{"id":334,"date":"2020-02-09T20:45:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T20:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/?p=334"},"modified":"2021-02-15T21:53:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:53:43","slug":"love-of-the-muses-and-the-graces-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/2020\/02\/09\/love-of-the-muses-and-the-graces-delight\/","title":{"rendered":"Love of the Muses and the Graces’ Delight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unlike other geographical contexts, the Roman province of Noricum<\/a> has not (yet) yielded a rich harvest of locally produced poetry: a quick search of the evidence in the Clauss – Slaby epigraphical database<\/a> produces a mere six items (as of February 8th, 2020), one of which (CIL <\/em>III 5695 = 11827 = CLE <\/em>568; cf. Lupa <\/em>1693<\/a>) does not even belong into this category, as it was found in Starse and thus belongs to the neighbouring province of Pannonia, not Noricum (where it is now kept, however).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 1: Noricum in the Roman Empire (image source here<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That said, the handful of texts that have thus far been identified as Latin verse inscriptions from Noricum, are by all means remarkable \u2013 ranging from an Epicurean-like motto on a vessel (CIL <\/em>III 12013.03 = ILS <\/em>8607) to the early Christian monument for Ursa (CIL <\/em>III 13529 = CLE <\/em>1992; cf. Lupa <\/em>4525<\/a>) with its beautiful expressions of love and a remarkable hotchpotch of Christian and pagan imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piece that has intrigued me the most, however, is the epitaph for one Erasina, discovered near Maria Saal<\/a>, the place that is closest to Noricum’s one-time provincial capital Virunum<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inscription in question, datable to the late second century A. D., publicly accessible and on permanent display, is inserted in the wall of a small chapel<\/a> adjacent to a small palace in the village of M\u00f6derndorf<\/a>, north of Maria Saal (CIL <\/em>III 4910 = CLE<\/em> 453; cf. Lupa <\/em>860<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 2: Erasina’s epitaph (photo: Peter Kruschwitz, February 2020)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The monument with its carefully executed, now rather battered sculptural element of a girl with a pearl necklace, wearing an overcoat, exhibits an inscription of eight lines, to which a ninth (= first) line d(is) M(anibus) <\/em>(‘to the Spirits of the Departed) has been added subsequently in a modern script. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following autopsy of the object I suspect that the inscription did indeed once exhibit those letters, not where they are written now, but above, to the left and right of, the niche that displays the deceased’s effigy: I believe that faint traces of these two letters are still visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, the main text of this inscription reads as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non grauis
hic texit tumu-
lus te, Punica
uirgo,
Musarum amor
et Charitum,
Erasina, uolup-
tas an(norum) XII.<\/em>

A burial mount, not heavy, covers you here, Punic maiden, love of the Muses and, Erasina, the Graces’ delight, aged 12.<\/p>(CIL <\/em>III 4910 = CLE <\/em>453; translation: Peter Kruschwitz)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There are many aspects that merit in-depth consideration when it comes to this wonderful piece \u2013 from the question of how and why a young girl from Carthage or its surroundings<\/a> (if one is to take Punica <\/em>literally) ended up far away from home in the region Carinthia<\/a>, to the question of why she was so lavishly commemorated, to the question of who is behind this memorial, as a twelve-year-old Punic girl in this area, commemorated in this way, will, most likely, have been displaced against her own volition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aspect that fascinates me the most about this piece, however, and this is the reason why it kicks off our occasional blog (which in the future will present you with updates on our work), is the phrase Musarum amor | et Charitum | (…) uolup|tas<\/em> (‘love of the Muses and (…) the Graces’ delight’).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The phrase extols Erasina’s musical talent related to song, poetry, and dance, and, even though the text does not explicitly say so, it seems entirely reasonable to assume that Erasina was training \u2013 with some success \u2013 to become a public performer: the powers that inspire and foster beauty, grace, and harmony had smiled on her, and this is what she was to be remembered for, in a text that prominently draws attention to Erasina’s foreignness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the reason why Erasina had been brought to Noricum was to perform, or to train to eventually perform, in Virunum’s theatre<\/a> \u2013 the only one that has been discovered in all of Noricum so far, datable originally to the earlier second century and believed to have been restored in the third century A. D. (not currently excavated<\/a>) \u2013 dancing and singing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 3: Not actually Erasina, but a sculpture of a Maenad on a Roman funerary relief from Virunum (on display in Maria Saal; photo: Peter Kruschwitz, February 2020)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But what makes the phrase Musarum amor | et Charitum | (…) uolup|tas<\/em> so truly remarkable to me, however, is that it is element of a poem here \u2013 composed by someone with an amor Musarum<\/em>, now with an objective genitive, not someone beloved by<\/em> the Muses, but someone with a love for<\/em> the Muses, in a poem may cause Charitum uoluptas<\/em>, a longing desire for the Graces (to hear more, not because the text is so bad, of course).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poetry \u2013 even provincial compositions like the present one, just like virtually all forms of art \u2013 enjoy elements that draw attention to the artifice itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The composer(s), whoever they were, were clearly invested in the promotion of the arts (not necessarily as selfless sponsors without financial interests), and after Erasina was no longer able to perform, due to her untimely death, she had one more role to play: become the cause for dignified and tasteful poetic display, to accompany a dignified and tasteful sculpture on her monument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province of Noricum, as was said at the beginning, has not yet spoiled its students with evidence for poetry and music that could be considered a local habit. This may change, of course, with future finds and excavations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even without ample evidence, the fascinating and intriguing tombstone for Erasina allows us to gain a first insight, a first glimpse, into the presence and role of music, poetry, and dance in Noricum \u2013 all in the inscription of a Punic girl, imported to this Roman province from the very area of Rome’s one-time foe and mortal enemy, Carthage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike other geographical contexts, the Roman province of Noricum has not (yet) yielded a rich harvest of locally produced poetry: a quick search of the evidence in the Clauss –… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,4,5,8,7,9],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noricum","tag-autopsy","tag-carmina-latina-epigraphica","tag-noricum","tag-poetry","tag-punic","tag-self-referentiality"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbaMDT-5o","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/image-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1109,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/1109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mappola.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}