mountainman

(1) de Rossi's Cornelius stone (1849)

Giovanni Battista de Rossi (1822-1894) considered the greatest of the 19th century Roman archaeologists. As a loyal member of the Catholic Church, he was asked by Pope Pius IX to publish his works under the Vatican imprint. In 1857 the Vatican press printed his Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae. The work contained 1126 inscriptions dating from the year AD 71 to 589[1] His most famous discovery was made in 1849. In a shed belonging to a wineyard, he found a stone with the partial inscription ...NELIUS MARTYR. The only possible name was Cornelius. Pope Cornelius (251-253) died in exile, and was therefore considered a martyr. NB: A later edition of Inscriptiones contained a total of 1374 inscriptions.

The first four were scrapped as forgeries, meaning that the oldest known Christian inscription in Rome is a memorial to Emperor Caracalla's chamberlain Prosenes, who died in 217.

(2) The Marcus Inscription

A further inscription not mentioned by Fox,
but from the online article “Connections with Elites in the World of the Early Christians,”
by Philip A. Harland (York University, Toronto)

Note that this inscription leads into a second inscription
which is actually mentioned and cited by Fox,
called the Prosenes inscription.


Harland writes:
An inscription from about 240-50 CE
sheds much needed light on this issue
and provides us with information
about two such Christians as members
of the imperial household

(CIL VI 8987 ' ICUR X 27126 ' Clarke 1971).(15)

Alexander, an imperial slave, erected
a memorial for his deceased son, Marcus
, who had been the keeper of the wardrobe
in the domestic service of the emperor.

Most importantly for our purposes is the fact
that Marcus had acquired an education --
a key factor in social advancement --
at the paedogogium ad Caput Africae,
a senior administrative training centre
for the young of the imperial family
(see Mohler 1940: 270-80).

As G.W. Clarke (1971: 122-23) points out,
the better graduates of this school


"would be well read, well spoken;
they would expect to marry non-servile wives
(though not yet manumitted themselves),
to own [398] considerable property and other slaves,
to receive entree into (though not equal status with)
the major social and governmental circles,
and thus to wield themselves considerable de facto power."


Here, then, is a clear example wherein a Christian family
was making advancements socially in the service of the emperor,
and it is likely that there were others like them.


[Editor: The Marcus Inscription is yet to be examined. It is cited but we are not informed of what is in the inscription. Primarily, we are not informed on why it is presumed "christian", as it could not possibly be on account of this rhetoric, which verges on apologetic.]



(3) The Prosenes inscription

A funerary inscription (ROME!) from the Severan period.
Prosenes is claimed to be a christian, and a servant of emperor?

[Editor: The following reference is from the online article
“Connections with Elites in the World of the Early Christians,”
by Philip A. Harland (York University, Toronto), who in discussing
a primary inscription, not mentioned by Fox (see 15A), mentions the Prosenes inscription as a "less securely "christian" citation

Here we are advised that the basis
upon which the inscription is to be
presumed "christian" is because of its
reference to the phrase:

"welcomed before god".

Here is an extract:



It is worth mentioning another monument -- less securely,
though likely, identified as Christian -- from the vicinity
of Rome (dated 217 CE) that provides a similar picture
of social mobility.

The grave of Marcus Aurelius Prosenes--set up by several
of his own freedpersons (liberti)--reveals that this
imperial freedman had moved his way through the hierarchy
of imperial service, even holding several procuratorships
(senior positions of considerable influence) under Commodus.

Though nothing in the original inscription suggests Christian identity,
one freedman named Ampelius later inscribed on the stone
the fact that Prosenes was "welcomed before God"
(receptus ad deum) on March 3, 217,
an expression which may best be explained
in terms of Christianity.
(ICUR VI 17246; cf. Mazzoleni 1999: 153).


[Editor:
The Hellenics were welcomed before God.
The Jews were welcomed before God.
The "christians" have no copyright on the word "god".
Such is the state of prenicene "christian epigraphy"]


One assumption and false premise after another.

Is Young Alexander the only one in this forum
will to get their heads out of the "literature"
and into the multi-threaded categories of other
ancient historical citations to the evidence?

Christianity before Constantine is a fake and a fraud.
It is a pseudo-history which has perverted the course
of natural history for many centuries.

My thesis is that the pre-Nicene epoch was "christian-free"
and that those who seek for the ancient historical citations
to it outside the realm of the Eusebian literature
will only find citations such as the one below.


Ancient Historical Citations 3rd century

p.580 (RLFox)
[FN:19] P.Oxy. 1025; 1026

"When a local notable returned to Hermopolis
from Gallienus' Rome in the 260's,
the council honored him with magnificent literary
allusions and praises of:

'Thrice-great Hermes, our father's god,
who always stands besides you."



Where is even one genuine unambiguously christian
archeological citation? Hello? Anyone listening?

Best wishes,


Pete Brown

mountainman

It would appear that a JSTOR Article provides
some form of a definitive assessment on this issue.

Two Christians in the Familia Caesaris
G. W. Clarke
The Harvard Theological Review,
Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1971), pp. 121-124
This article consists of 4 page(s).

Would someone with access to JSTOR please copy/paste
these four 1971 pages here in this thread, or at least the
first few paragraphs continuing from the tantalisingly
truncated first page available to non-subscribers?

[This should be within the tolerances of scholarly discussion
and the principles inherent in copyright, IMO, otherwise
arius (at the mountainman.com.au domain) is all ears.]

