VB·12

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	cesii
Reading in original script:
Object:	VB·12 Ornavasso (cup)
Position:	bottom, inside
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	Latin script
Letter height:	0.5–1.1 cm0.197 in <br />0.433 in <br />
Number of letters:	5
Number of words:	1
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:	perhaps Celtic
Meaning:	'of Kesios' (?)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 317 Morandi 2004: 57
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 558 no. 57

Images

Inscription VB·12 and pottery stamp on VB·12 Ornavasso

Commentary

First published in Bianchetti 1895: 68 (no. 6), 283. Examined for LexLep on 20^th April 2024.

Inscribed on the inside bottom of the small vessel, with on one and on the other side of the decorative circle which surrounds the stamp in the centre. The reading as a single word cese (Bianchetti, Kretschmer 1905: 98, Rhŷs 1913: 60) or cesii (Herbig 1906: 195, n. 2, Danielsson 1909: 31, n. 3, Whatmough PID 118, no. 317; uncertain Morandi 2004: 558, no. 57) is found in all publications, though the reason for the arrangement is not evident – the whole sequence would easily have fit if written along the side. If read as one word, cesii is preferable: the two verticals at the end are smaller, as if to indicate that they should be read differently than the two full-length verticals of cursive epsilon (which is also used in VB·18); genitives are overall prevalent in the Latin graffiti from In Persona. For this reason and because the document was found in the same grave as at least one, probably two other inscriptions (VB·13, VB·11), cesii is likely an owner's inscription.

See also Morandi 1999b: 325, no. 16.

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.