CIMRM 369 - Altar mentioning Arimanius and Pater Patrum. Rome
According to the quotation, presumably from the CIL, this item is an altar, found at the base of the Esquiline in 1655 and in the Vatican Museum.
The monument is in the Vatican Museum, in the Galleria Lapidaria, where it is number 78. It is described by Amelung as "a three-sided base, consecrated to the Deus Arimanius by an Agrestius, V. C. H. 0.95 m, Br. 0.45 m., each side 0.35 m. Fine-grained yellowish marble. Slightly worn edges. An Attic column base, trimmed on three sides. The inscription is on the wider side. There is a large dowel hole, with mortar, on the top.1
The "vir clarissimus" who dedicates it, Agrestius, dates to the end of the 4th century A.D.2 It is unclear why a man of that high social rank is only referred to by a single name.3
CIMRM entry
ROMA (Reg. V) 369.
"Ara triangularis marmorea qua basis rotunda sustinetur." Mus. Vaticano, Gall. Lap.
Inventa anno 1655 ad radices Esquiliarum.
On. the base we see traces, where a statue had been attached. Furthermore the inscription:
CIL VI 47; MMM II No. 27.
D(eo) Arimanio / Agrestius v(ir) c(larissimus) / defensor / magister et / pater patrum / voti c(ompos) d(at).
| 1 | Walther Amelung, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums (Braccio Nuovo. Galleria Lapidaria. Museo Chiaramonti. Giardino della Pigna. Belvedere. Sala degli Animali. Galleria delle Statue. Sala de' Busti. Gabinetto delle Maschere. Loggia Scoperta): Band I, Text. Band II, Text. De Gruyter, 1995. p.225: "Abteilung XIX. 78. Dreiseitige Basis, dem Deus Arimanius von einem Agrestius V.C. geweiht. H. 0,95 m., Br. 0,45 m., die der anderen Seiten 0, 35 m. Feinkörniger gelblicher Marmor. Bestossen die Kanten. Über einem hohen, dreieckigen, nach oben etwas verjüngten Schaft eine attische Basis, deren unter Torus an den drei Seiten des Schaftes abgeschnitten ist, und in deren Oberfläche l. ein grosses Dübelloch mit Mörtel ausgegossen ist. Auf der breiteren Seite des dreieckigen Schaftes der Inschrift. CIL VI 47; Steuding bei Roscher Mythologisches Lexikon I Sp. 546; Cumont bei Pauly-Wissowa Real-Encyclopädie II Sp. 825." |
| 2 | R. Merkelbach, Mithras, 1994, p.104, n.16. Preview here. End of the 4th century A.D., see Herz, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 49 (1982) p.221. (On JSTOR) |
| 3 | A. B. Griffith, "Mithraism in the private and public lives of 4th-c. senators in Rome", Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies 1 online here, p.19, n.74: "CIL VI.47=CIMRM 369=TMMM 2.27. I am at a loss to explain the lack of the tria nomina here. Bloch, op. cit. (n.36) did not include "Agrestius" on his chart of viri clarissimi. P. Herz, "Agrestius v(ir) c(larissimus)," ZPE 49 (1982) 221-24 convincingly established a terminus post quem of 364 for Agrestius but offered no thoughts on his name." |
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