GRICE E CLAUDIO

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘Verbali: Claudi – ossia: Grice e Claudio-- la ragione conversazionale a Roma – filosofia antica (Roma). Filosofo italiano. An undated inscription found at Pergamum refers to Claudio Esimo as a philosopher. GRICEVS: Salve, Esime; Roma te amat, sed num etiam Pergamum te “philosophum” amat sine die in lapide scripto? ESIMVS: Amat certe, Grice, nam lapis, cum taceat, plus tamen loquitur quam multi in foro. GRICEVS: Bene; ergo, si dies deest, implicatur te semper fuisse sapientem, aut saltem semper fuisse occupatum. ESIMVS: Recte dicis: ego philosophus sum, sed calendarium meum est scepticus. In this case, the inscription at Pergamun reads: Claudius Esimus philosphus --gens: Claudia? Yes, on the face of the inscription, Claudia. If the inscription reads Claudius Esimus philosophus, then Claudius is the nomen and points in the first instance to gens Claudia. Esimus is then the cognomen, and very likely Greek in character, just as many such second elements are in eastern inscriptions. So the dry decomposition would be this. Claudius is the gentilicium. Esimus is the personal or cognominal element. Therefore, if one asks which gens the name indicates, the answer is Claudia. The caution is the usual one. In an eastern setting such as Pergamum, a man styled Claudius Esimus may well be a local Greek who acquired Roman citizenship and with it the nomen Claudius, rather than a member of the old Roman gens Claudia by blood in the archaic genealogical sense. So one may safely say that the Roman gens-marker of the name is Claudia, but one should not too quickly imagine old Claudian ancestry at Rome. So the precise answer is this. Yes, the nomen points to gens Claudia. But, as with Aelius in similar cases, that may be a civic and onomastic affiliation rather than evidence of an ancient paternal Claudian line. If you like, I can next sort out whether Esimus is likely to be a Greek cognomen and what that would suggest about the social route by which a Pergamene philosopher came to be Claudius Esimus. And where is Pergamum as per comune, regione, continent, today? Today Pergamum is Bergama, a district and town in İzmir Province, in Turkey. [en.wikipedia.org], [britannica.com] So, in your requested sequence, one may say: comune-equivalent: Bergama regione-equivalent: İzmir Province, in the Aegean region of Turkey continent: Asia, more precisely western Asia or Asia Minor / Anatolia in the older historical idiom. [en.wikipedia.org], [britannica.com], [whc.unesco.org] If you want the driest Speranza-style formulation: Pergamum is now Bergama, İzmir, Turkey; ancient Mysia, modern western Anatolia.