Lucius Ansius Epaphroditus

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Lucius Ansius Epaphroditus was an ancient Roman Toreut (metalworker) from Campania , most likely from Capua .

The large number of 40 signed works by Epaphroditus has survived. After Publius Cipius Polybius , with more than 100 surviving signed pieces, it is the ancient Toreut with the second most surviving signed works. These are casseroles and bowls made of bronze . They are widespread and have been found in Italy, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Russia, and possibly Turkey, what pronounced and well-functioning long-distance trade structures speaks.

Heinrich Willers described the importance of Ansius Epaphroditus and Cipius Polybius in 1901 with the words "According to evidence from the finds, the two manufacturers [...] had the largest companies and dominated the world market with their goods". In addition, both come from important Campanian families who made such products. From Epaphroditus the certainly related Lucius Ansius Phoebus and Lucius Ansius Diodorus are known. Between the 1900s and the 1980s, when the number of finds doubled, there was an approximately even percentage increase in new finds from both companies compared to the material known to Willers, which is why it can be assumed that the amount of finds roughly reflects the size of the companies.

The signed shapes were dominated by three shapes: saucepans with round holes, trifolian saucepans (clover leaf saucepans) and bath bowls. It is unknown whether other shapes were produced in large numbers, although other shapes apart from trowels were generally only rarely signed. It may also be an indication of a very specialized workshop. It is at least striking that among the pieces of Epaphroditus there was not one of the two best-known forms from Capua, namely those of the swan's head casseroles or the casseroles with a semicircular hole. Almost all of the signed bath bowls were found within Italy, so they weren't as successful in exports as the saucepans. So far there have been no finds in the so-called “ Barbarikum ”. It is also unknown how the pieces were distributed. Many pieces were certainly negotiated, but it can be assumed that some of the pieces, especially those found in military contexts, also traveled with the owners due to troop movements in the Roman Empire. There are civil found circumstances mainly from the Italian motherland. It was probably the case that such high quality products could only be paid for by wealthy customers, and outside Italy that was mainly the military. There are no finds from Hispania and the Asian parts of the empire, but also from Africa. This has nothing to do with the circumstances of the find, but with local metalworkers based in Africa and Hispania. Only the missing finds in North Africa cannot yet be explained.

Apart from the finds themselves, there is no further literary or epigraphic information on Epaphroditus, but the Ansier family is documented several times in Capua. Aladár Radnóti dated the workshop's products to a period from about 50 to 85 AD.Since about a dozen of the pieces were found in the Vesuvius cities, primarily Pompeii and Herculaneum , the workshop must in any case be found before they were buried in 79 have been in operation. A signed handle found in the Y Gaer camp , the ancient Cicucium near Brecon in Wales , cannot have found its way into the ground before 75, but also towards the end of the century at the latest. A piece found in a grave in Masera was associated with coins from the reign of Emperor Nero (ruled 54 to 68). All the data, however, only allow an imprecise classification, as it is not known how long they were in circulation.

The Cognomen Epaphroditus indicates a Greek origin, so one can assume that he was a freedman . The stamped signature was not always the same, sometimes it was EPAPHRODITI , sometimes EPHAPRODITI . This probably had no deeper reasons, but it was simply not entirely unproblematic and also not handled uniformly how to translate Greek names into Latin . It is unclear what practical position Epaphroditus held. Whether he was just the owner and the signatures are to be understood as brand names or whether he also actively worked in the production, which would make it real manufacturer's signatures, has to remain unclear.

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SURNAME Ansius Epaphroditus, Lucius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Epaphroditus, Lucius Ansius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Roman Toreut
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century or 2nd century