The Inscriptions

The artwork “The Inscriptions” (Le Epigrafi) by Ale Senso was created as part of the project “In the Footsteps of the Arvales. Voices and Images from the Origins of Rome to Contemporary Times,” curated by the Muri Lab APS Association. This project aims to connect archaeology, contemporary art, and urban narrative in the heart of the Municipio XI district.

The project, promoted by Roma Capitale – Department of Culture, is the winner of the Public Notice Artes et Iubilaeum – 2025. It is funded by the European Union Next Generation EU for large tourist events under the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), measure M1C3 – Investment 4.3 – Caput Mundi.

Description: the artist visited the National Roman Museum – Baths of Diocletian, where some fragments of the original decoration of the Temple of the goddess Dia are preserved, along with the largest number of inscriptions drafted by the Arvales, the acta Arvalium. These records allow us to know in depth where, when, and how the Arvales gathered and which rituals they performed.

Ale Senso was thus inspired by the slabs exhibited in the museum’s small cloister (chiostro piccolo), which come from the sacred grove of the Arvales (lucus), today located at Magliana Vecchia. In particular, the artist chose 5 inscriptions whose contents seemed particularly interesting to her.

Materials Used: stabilized adhesion primer, enamel paints on wall.

Location: Piazza Madonna di Pompei, at the foot of the staircase on Via di S. Rufo.

Mural Execution Date: between July 12 and July 18, 2025.

Photos of the artwork

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Or to learn more about the inscriptions reproduced on the mural:

The first inscription, top left, represents three fragments of a calendar, the so-called Fasti. Among the marble slabs found in the 1867-1869 excavations, some report part of the Roman calendar indicating the festivals celebrated during the year and the lists of magistrates, consuls, and praetors, in charge between 18-19 and 25–27 AD. The rites began on the ninth day, at the rising of the Gemini constellation, which was May 27th according to the Julian calendar (even Varronian year) or May 17th (odd Varronian year). Since it was a movable feats (annual festival with a set duration but a variable start date), it was not indicated in the public Fasti and had to be publicly announced each year. The acta fratrum Arvalium (the records of the Arval Brethren) had precisely the function to complete the Fasti calendar adding the dates of the celebrations and what was carried out by the members of the college.

Varro established the foundation date of Rome ab urbe condita (from the founding of the city) based on a list of consuls he considered reliable as a point of reference for the dating system. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC. It is a solar calendar of 365 days, with 1 leap day every 4 years. Compared to the actual solar year, it generated an error of about 11 minutes per year, which was corrected with the Gregorian calendar by Gregory XIII in 1582.

The second painted inscription is located beneath the calendar inscription that was just analyzed.

K mais in luco deae Diae piaculum factum per calatorem et publicos eius sacerdoti ob ferrum in latum in aedem caussa porcam et agnam opimam

This can be translated as: “On the Kalends of May (May 1st, the festival of Flora) in the grove of the goddess Dia, an expiatory sacrifice was made by the calator of her priest and the public officials present, involving an instrument of iron brought into the temple, for the sake of a sow (porca) and a fat lamb (agnam opimam).”

This is the record of an expiatory sacrifice performed in May 81 AD, but established in 80 AD (and thus understood as pertaining to the previous year) under the Emperor Titus. This sacrifice was intended to appease the gods for the act of introducing iron into the lucus deae Diae (the sacred grove of the goddess Dia) in order to engrave the inscriptions.

The calator was usually a freedman, whom each member of the Arval brethren had to assist him in the ceremonies. The calator was an attendant of the magister (the presiding officer) and acted in his behalf during the expiatory sacrifices in the sacred grove.

The third inscription is taken from the same slab as the previous one and is located further down.

Loca adsignata in amphitheatro L. Aelio Plauzio Lamia Q Pactumeio Frontone acceptum ab Laberio Maximo procuratore pr… Evennuleio Apronano mag curatore praet… fratribus arvalibus meniano I cun XII grad… grad VIII pedv LI f ped XXXXII s gradv…V cun VI gradib marm IV gradv… summo in ligne tab LIII… XI ped V s

Which we can translate as: “Seats assigned in the [Flavian] Amphitheater by L. Aelius Plautius Lamia and Q. Pactumeius Fronto, received from Laberius Maximus, procurator praetor… Evannuleius Apronianus, magister curator praetor… to the Arval Brethren, maenianum I, cuneus XII, steps… VIII, 51 feet in front, 42 feet in back, steps… V, cuneus VI with IV marble steps… in the highest wooden median at tabulatio LIII… XI feet V in front.”

