FIG. 210. UNDER SIDE OF LAMP WITH SIGNATURE OF FORTIS (BRIT. MUS.).
The signatures are usually abbreviated, the full form being ex officina (officinatoris), the name being consequently in the genitive. On a lamp from Rome is EX · OF · AIACIS, ex officina Aiacis.[[3050]] Sometimes, but rarely under the Empire, the nominative is used: A.B. fecit, or more commonly A.B.f. Thus we have AVGENDI, ATIMETI, C . IVLI NICEPHORI, or ASPRENAS, FELIX, TROPHIMVS. But where a single name occurs it is rarely full enough to show the case. On a lamp at Dresden the potter Diomedes calls himself LVCERNARIVS.[[3051]] From the second century down to the time of Augustus the name may be either in the nominative or genitive, either the praenomen and nomen, or the nomen or cognomen only; these signatures were all incised while the clay was moist. In the period represented by the third class (see p. [401]) nearly all the signatures are cognomina simply, as ATIMETI, COMMVNIS, FORTLS, STROBILI, all in the genitive. In the fourth class, or lamps of the second century, the nominative is very rare; the names are usually abbreviated, and one (cognomen), two (nomen and cognomen), or three may be found. Potteries were, as we have seen, often owned by women, hence female names are not uncommon. Abbreviations of a particular name vary considerably; for instance, L. Caecilius Saevus appears as L · CAEC · SAE, L · CAE · SAE, L · CA · SAE (see below, p. [428]); L. Fabricius Masculus as L · FABRIC · MASC, L · FABRIC · MAS, L · FABR · MASC, FABRIC · MAS, and so on.[[3052]] Or the praenomen may vary, and for C · OPPI · RES we find L · OPPI · RES; or, again, the cognomen, as in the case of C. Junius, where it may be Alexis, Bitus, or Draco,[[3053]] or of L. Munatius, found with Adjectus, Restitutus, Successus, Threptus, and Philemo.[[3054]] The variations in the names may denote potteries in connection, or successive holders of one business. In one instance the name of a workman PVLCHER occurs with that of Fabricius Masculus, in another that of PRIMVS with C. Oppius Restitutus.[[3055]] Greek names, where they occur, seem to imply that the potters were freedmen, as in the case of Dionysius, Phoetaspus, and others.
The following list gives the names most frequently found, with the localities in which they occur[[3056]]:—
Annius Serapiodorus (ANNI · SER): Rome, Ostia.
C. Atilius Vestalis (C · ATILI · VEST): Rome, Italy, Gaul, Britain.
Atimetus: Italy, Gallia Narbonensis, Pannonia.
L. Caecilius Saevus (L · CAE · SAE): Rome, Southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Gallia Narbonensis, Britain.
Clodius Heliodorus (CLO · HEL): Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul.
C. Clodius Successus (C · CLO · SVC): Rome, Gaul, Sardinia, Africa.