Dedicatory inscription
A dedicatory inscription ( Latin tituli sacri ) was used in antiquity to document a votive offering to a deity in the form of an inscription . Dedicatory inscriptions could be obtained from public figures, the military or private individuals. They could be attached directly to the consecrated object or on an additional table ( tabula ). Inscriptions on fair bears have a special position . These have often been preserved and provide information about people and the worship of deities.
construction
Consecrations usually included the name of the dedicant , the name of the deity being sacrificed, and a verb describing the dedication. These basic information can be supplemented by references to the occasion of the consecration. In Roman culture in particular , dedicatory inscriptions were formalized. Often, the initial letters or simple abbreviations are sufficient to reproduce the desired formula.
Common Latin formulas were for example:
| DD | d (onum) d (edit) | "Has given as a gift" | |
| DSIM | D (eo) S (oli) I (nvicto) M (ithrae) | "To the undefeated sun god Mithras" | |
| HDD | in h (onorem) d (omus) d (ivinae) | "In honor of the divine imperial house" | |
| IOM | I (ovi) O (ptimo) M (aximo) | "The greatest and best Jupiter" | |
| SAC | sac (rum) | "Consecrated to the deity" | |
| SMD | S (acrum) M (atri) D (eum) | "Consecrated to the Mother of Gods" | |
| VSLM | V (otum) S (olvit) L (ibenter) M (erito) | "The vow gladly redeemed according to its merit" |
literature
- Franz Georg Maier : dedicatory inscription . In: Lexicon of the Old World , p. 3263.
- Leonhard Schumacher : Roman inscriptions. Reclam, Stuttgart 1988. p. 109ff.