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GedichteundKunst t1_it07uzj wrote

Inscription Translation:

For the Emperor Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Augustus, and for the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus, and for Publius Septimius Geta most noble Caesar, in the consulship of Our [two] Lords the Emperor Antoninus for the second time and Geta Caesar [205]; the Sixth Cohort of Nervians which Lucius Vinicius Pius, prefect of the said cohort, commands, built [this] barrack-block, under the charge of Gaius Valerius Pudens, senator of consular rank

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Wooster182 t1_it0jpm1 wrote

This probably would have been the shortest inscription if they had just used first names…

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SLMZ17 t1_it0uga4 wrote

Also the fact that the first two thirds of the inscription are all just qualifiers for the actual info being communicated.

Like if you wrote a two paragraph memo with a monster header that takes up half the page.

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DrXaos t1_it0w81o wrote

This is a political advertisement on a construction project: the implication being “we paid for this so be grateful”.

The entire point is promoting the politicians, and the more important they are, the more names they have.

Like Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia airport, with a whole bunch of extra middle names.

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clownburner t1_it1fckv wrote

I’m going to need you to use the new cover sheet for your TPS reports..

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Tidesticky t1_it1y4ei wrote

Ahhh, remember to attach the new TPS form...and oh yeah, ahhhh, I'll need you to come in on Saturday.

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BentPin t1_it2a6hi wrote

After-all the barracks have to be completed on time.

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sAindustrian t1_it1vitf wrote

The Roman equivalent of writing with size 18 font, double line spacing, and never abbreviating repeated terms.

Or in other words, how I reached my 2000 word count when doing my high school English study of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

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RelationshipOk3565 t1_it39jxe wrote

Is it just me or does the content of the inscription make this artifact somewhat trivial?

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maruffin t1_it2rxcr wrote

Yes. It reminds me of the proclamations that are read at ceremonies. Whereas . . . and whereas . . . and whereas. . .

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ecksate t1_it2zstx wrote

Saying emperor is basically the same as saying Caesar, And that's added to the fact that they've appended the name of every mentor they've had onto their name. It's not mostly qualifiers, it's actually mostly names I think. Lol

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Yadobler t1_it2eswu wrote

For both Emperor Caesars, Geta Caesar, and most noble Caesar, in the 2nd consulship of Our Lords the Emperor Antoninus;

The 6th Cohort of Nervians (which prefect Pius commands under the charge of consular senator Gaius) built this barrack-blocks.

#--------

That's 4 different ceasars

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Royal_Bumblebee_ t1_itynmmh wrote

Do you think the scribes would joke about putting in nicknames to speed things up? Whats the ancient Latin for 'blah blah blah'?

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Bretty_boy t1_it12vz0 wrote

I wonder if back then people rolled their eyes at having to use all those superlatives for their rulers like we would today

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shadowsformagrin t1_it1co2z wrote

Most definitely. Read Pompeii graffiti - they are shocking similar to things modern day people would write. I don't doubt regular people found all this pomp arrogant as well.

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BentPin t1_it2aea5 wrote

Lots of penises and fuck this person and fuck that person definitely. It's almost like modern day graffiti was invented during Romans times.

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vikio t1_it0a9x7 wrote

Now translate it again, but including all the names translated to what they mean. Like I'm guessing Felix means "happy"? And Septimius means "the seventh"?

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Tiako t1_it11yu8 wrote

I am trying to think of how to put this, so if this isn't helpful I'll try another way.

Broadly speaking, a high status Roman name has three "neccesary" parts (tria nomina), but can also have honorifics attached to. In practical terms, think of Scipio Africanus, the man who defeated Hannibal. His full name would be (1)Publius (2)Cornelius (3)Scipio, and he was later granted the title (4)Africanus. "Publius" would be like a personal name ("praenomen"), the equivalent of "John" or "Robert". "Cornelius" indicates the broad family ("clan") he comes from: the "Cornelii" were a very important "clan" in Roman society. "Scipio" indicates which branch of "gens Cornelia" he comes from. "Africanus" was then added to his name after his victory in, well, Africa.

Even under the Republic this could get complicated (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus was born into the Aemilii but adopted by the son of Scipio Africanus, leading to a mouthful of a name). But when you get to the imperial period, when the emperor moght use their name to signal any number of things, it gets truly absurd.

So take Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus. There are two emperors that might remind us of: Antoninus Pius (Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius) and Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), and this was by design because his father, the aforementioned Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Augustus (known to us as Septimius Severus) changed his name as a way to show that he was a continuation of the previous imperial dynasty and borrow a bit of prestige from that. He is mostly known to us as "Caracalla".

This might seem a bit confusing and my only response is, yeah, it is.

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RedDordit t1_it1tgqc wrote

This is not confusing at all (the way you put it, I mean). But it’s very complicated, and we have to consider these names were not regular like they might be in today’s Brazil: only nobles had these many names since it was, in fact, pompous. Regular people only had a praenomen, as they didn’t belong to a gens.

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_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_it6ieal wrote

All Roman citizens had three names. Only slaves and foreigners would have fewer.

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DaBoskie t1_it0j4un wrote

I have a son named Happy, born 7 days before my Nephew's son Felix. They're best friends. We had no idea they meant the same thing until now. Thank you!

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_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_it1zdjj wrote

Felix is more “lucky” than “happy”.

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BentPin t1_it2aszy wrote

Like Felice Navidad in Spanish? In that case happy seems more fitting.