This fragment is a record dated back to 81 AD that mentions which seats, including their measurements, were assigned in the Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum) to the minor college of the Arvales. In addition to the 8 steps in maenianum I and the 6 in the upper maenianum II, they were assigned 11 steps in the highest maenianum summum in ligneis (of wood) at tabulatio LII. The Arvales thus had 12 seats in the 2 lower balconies and 12 seats for their helpers in the last wooden balconies. The highest maenianum (seating tier) was divided into as many tabulationes (sections) as the number of the spaces among the columns of the portico. Therefore, women and the Arvales sat in the portico, leading to the hypothesis that other priestly colleges may also have had reserved seating in this sector.

This inscription is of extreme interest to scholars because it mentions the maenianum primum (with a minimum of 8 marble steps divided into cunei), the maenianum secundum (also divided into cunei), and the maenianum summum in ligneis (with a minimum of 11 wooden plank seats). This clearly attests that already in the inauguration year 80 AD even the highest part of the amphitheater had been constructed, with the exception perhaps of decorative details that were later completed by Domitian (81–96 AD).

The fourth inscription partially reproduces a small fragment dated back to the 1st century AD under the Emperor Tiberius.

In 27 AD the magister (presiding officer) reports an error committed during the ritual manipulation of the cereals (fruges), and the subsequent decision by the college of pontiffs to decree an expiatory sacrifice (piaculum).

The fifth inscription reproduces a small fragment of the 1st century AD under the Emperor Caligula.

In 39 AD, sacrifices were performed on the Capitoline Hill to celebrate the birthday of Antonia Minor -mother of Claudius and Germanicus, and thus Caligula’s grandmother- who died two years earlier in 37 AD. Ceremonies for Caligula’s imperial acclamation are also mentioned, as well as he Kalends of April, April 1st.

The inscription on the top right is a free interpretation by the artist and the curators-, a signature and title for the entire project.

Idibus iulis anni MMXXV hodie novi Arvales convenerunt ad ritos antiquos recreandos consociatio Muri Laboratorium investigatione historica et memoria contulit er artifex Alexandra Sensus eos coloribus et imaginibus ad vita revocavit

Which can be translated as: “On the Ides of July of the year 2025 (July 15th), new Arvales gathered today to recreate the ancient rites. Muri Lab Association contributed historical investigation and memory, and the artist Alexandra Senso (Ale Senso) recalled them to life with colors and images.”

The inscription on the side of the wall is the famous Carmen Arvale (Arval Hymn):

E nos, Lases iuvate! (Ter) Neve lue, rue, Marmar, Sins incurrere in pleores! (Ter) Satur fu, fere Mars, limen sali, sta ber ber (ter) Semunis alternei advocapit conctos (ter) E nos, Marmor, iuvato! (Ter) Triumpe Triumpe Triumpe! (Ter)

Translation: O Lares, help us! Let not blight, nor ruin, O Marmar, Be permitted to fall upon many! Be filled, O fierce Mars; Leap upon the threshold, stand there! The Semones shall call upon all in turn. O Mars, help us! Triumph, triumph, triumph! (Stamp your foot three times)

The priests, enclosed in the Temple of the goddess Dia, recited the hymn, singing and dancing to a 3/4 rhythm (tripodatio). The first 5 Saturnian lines were repeated three times at a very slow pace, with groups responding to one another. The final triumpe (without aspiration) is a triumphal exclamation that initiated the dance called tripudium. The style of the text is particularly solemn, and the invocations to the divinity are repeated. The Semones are the deities of the seeds .

During the construction of the new sacristy of the Vatican in 1778, a slab with a copy of the Carmen Arvale dated to May 29, 218 AD was found. The carmen or hymn was probably composed between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, but we know it in the version commissioned by Augustus (late 1st century BC – early 1st century AD) to revive and preserve the traditions of the ancestors, although in cases like this its actual meaning had likely become obscure. In the chant, the help of Mars (god of war) and the Lares (spirits of the deceased ancestors) is invoked so that they prevent the fields from drying up and ensure they remain fertile and fruitful.

According to one interpretation, this hymn can be understood as an invocation to the ancient Marmar, the Wolf God, son of the She-Wolf Goddess—that is, the greed that devastates the seeds conserved for the next sowing. Therefore, he is commanded to stop and not to cross the threshold of the temple, to prevent the seeds from being corrupted by rodents, humans, or diseases. The gods of the seeds, the Semones, are then invoked to help to protect the seeds stored in the ollae (bulging terracotta containers).

The scholar Scheid, who dedicated much of his research to the topic, observes that in the carmen, the brethren prayed the Lares to help them, and Mars to prevent Dissolution and Destruction from striking the people. This was followed by the invocation to the Semones and again a request for help to Mars, with the final repetitions of the shout triumpe, “victory.”

Reference Bibliography:
J. Scheid, Gli Arvali e il sito ad Deam Diam, in R. Friggeri, M. Magnani Clementi, C. Caruso, Terme di Diocleziano. Il chiostro piccolo della certosa di Santa Maria degli Angeli, Milano 2014

M. Colagrossi, L’anfiteatro Flavio nei suoi venti secoli di storia, Firenze-Roma 1913

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