VB·29 Stresa

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Object
Classification:	stela
Material:	stone
Size:	height 122 cm, width 47–50.5 cm, thickness 2–5.5 cm
Condition:	complete
Autopsy by:	Corinna Salomon
Date of autopsy:	Apr 20 2024
Archaeological culture:	Augustan, Tiberian
Date:	late 1st c. BC–early 1st c. AD
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Stresa (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piemonte, Italy)
Field name:	Levo
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 53' 2.87" N, 8° 30' 27.10" E
Find date:	1887
Find circumstances:	construction work
Current location:	Oratorio dei S.S. Giacomo e Filippo (Levo)
Inscription:	VB·29 (ueca/atbiti/f)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): note xvii (b) Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 18a Morandi 2004: 72
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 568 no. 72

Images

Stela VB·29 Stresa with inscription VB·29

Commentary

Rectangular mica schist stela; see Levo for the find circumstances and context. A horizontal line at ca. 40 cm from the lower end indicates the point up to which the stela was to be buried. It is displayed in the open vestibule of the church. The shape of the stone is similar to that of one of the epichoric stelae from Levo (VB·26 Stresa) and the Zoverallo stela. The gravestones from the Verbano cannot be marshalled into a clear chronological order, as factors like stone shape, frames, writing direction, letter forms and language/text formula appear in almost free combination; cf. Mainardis 2009: 337 f., who points out that one stonemason/workshop would be able to produce stelae according to more traditional or modern tastes all dating to roughly the same time. The present document is dated to the middle of the 1^st c. BC by Morandi; we prefer to date the Roman stelae from the Verbano to the late 1^st c. BC or early 1^st c. AD (cf. Cerrione and the gravestone from Bee (Lanza & Poletti Ecclesia 2021) dated to the early 1^st c. AD).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Caramella & De Giuli 1993	Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Antiquarium Mergozzo 1993.