Stele con sella curule e littori sacrali (CIL III 9733): ordo decurionum a Viminacium

Abstract

The stele of C. Cornelius Rufus, with the epitaph and the reliefs, offers significant data on the lives of the members of the ordo decurionum and of the priests of the municipality of Viminacium. The relief on the plinth of the stele with the sella curulis, two camillus, and two lictors underlines a sacred idea. The objects in the hands of the lictors, the double stick (doppelstäben), and the commoetaculum were the insignia of the flamines. In this way, it is made an allusion to C. Cornelius Pacatus, decurion and flamen of the municipium of Viminacium, who was mentioned on the epitaph. This type of iconography is rarely seen, and its closest analogies are on the monuments of the Noricum. The other relief in the central field could indicate the possible previous military career of the deceased. The theme of the relief, attributed to Helena and Menelaus or some other mythological couple, alludes to the spouses, C. Cornelius Rufus and his wife. The representation of a male figure in the lorica musculata, with pteryges, decorated with a gorgoneion on the chest, could indicate that the monument belonged to a high-ranking officer. It could be assumed that C. Cornelius Rufus began his career as a soldier, which allowed him to make easier progress in public life, i.e. in the civil service. It could be assumed that he was a veteran of Legion VII Claudia. The epigraphic and archaeological finds allow us to note that among the members of the ordo decurionum and among the priests in the municipium of Viminacium, the family of the Cornelii with a decurion and augur, and a decurion and flamen, was one of the most important and powerful. The Cornelii belonged to the high social class and could afford this exsceptional marble monument.