A New Epigraphic Find from Lucena (Cordoba): The Epitaph of Deutera

Abstract

This paper presents the edition of a new funerary inscription recently discoverd within the municipal territory of Lucena (Cordoba). It is a white limestone stele preserving the epitaph of a woman named Deutera, dated to the Julio-Claudian period. The find is remarkable for its onomastic interest, as the uninominal structure of the name suggests that she was a slave, reinforced by the Greek origin of the anthroponym, which is moreover sparsely attested in Hispanian epigraphy. Consequently, her attestation in such an early historical context, within an area of incipient Romanization, allows us to suggests a link with a family of Roman citizens or or with a deeply Romanised. In this regard, a possible association with the Fuficii is proposed, a gens of propable Italic origin, possibly settled in Augusta Firma (Astigi), which may have owned rural estates in what is now the Campiña Sur and Subbética regions of Cordoba.