Vatican Museums

The inscription in Greek includes the three personal names Marcus Aurelius Saturninus (praenomen, gentilicium, cognomen) of the individual honoured by this statue, who is defined using a superlative adjective – lamprótatos – corresponding to the Latin clarissimus, “clearest”, used to qualify members of the social class of senators, which comprised the holders of government office (cursus honorum) of the Roman State. The dedicant, Septimius Hermes, defines himself -  using the word threpsàs – as a person “raised” (in Latin, alumnus from àlere, to “nourish”) by Saturninus, who is invoked in the first line with the nickname Eumelius and to whom the wish “may you live” is dedicated. Saturninus is probably the same person mentioned in a lead water pipe discovered in Lorium (Castel di Guido, at the twelfth mile of the Via Aurelia) in area of an ancient private villa. The statue that originally stood on the base is now lost.