Little question about the tombstone of Marcus Caelius

[L C Cinna]

Hi!

I took a look at the tombstone of the centurio Marcus Caelius at the imagebase because I needed to translate it for a seminar this week and my copy was rather bad so I couldn't read the names of his servants.
Anyway I noticed that the translation on the page is

"To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the voting tribe Lemonia, from Bononia, first centurion of the eighteenth legion."

for

"M(arco) Caelio T(iti) f(ilio) Lem(onia) Bon(onia) //
|(centurioni) leg(ionis) XIIX "

Now I wondered where the translator got " first centurion" from. The latin transcription on the page gives the word "centurioni" (I mean that part is missing except for the last letter which is an "O")
SO I don't know which abreviation would be used for "centurioni" but I guess not CO? So could the missing part be PO or something like that for "primo ordini" and the latin trascription on the page is wrong?
Please can anyone help me.

2nd question>

He's wearing one corona civica right? or is he wearing more things on his head? it looks somehow like several crowns to me :? ?

[D B Campbell]

The inscription is broken at the beginning of the second line.
The apparent reverse C (for "centurioni") can also be interpreted as the remains of [ I ] O -- "[(primo)] o(rdini)", meaning "one of the primi ordines".

You pays your money and you takes your choice ...

P.S. Yes, he's wearing the corona civica, although Maxfield (Military Decorations, p. 187f.) suggested that he might also have had a crown which is more appropriate to a centurion -- e.g. the corona aurea -- but his heirs chose to depict him with the more significant corona civica.

P.P.S. His freedmen are called M. Caelius Privatus and M. Caelius Thiaminus.

[L C Cinna]

thank you very much

P.S. Sent you a PM

[Uwe Bahr]

Avete,

I have an additional question about the stone. What are the two pieces on his shoulders that look like lion-foreheads. Are they part of the funeral background of the stone or shall they represent some kind of Caelius' equipment?

Greets - Uwe

[L C Cinna]

Maybe it's his 2 favorite tamed ferrets? :wink:

[Praefectusclassis]

LOL! I never noticed those before. Perhaps they are extra phalera?

[Cornelius Quintus]

Ave omnes,

decoration of a backrest? If he hasn't had very feminine broad hips, it looks like he is sitting on something.

[Antonius Lucretius]

My thanks to Cornelius Quintus for the little lion's heads explanation. The top of a decorated backrest is the most rational explanation since our man is indeed shown sitting down.