VB·13

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	p : pusionis
Reading in original script:
Object:	VB·13 Ornavasso (cup)
Position:	foot, outside
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	Latin script
Letter height:	0.9–2 cm0.354 in <br />0.787 in <br />
Number of letters:	9
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Roman imperial period [from object]
Date of inscription:	second half of 1st c. AD [from object]
Type:	prob. mark of possessor
Language:	Latin
Meaning:	'of P. Pusio' (?)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 315 Morandi 2004: 57 bis
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 559 no. 57 bis

Images

Inscription VB·13

Commentary

First published in Bianchetti 1895: 69 (no. 13), 283. Examined for LexLep on 20^th April 2024.

Inscribed in a straight line on the foot of the cup (length 5.4 cm); the glaze along the incised lines is abraded, but the reading is unambiguous. Since pusionis in this Latin inscription is hardly a patronymic genitive, the most plausible interpretation of the form is as a cognomen in the genitive: 'of Publius Pusio'; the inscription would thus be an owner's, as likely for the majority of inscriptions from In Persona, e.g. VB·11 and VB·12 found in the same grave. Neither name is etymologically Celtic.

A lopsided chevron is incised on the inside wall below the rim, and (unless it is just damage) also on the foot below the inscription ().

See also Kretschmer 1905: 98, Danielsson 1909: 31, n. 3, Rhŷs 1913: 60, Piana Agostinetti 1972: ???, Piana Agostinetti 1997–1999 I. 69, 283, tav. XII, 25, 27, II: 140, III: 405, in IV Morandi 1999b: 326, no. 17.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Bianchetti 1895	Enrico Bianchetti, I sepolcreti di Ornavasso [= Atti della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti della provincia di Torino 6], Torino: Paravia 1895.
Danielsson 1909	Olof August Danielsson, Zu den venetischen und lepontischen Inschriften [= Skrifter utgivna av Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 13.1], Uppsala – Leipzig: 1909.