02-14-2012, 02:14 PM
Quote:Just out of interest, how definite is the use, or not, of Dis Manibus in dating tombstones? I had believed it was almost universally 2nd century and later, but was surprised to see it on the Neronian tombstone of Classicianus in London (CIL 07, 00030).I think we need to buy you an RIB for your birthday ;-) You answered yourself in your own question, I think. It's one of those hard-and-fast rules epigraphers come up with that actually is susceptible to regional/cultural variations. DM I was always told comes in big-time in the Flavian period (this can be seen amongst the tombstones of legionary bases with rapidly changing garrisons) but since our man Classicianus only arrives in Britain in the 60s, you might argue that that is sufficiently close to the Flavian period to be acceptable. Never heard DM described as 'universally 2nd century', I must say
hock: I am no epigrapher (although I have served my time making squeezes of milestone inscriptions in remote Arabian oases!) so you might like to take everything I say with a pinch of salt... but then that applies to everything I say!!Mike Bishop
