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    This document summarizes Martin P. Nilsson's response to an article by Welles about the epitaph of Terentius found in Dura. Nilsson provides a simple explanation for why the epitaph was found unfinished in a private house. He argues that it was common for letters of inscriptions to be painted as a guide for stonecutters, so the unfinished nature is not unusual. The stone was likely being worked on in the house before transport to a cemetery, but was left there after an accident. There is no evidence it was set into an architectural feature as Welles suggested.

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    A Note on the Epitaph of Terentius- Nilsson

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    This document summarizes Martin P. Nilsson's response to an article by Welles about the epitaph of Terentius found in Dura. Nilsson provides a simple explanation for why the epitaph was found unfinished in a private house. He argues that it was common for letters of inscriptions to be painted as a guide for stonecutters, so the unfinished nature is not unusual. The stone was likely being worked on in the house before transport to a cemetery, but was left there after an accident. There is no evidence it was set into an architectural feature as Welles suggested.

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    6 views2 pages

    A Note On The Epitaph of Terentius - Nilsson

    Uploaded by

    Ángela L.
    This document summarizes Martin P. Nilsson's response to an article by Welles about the epitaph of Terentius found in Dura. Nilsson provides a simple explanation for why the epitaph was found unfinished in a private house. He argues that it was common for letters of inscriptions to be painted as a guide for stonecutters, so the unfinished nature is not unusual. The stone was likely being worked on in the house before transport to a cemetery, but was left there after an accident. There is no evidence it was set into an architectural feature as Welles suggested.

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    Harvard Divinity School

    A Note on the Epitaph of Terentius Author(s): Martin P. Nilsson Source: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1942), p. 81 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508352 . Accessed: 23/07/2013 12:19
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    A NOTE ON THE EPITAPH OF TERENTIUS In this Journal, Vol. XXXIV, 1941, page 79, Mr. Welles published with a scholarly commentary the interesting epitaph of the tribune Terentius from Dura. The place in which it was found, in a private house, presents difficulties to him. He supposes that the stone was set into the epistyle and smashed when falling down from it and takes great pains to prove that Terentius was not buried in the house. This is evident. I think the solution is very simple. Only the first seven lines and the first half of the eighth are incised, from the word OEaL the letters are painted in red. It is a well-known ancient custom to paint the letters in order to guide the stone-cutter in his work. Consequently the cutting of the inscription is unfinished. It is not remarkable that the cutting was done in the house before the stone was transported to the cemetery. By some chance which we cannot know it was left unfinished and the stone smashed by an accident. There is no reason to assume that it was set into the epistyle, the traces of plaster can be explained otherwise, e.g., from the stone being re-used.
    MARTIN P. NILSSON.
    UNIVERSITY SWEDEN OF LUND

    This content downloaded from 200.26.133.57 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 12:19:08 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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