimis.”
page 61 note d Rev. Archéologique, N.S. xvii. 292. Pl. VIII.
page 62 note a Orelli, 4737. “Positus propter viam ut dicant prætereuntes, Lolli ave.” This is part of an inscription upon T. Lollius Masculus. So also an inscription in Muratori (dccclxxvi, 2.) : “Benefacit tibi, viator, qui me non præteriisti legendo.”