Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

Salvete,

I am beginning to rebuild my old Templvm Isidis website. I lost several of the old images I had there. If anyone here has images of GRAECO-ROMAN Isis statues, frescos, etc that you would like to share, please notify me!

I am especially on the lookout for a picture of a marble head of Isis which is in the Lourve.

Paulus

Well, I had a bit of unexpected good fortune. Last night while going through some old music cds, I found a backup of my documents from 2004, and there was the old Isis directory. So I found all my old illustrations again!

However, I am still up to increasing the amount of material. If you have pictures you would like to contribute, let me know.

Paulus

Salve, Lupinii Pauli -

I have no pictures or images to offer you, Paule, but I look forward to seeing the site restored.

Vale.

Well, there may be a way you can help...

How would this be rendered as a Roman building inscription?

"Marcus Lupinius Paulus dedicates this to the Lovely Goddess Isis
_________ AUC"?

Salve Paule!

Here is a couple websites with photos and info on the Roman Version of Isis..

http://www.philae.nu/akhet/romanIsis.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RomanIsis/

http://www.roman-empire.net/religion/isis.html

Good photos on here
Yahoo image link


Vale
Silvanus

Ave, Marce Lupinii Paule -

Marcus Lupinius Paulus wrote:Well, there may be a way you can help...

How would this be rendered as a Roman building inscription?

"Marcus Lupinius Paulus dedicates this to the Lovely Goddess Isis
_________ AUC"?

Ego non tam aptus Latina Lingua sum, verum conabor. How about:

M. LVPINIVS PAVLVS DEAE VENUSTAE ISIDI HOC [TEMPLVM] DEDICAVIT ___AVC

Or more compressed:

M. LVPIN. PAVLVS VENUSTAE ISIDI DEAE HOC DED. ___AVC.

Time to call for the Latin Inquisition again! I bet they could whip this into shape.

Vale bene.

Silvanus, thanks for posting these. I had already found all of them, except for the last. Flickr. Those ARE some excellent pictures there. I will email the photographer this weekend and ask permission to utilize these on the site.

Iohannes, thanks for the translation. I'll probably go with the shorter one. Didn't Romans tend to abbreviate a good bit in their building inscriptions?

Salve, mi Paulle!

Ita, with inscriptions there were certain conventions followed and abbreviations commonly used. While I'm no Latin expert (is anybody??), I do read a hell of a lot of inscriptions, mostly military, some not. Here's yours. >({|:-)

Ordinarily, the name of the deity comes first, so you'd start with

DEAE ISIDI M LVPIN PAVLVS... (To the Goddess Isis, M Lupinius Paullus [verb])

For formality's sake, you'd definitely want to use the V-as-U. Some inscriptions abbreviate the gens-name, some don't. Cognomen is almost always written out in full.

The verb that comes next really depends on how you're approaching the building or dedication of the temple. The differences mostly have to do with the dedicator's intent and frame of mind. Some possibilities:

...DAT (gives it to)
...DEDIT (gave it to)
...DESIGNATVS (designate/designated it/it is designated)
...FECIT (built it/did it)
...FAC (had it built/had it done)
...CVR (curavit [took care of it, made sure it got done])
...POSVIT (set it up)
...REST (restituit [restored it])
...V S L L M (votum solvit [fulfilled his vow] laetus, libens, merito [gladly, willingly, and deservedly]) ..any combination of the latter three

Except where noted, these are whole words. If none of them quite fits, I'll try to find something suitable!


In fide,

Salvete, omnes -

Marii, that's a great explanation - it's practically a handbook. Trying to figure out inscriptions was one of the things that stymied me most mightily when I first attended the fora here.

Can we put that into the Collegia of the sodalitas, as a reference item?

(Now's the part where you tell me we already have a guide to inscription abbreviation there!)

Valete.

Salve, mi Paule,

> (Now's the part where you tell me we already have a guide to inscription abbreviation there!)

Na, actually...we don't!!

Anyone want to take a crack at it, or at running the site long enough for me to do the topic justice? >({|:-)

In fide,

Thanks for the suggestions! This is what I have chosen, if it looks
authentic or grammatically correct to you. What do you think?

DEAE VENUSTAE ISIDI M LVPIN PAVLVS DEDIT MMCCLXI AVC


Good?

Paulus