Many thanks in advance.

mountainman

Here is the article in which the argument is made that
we have a christian inscription of an unknown date in
the century preceeding the rise of Constantine.

My assessment is that we are quite clearly looking at
an inscription from Rome that has absolutely nothing
to do with "christianity".

Here is the full article ...

Two Christians in the Familia Caesaris
G. W. Clarke
The Harvard Theological Review,
Vol. 64, No. 1. (Jan., 1971),
pp. 121-124.

Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=001...3E2.0.CO%3B2-4

http://www.jstor.org
Sat Aug 4 14:05:58 2007



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
TWO CHRISTIANS
IN THE FAMILIA CAESARIS


There are, notoriously,
a number of general literary observations
on the large number of Christians
in Caesar's household and in Caesar's employ
in the late second and in the third centuries A.D., [1]
but there are remarkably few particular examples
to substantiate these general claims. [2]

Particularly rare (for reasons of security?)
are traces of such individual Christians
outside the literary remains.

C.I.L. 6.8987
(= Diehl I.L.C.V. 3872)
would appear to be an exception
and to record two such Christians
of Caesar's household.

It thus provides welcome attestation,
though, curiously, the inscription
has seldom been exploited for this information. [4]


AlexanderJAugg. ser., fecit/se biuo Marco,
filio/dulcisimo, Caputa/5/fricesi1 qui
deputabatur inter bestito/res. qui uixit
an.nis/XVIII, mensibu VIIII,/diebu. V.
pet0 a bobis,/~o/fra. tres boni, per/unum
deum, ne quis/ (h)un (c) tite - lo moles [tet] /
pos mort [em meam].

--- Rome. Via Salaria Vetus [5]


Three observations may be made.

Firstly, it is reasonable for the inscription
to be categorized as Christian.
That is the natural inference
to be drawn from the phrase

"peto a bobis,
fratres boni,
per unum deum"

-an invocation,
unobtrusively worded,
to fellow Christians,
notorious monotheists, [6]

who were again notorious
for addressing each other,
as a hallmark of their fellowship,
as "frater." [7]

Mohler suggests otherwise:
"fratres boni" refers to
fellow pupils of the imperial
training school on the Caelian,
the paedagogium ad Caput Africae. [8]

That is hardly reasonable.
The son was indeed a pupil
of that prestigious school,
as his father proudly records.

That son might conceivably
have called his fellow pupils
"fratres boni"; [9]
but it is pure surmise
that by this address the father
is appealing to such a group as
his son's fellow alumni -
nothing on the inscription
or its locality suggests that he is.

Mohler leaves unaccounted
the accompanying phrase
"per unum deum."
The inscription records, therefore,
a Christian Augg. ser., and,
by reasonable implication,
his Christian son.

Secondly, there are social implications.
The son Marcus attended the
paedagogium ad Caput Africae,
the senior administrative training centre
for the young of the imperial familial
a prestige school for what was
already a special elite,
the familia Caesaris,
boasting a large teaching staff [10]
and luxury facilities. [ll]

Its graduates could expect
to have received a highly skilled training
preparing them for
senior administrative posts
both at home and abroad. [12]

Its best pupils would be
well read, well spoken:
they would expect to marry
non-servile wives
(though not yet manumitted themselves), [13]
to own considerable property
and other slaves, [14]
to receive entrance into
(though not equal status with)
the major social and
governmental circles,
and thus to wield themselves
considerable de facto power.


It is valuable to catch a glimpse
from this inscription
of Christians in Rome
moving into such circles
where good education
might be obtained,
wealth might be amassed,
and political influence
might be exerted.

One can begin to understand
why in 268 A.D. Christian Caesariani
were thought important enough
to be singled out
in the second rescript
of the persecution of Valerian. [15]

And thirdly, the dating.
On this question Diehl writes:

"Nota nomina Alexander et Marcus
quae eadem sunt atque aetatis
illius imperatorum"

-that is to say,
the inscription is
"saec. II/III ineuntis." [l6]

The suggestion seems to be
that the names of the father and son
are ultimately derived
from the names of the emperors
Severus Alexander (d. 235 A.D.)
and Marcus Aurelius (d. 180 A.D.) respectively.

Such nomenclature, however,
can provide but an insecure guideline.
"Alexander" is found in all periods, [17]
though "Marcus is
not at all common earlier." [18]

The combination of names is suggestive,
though there is a distinct chance
that it is fortuitous.

The precise titulature,
in this case "Augg. ser.,"
is often a more reliable guide.

The concentration of datable inscriptions
where "Augg." ( = "Augustorum") is used
as a status-indication of slaves
is undoubtedly in the late
Antonine-Severan period; [l9]
the choice of "ser." in combination
with "Augg.," though still not absolute,
again points to this same period
(rather than to any earlier one) [20]

Spelling ("b" = "v") and the &hq.
"Caputafricesis" also suggest this conclusion.
And the open, though not ostentatious,
exhibition of Christianity
would tend to push the date
to late Severan (e.g., Severus Alexander,
under whom Christians received
generally favourable treatment)
rather than to early Severan
(e.g., Severus Septimius,
under whom Christians were
more frequently molested).

A date after Maximinus Thrax
and before Decius (238-249)
would be equally possible. [21]

The indications, such as they are,
thus converge on the first half
of the third century,
with a distinct suggestion
of later rather than earlier.

Alexander could well have survived
in Caesar's household to suffer
among the Caesariani
in the Valerianic persecution.


G. W. CLARKE