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_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_it2ccu1 wrote

Spanish and Latin are different languages.

If you mean "cheerful, jolly", then the Latin is laetus.
If you mean "lucky, fortunate", then the Latin is felix.
If you mean "blessed, prosperous", then the Latin is beatus.
If you mean "rejoicing, celebrating" then the Latin is gaudiam.

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_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_it6htj1 wrote

A lot of the time (including today) people don't really think about what their names mean, they're just names. And a lot of the older Roman names (Ceasar, Antony, Vincent) have no definite origin, but here goes:

Elephant of Light the Seventh Severe Pious Obstinate Majesty
Elephant of Mars the Golden Priceless Pious Lucky Majesty
People's Seventh Geta
Light's Conqueror the Pious
Rejoicing Strongman the Shy

Geta isn't Latin or Etruscan, but appears to refer to an ancient Romanian tribe.

Ordinal names (e.g. Seventh) were traditionally used for numbering siblings, not in the way we use Jr. or III today.

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vikio t1_it6tk33 wrote

Yesss!!! This is what I was asking for. Isn't this much more fun to read? I love knowing the etymology of words, and I DO often think about what names mean. Thank you!

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[deleted] t1_it0fppf wrote

[removed]

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Mister_Vandemar t1_it0fzht wrote

And, apparently, happy. When I took Latin, I learned it as lucky, but I’m hardly an authority on anything

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_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ t1_it6in1v wrote

There's about four different Latin words that sometimes get translated to "happy".

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dethb0y t1_it0uxy3 wrote

From the article:

>"The larger stone really is a superstar inscription, one of the longest and largest ever to be found in ancient Britain and unlikely to ever be surpassed as a record of the world of Roman Yorkshire," he said.

If that's the best they've got then...uh....

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AbbreviationsGlad833 t1_it2at4w wrote

Common ancient Roman citizen reading it: Blah blah blah blah blah the fort was built for the emperor...

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taint-juice t1_it0egpi wrote

Wow this is so cool. I love Antoninus and Lucius! The first official co “emperors” in Roman history. Although Antoninus was primed to dawn the purple he demanded of the senate that his brother be able to join him when he took the throne. The senate was afraid of conflict via succession if Antoninus was not granted the request and allowed it to happen. They were extremely different people from each other but worked surprisingly well in tandem.

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veluna t1_it0g7cb wrote

It sounds like you are referring to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, who indeed were co-emperors and got along well. This inscription does not refer to them. It refers to Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla (referred to here as "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix Augustus") and his brother Geta (Publius Septimius Geta). They got along rather less well than Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus :-).

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taint-juice t1_it0pfpu wrote

Thank you for the correction! I did indeed get them mixed up. I still struggle with the extremely long names they accrue throughout their lives.

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Welshhoppo t1_it14wg4 wrote

That also means that Septimus' 1900 year old propaganda move is still working.

In order to legitimise his reign, after the year of the the five Emperors, Septimus Severus announced that he was actually the adopted son of Marcus Aurelius. And to honour his 'father' he named his first born son after him and his 'grandfather'.

There's a reasons everyone calls him Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius II doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

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ijmacd t1_it0uzyv wrote

Also it's just "don" when you're donning clothes.

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aotus_trivirgatus t1_it1hxwo wrote

Romanes eunt domus Romanes eunt domus Romanes eunt domus...

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Cherry5oda t1_it2fsgz wrote

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo?

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IndigoSkyfall t1_it0ozxm wrote

This is so cool, I love art history.

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ArMcK t1_it28mjt wrote

Inscription Translation:

There once was a man from Leeds

Who thought marriage would satisfy his needs

So he got a girl from Rome

And brought her into his home

But she would not help him sow seeds.

>Well, wouldn't that be quite lovely on display at the University.

      --some researcher probably
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itimedout t1_it0rbeh wrote

Can’t wait to see the show on the Science channel where they’ll scan it with that cool laser thing that shows every minute detail. It should turn up eventually, these things usually do.

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Tidesticky t1_it1y8bl wrote

Did they use Roman font?

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AbbreviationsGlad833 t1_it2bfrm wrote

Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains. Rested in this area.

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Sabinj4 t1_it2jmhd wrote

Yorkshire has such an interesting history

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Ferengi_Earwax t1_it2trex wrote

With those two names next to each other, I'm surprised this stone hasn't cracked in two and pummeled each other to dust...

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cmrh42 t1_it3z5c1 wrote

This belongs on r/nottheonion. Historians: This longest ancient Roman inscription ever is going on display for the first time!

Also historians: Yeah, so some guys put their very long names and titles on a building.

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kbad10 t1_it27bd8 wrote

Finally, British have something in their museum other than stolen properties.

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Poop_rainbow69 t1_it1bzsm wrote

Why isn't this inscription in Italy? It's Roman.

This was a rhetorical question. I saw the special on Last week tonight

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belokas t1_it1oai9 wrote

I guess you never heard about the Roman empire.

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sweet-banana-tea t1_it1fx5q wrote

Why would it be in Italy? Even if it is a rhetorical question. It would make no sense to be in Italy, right?

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beatenwithjoy t1_it1pgw7 wrote

Its a Roman artifact, Rome is in italy; it needs to be in an Italian museum.😤 - that guy probably

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PoiHolloi2020 t1_it24bio wrote

The British must return the things they stole from Britain to the British at once!

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