Latin inscribed epitaph of *Victorinus (martyr of Tipasa, S00628), recording the precise hour and day of his death. Found at Tipasa (Mauretania Caesariensis, western North Africa). Dated 315 or 320.
Evidence ID
E06954
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Memoria Vic/torini im pace / marture profe/ssum octav(o) idus / mai(a)s zie solis ora / octav(a) a(nno) pr(ovinciae) CCL […] I
'Memorial/grave (memoria) of Victorinus in peace, as a martyr he professed [his faith] on the eighth day before the Ides of May [8 May] on the Day of the Sun, at the eighth hour, in the year of the province CCL […] I.'
Text: Duval, no. 174.
Translation: Stanisław Adamiak.
Cult Places
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityBurial ad sanctos
MiraclesCult Related Objects
Inscription
Source
The inscription is on a block of sandstone of approximately cubic form (H. 50 cm, L. 58 cm, Th. 52 cm), found in 1940 in Tipasa, in the 'area of Bishop Alexander'. Recorded by Duval as in the garden of the museum of Tipasa. The letters are about 5 cm high.The epitaph was mostly hidden behind a masonry 'mensa'. The relationship between this mensa and the epitaph is unclear. The mensa may be an element of the tomb of Victorinus himself, or it may be evidence of the inhumation of someone else ad sanctos.
Discussion
The opening phrasing - 'memoria ... in pace' - reveals this to be a burial epitaph. The expression 'marture professum' is unique and hard to translate; but its wider sense (of professing through martyrdom) is clear.The year given in the inscription, expressed according to the era of the local calendar which dated years from AD 40, is a problem. There is some space between the CCL and the I. Carcopino read it as CCLXXI, which would give the year 310. But 8 May of this year was a Monday. If we are looking for years when 8 May was a Sunday, CCLXXVI (AD 315) or CCLXXI (AD 320) are possible. Courtois chooses 320, although according to Duval there is no clear reason for this choice.
Anyway, it seems that the death of Victorinus happened after the end of the persecutions; if so, he must have been a victim either of some riots with pagans, or of the inter-Christian struggle connected with the Donatist schism (we do not know on which side). Carletti, however, disagrees with this conclusion, suggesting that the date refers to the deposition of the relics of Victorinus, and not to his death.
The name Victorinus appears several times in the Martyrologium Hieronimianum, but none of the entries corresponds exactly with the date of the epitaph. Some variation over the precise days of saints' feasts is very common in the Martyrologium and elsewhere, so it is possible that he is the Victorinus mentioned on 11 May (E04809), and/or the 'Victurina' on 10 May (E04811).
Bibliography
Editions:Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby, no. EDCS-13600241, see http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/edcs_id.php?s_sprache=en&p_edcs_id=EDCS-13600241.
Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 306-307, no. 206.
Duval, Y., Loca sanctorum Africae: Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe au VIIe siècle (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1982), vol. 1, 367-371, no. 174.
Further Reading:
Carcopino, J., "Note sur une épitaphe de martyr récemment découverte à Tipasa de Maurétanie," Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Soc. archéologique, historique et géographique de Constantine 66 (1948), 87-101.
Courtois, C., "Victorinus et Salsa, note d’hagiographie tipasienne," Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Soc. archéologique, historique et géographique de Constantine, 68 (1954), 109-119 (AE 1955, no. 201)
Leschi, L., "Fouilles à Tipasa dans l’église d’Alexandre," Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques 1941-42, 362-362 (AE 1942-3, no. 48).
Images
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Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), 306-307, no. 206.
Record Created By
Stanisław Adamiak
Date of Entry
29/10/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02628 | Victorinus, martyr of Tipasa | Victorinus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Stanisław Adamiak, Cult of Saints, E06954 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06954