Latin inscribed epitaph of Ariomeres, describing him as a 'servant' of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050), on the lid of a sarcophagus at Ligugé (western Gaul), mid 5th c. to mid 6th c.
Evidence ID
E08373
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Epitaph of Ariomeres
Ariomeres seruos
domni Martini ora pro me
'Ariomeres, servant
of Lord Martin. Pray for me.'
Text: Coquet 1961, 58.
Translation: David Lambert.
Cult PlacesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Cult Related Objects
Cult building - monastic
Non Liturgical ActivityConsecrating a child, or oneself, to a saint
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Children
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
The epitaph of Ariomeres is inscribed on the lid of a stone sarcophagus discovered in 1958 under the nave of the medieval church at Ligugé, south of Poitiers (Coquet 1961, 54). It was among 31 roughly contemporary sarcophagi excavated there, but the only one with an inscription. The site in general has substantial remains of the monastic community founded by Martin, dating from the 4th century onwards (for an overview see Heitz 1992, and more briefly Stancliffe 1983, 23-4, 359-60).The dimensions of the sarcophagus lid are 1.56 m long; 0.65 m wide at the head, 0.42 at the foot; 0.22 m thick (Coquet 1961, 56). The entire surface is covered by a carving of a cross with three crosspieces, at the head, the foot and the centre (see image). The inscription is carved in two lines on the crosspiece at the head of the sarcophagus. The letters in the first line have a height of around 4 cm, those on the lower 2.5 cm; there is no punctuation (Coquet 1961, 58).
The excavator, Jean Coquet, argued on palaeographical grounds, and on the basis of the site of the burial, which predated a 6th c. building, that the inscription dated from no later than the mid 6th century (Coquet 1961, 59-61). However, he suggested an even earlier date, based on two additional arguments. He identified the name Ariomeres as Gothic, and his burial as thus probably dating from the period when Poitiers was under Visigothic rule, before 507 (Coquet 1961, 61-66). He combined this with archaeological evidence that the site was temporarily abandoned in the later 5th century, to argue that Ariomeres' burial probably took place before this abandonment, which he dated to around 460 (ibid. 66). He thus concluded that it was at least possible ('il paraît même possible' – p. 69) that the burial and epitaph of Ariomeres dated from as early as the period 430-460.
Discussion
The sarcophagus on whose lid the inscription appears contained the skeleton of a boy aged about ten, buried in earth which filled the sarcophagus up to about halfway; a few disparate adult bones (of more than one person) lay on the surface of the layer of earth (Coquet 1961, 57). In the view of the excavator there was nothing to suggest that the boy's burial was not the original one, and he should therefore be identified as the Ariomeres mentioned in the epitaph (Coquet 1961, ibid.). If correct, this makes the description of him as seruos domni Martini more striking. The phrase servus dei was already in common use by the mid 5th century to denote monks and ascetics, but it is very rare for someone to be described as the servus of a saint (Coquet 1961, 68), and particularly so for this person to be a child. It suggests that Ariomeres was a child oblate at Ligugé.Although there is archaeological evidence of religious activity at Ligugé from the late 4th century onwards, it is not identified in a literary source as Martin's former monastery and as a centre of his cult until Gregory of Tours in the late 6th century (Miracles of Martin 4.30). Sulpicius Severus mentions that Martin's first monastery was near Poitiers (Life of Martin 7.1) but does not give its name or precise location. If Coquet's mid 5th c. date is correct, Ariomeres' epitaph would thus be the earliest explicit evidence for Martin's cult at Ligugé (Coquet 1961, 69-70), and also the second-earliest surviving epigraphic reference to Martin, after the epitaph of Foedula at Vienne (E07635).
Bibliography
Edition:Coquet, J., "Fouilles de Ligugé. I. – L'Inscription d'Ariomeres," Revue Mabillon 51 (1961), 54-70.
Further reading:
Heitz, C., "Fouilles et datation de l’ancienne abbatiale Saint-Martin de Ligugé," Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres 136:4 (1992), 857-868.
Stancliffe, C., St. Martin and His Hagiographer: History and Miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford, 1983).
Images
)
Epitaph of Ariomeres, Ligugé. Reproduced from Revue Mabillon 51, 1961.
)
Sarcophagus lid of Ariomeres. The epitaph is inscribed on the upper surface of the lid at the head of the sarcophagus (on the right in this photo). Reproduced from Revue Mabillon 51, 1961.
)
Epitaph of Ariomeres, Ligugé. Reproduced from CRAI 136 (1992), 862.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
21/12/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08373 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08373