Garas Klára szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 62-63. (Budapest, 1984)
SZILÁGYI, J. GY.: VIVAS IN DEO
24—25. Early Christian gold ring. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts — including the fact that its closest parallel, the London specimen, was found in Constantinople — would indicate that the Budapest ring was manufactured in a workshop of the Greek East. The inscription around the bust — IN DEO left of the head, VIVAS to its right — does in no way contradict the above and, moreover, sets the ring apart from the sphere of court art. This is one of the most general acclamation formulas of Early Christian inscriptions: it does not in itself indicate a particular sphere of life, or the function of the object on which it was inscribed. It can be read on gravestones as a farewell to the deceased and on glass vessels as good wishes for newly weds; it often accompanies scenes from the Old Testament, catacomb frescoes and portraits; and it is also to be found on objecta of everyday life: statuettes, rings, gems, vessels." The variants of both the formula (vivas in Deum, etc.) and the orthography (bibas, vibas, etc.) reflect the Late Antique development of the Latin language. 8 It is rather conspicuous that the corresponding Greek formula (or a part thereof), either with Greek or Latin lettering, also appears alongside the Latin with varying transcriptions. 9 On drinking vessels it is usually supplemented 7 The most important surveys: C a b r o 1, F., in: Cabrol-Leclerq, Diet. Ant. Chrét. I. Paris, 1924. 250; Klauser, Th., in: RAC I. Stuttgart, 1950. 231; D i e h 1, E. — M o r e a u, J. (ed.): Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae veteres (ILChrV in the following) I 2 . Berlin, 1961. 430, ad nr. 2194 and ibid., III. 2 338—339 (Index.) On gold rings, occasionally with one or two portraits, mostly together with the owner's name: CIL III 6019, 10 (= No 11, R.: Vom Altertum zum Mittelalter. Kunsthist. Mus. Wien, Katal. d. Antikensammlung I. 1974 2 . 45, no. 72, 4th century); VII. 1305 and 1307 (the latter from Brancaster, with a double portrait and with the IN DEO VIVAS formula only); IX. 6090, 2; XII. 5692, 11; XIII. 10024, 172. 8 Variants on Christian inscriptions: ILChrV III 2 , 339, 607ff. 9 ILChrV III 2 458. Cp. G u a r d u c c i, M.: Epigráfia greca IV. Roma, 1978. 308. The reverse of this practice is also well known owing to the Late Antique interaction of the two languages; cp. Löfsted t, E.: Late Latin. Oslo, 1959. 108—111 (with further literature).
