140 Dr. Kennedy Bailie's Researches amongst the inscribed Monuments 



formed originally part of an altar, which had been erected by a lady named 

 Aurelia Matria, in commemoration of the issue of a suit (probably for disre- 

 garding her rights of sepulture), between her and a person of the name of Julius 

 Atticus. If this conjecture be well-founded, it may follow that the altar in 

 question was one of that class which the Romans styled Arce amicitice, for men- 

 tion of which my audience is referred to Tacitus.* 



/. The sixth is sepulchral, that of Fabius Zosimus, to which I have already 

 adverted, f The soros in which it appears wants the operculum, or cover, but 

 in all other respects is in complete preservation. It is of greyish coloured and 

 very fine grained granite. The ornamental sculpture is of a very simple kind, 

 and there are no figured devices ; but the chiselling of the cornices is in the 

 best style of art, and the characters of the inscription deep, sharp, and beautifully 

 even. 



g. The seventh inscription is also entaphial. This I found on a flat and 

 highly-ornamented stone covering an Armenian grave, intermixed with the de- 

 vices of that people, and epigraphs in their language. It formed three columns, 

 each making a consecutive sense with that which went before, and separated from 

 it by highly ornamented sculptures in low relief. The names of the erectors of the 

 monuments have been abstracted by the process of adapting the slab to its pre- 

 sent position, but in the second and concluding compartments, I have found 

 means to restore the names, firstly of the proconsul, J during whose tenure of 

 office the monument was erected ; secondly, of the emperor § who then reigned ; 

 and thirdly, of certain Romans of distinction who were, by the provisions of the 

 inscription, either admitted to a right of sepulture in the soros, or who witnessed 

 the execution of the instrument ; or, lastly, who contributed to the decoration of 

 the monument. These were of the family of the Annii, of which Tacitus and 

 other writers II make frequent mention. 



The hand of time, and the liberties taken by the Armenian owners of this 

 grave, have rendered any elucidation of this inscription almost a hopeless task. 

 On certain points I am not as yet satisfied : but I hope much from the coope- 



* Annal. iv.74. t Vid. pp. 118, 136. 



i LoUianus, or Julianus. I incline to the former, on the evidence of an inscription which I 

 copied in the Troad. § Trajan. 



U Ex. g. Josephus, Antiqq. Jud. xviii. 2, 2. Compare Rosin. Antiq. Elect, p. 904. 



