Antique-shop.com
Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: talesofthesevenseas on November 15, 2009, 10:35:53 pm
-
I bought this ancient Roman bronze ring about 10 years ago. I would like to know what is inscribed on the face. I showed it to an archaeology student once who said it was love epitaph. But I would like to know exactly what it says. Can anyone help or refer me to someplace that wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg for a translation?
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/RomanRing.jpg)
-
Hi my name is Alin from Romania,I saw the ring is interesting,but Epitaph is usually on tombstones wrote,it contained the facts of life of the deceased in the form of stanzas,or stanzas that represent the life of Jesus,May I ask someone will say something about inscription and return with more data.
-
Hi Alin!
The ring belongs to me and I would love to know what it says. All I know is someone told me it was a "love epitaph" but that is all I was told, I have never been able to get a translation. The ring is very big, definitely a man's ring. It is bronze and it is ancient Roman, but that is all I know. I would love to learn what the inscription says and hope you can help!
Many thanks!
-
Tales -- have you tried your local university? A scholar with a knowledge of ancient dead languages would be useful. It doesn't look Latin to me, unless it's some kind of system of Latin abbreviations. The "H" looks Phoenecian to me, but the accented "A"s not so much. I'm out of my depth with dead languages, though!
-
No, I haven't attempted that yet. I was hoping to find somone online. I work full time with a long mountain commute so getting time to meet up with someone during school hours is difficult.
-
It could be Greek, the other official language of the ancient Roman Empire.
-
I agree - I had Latin in school and it does not look like that - maybe Aramaic, they used letters that more closely resemble ours.