The mother of Silvanus
c. 1st–3rd century · Roman Empire · The date is not known exactly; it is put here in the early centuries of the Roman Empire, when most such epitaphs were cut.
Lucius Octavius Silvanus, rest well. Your mother begs you to take her to you. Farewell.
L. Octavi Silvane, bene quiescas. mater tua rogat te ut se ad te recipias. vale.Carmina Latina Epigraphica, supplement, 1892 (CLE 1892)
More from The mother of Silvanus · #loss
In the same thread
Salvidiena Hilara
c. 1st–3rd century · Roman Empire · A stone set up in her own lifetime by Hilara, a freed slave. At its head she calls Faustilla “her darling, taught every accomplishment”. Whether Faustilla was her own daughter or a child she brought up is not known. The date is not known exactly; it is put here in the early centuries of the Roman Empire, when most such epitaphs were cut.
You have left your mamma groaning, beating her breast, weeping. She lived 15 years, 3 months, 11 days, 7 hours. Cruel Fate snatched her away unwed. You have forsaken your poor mamma, my little life.
reliquisti mammam tuam gementem plangentem plorantem. vix(it) an. XV mensib. III dieb. XI hor. VII. virginem eripuit Fatus malus. destituisti, vitilla mea, miseram mammam tuam.Bücheler, Carmina Latina Epigraphica 1570 (CLE 1570)
Irene Εἰρήνη
2nd century · Oxyrhynchus, Roman Egypt · A letter of condolence to Taonnophris and Philo, who had lost one of their family. Apart from the greeting and the date, this is the whole letter.
I was as grieved, and wept as much, over the one who is gone as I wept over Didymas. I did everything that was fitting, and so did all my household, Epaphroditus and Thermouthion and Philion and Apollonius and Plantas. But still, there is nothing anyone can do in the face of such things. So comfort one another.
οὕτως ἐλυπήθην καὶ ἔκλαυσα ἐπὶ τῶι εὐμοίρωι ὡς ἐπὶ Διδυμᾶτος ἔκλαυσα, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἦν καθήκοντα ἐποίησα καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐμοί, Ἐπαφρόδειτος καὶ Θερμούθιον καὶ Φίλιον καὶ Ἀπολλώνιος καὶ Πλαντᾶς. ἀλλʼ ὅμως οὐδὲν δύναταί τις πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα. παρηγορεῖτε οὖν ἑαυτούς.
Oxyrhynchus Papyri I 115 (P.Oxy. I 115)
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us