15. A Recycled Inscription
Side A: ‘To the departed Spirits. To Marcus Servilius Gemellus, who lived 9 years, 2 months and 27 days. Stephanus and Fortunata, [his] parents, set this up for their most dutiful son, and for themselves, and for their descendants.’
D(is) M(anibus) | M(arco) Servilio Gemello | Vixit Annis VIIII M(enses) II D(ies) XXVII | Fecerunt Parentes Stephanus | et Fortunata Filio Piissimo | Sibi et Posterisq(ue) Eorum
Side B:‘To the Departed Spirits. To Antonia Saturnina. Sempronia Epictesis set this up for her house-born slave, and for her freedmen and freedwomen, and for their descendants.’
D(is) M(anibus) | Antoniae Saturnina[e] | Sempronia Epictesis | Fecit Vernae Suae | Lib(ertis) Libertabus | Posterisq(ue) Eorum
Once part of the Lowther Castle collection, this two-sided memorial has an inscription on both sides. On one side, outlined in black pigment, is the memorial for Marcus Servilius Gemellus. The lettering is fairly regular, although the fourth line runs into the border. This was the side on display in Lowther Castle when the inscription was included in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
Marcus Servilius Gemellus was just over nine years old when he died. His parents, possibly slaves as they only list their cognomina, set up the memorial for their son. Gemellus possessed Roman citizenship, as indicated by his tria nomina, but he may have been a freedman, manumitted at an early age, rather than a freeborn Roman citizen.
On the reverse side, and now upside down, is preserved an inscription for Antonia Saturnina. This side of the funerary memorial was never visible at Lowther Castle and was not published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Unfortunately we do not know the circumstances which led to the recycling of this inscription.
Antonia Saturnina was born and raised as a slave in the household of Sempronia Epictesis, indicated by the term verna. Sempronia dedicated the memorial not only to Antonia, but also to other freedmen and women in her familia