About the Inscription
Inscription for Coelia Hagne
Marble, cippus
Roman Period (1st or 2nd century CE)
Pozzuoli, Italy. G. De Criscio collection, 1899. KM 869
Inscription:
D(is) M(anibus) / Coeliae Hagne / obsetrici / M(arcus) Ulpius Zosimus / coniugi sanctissim(ae)
Translation:
To the Shades of the Underworld: for Coelia Hagne, a midwife. Marcus Ulpius Zosimus [made this] for his most pious wife.
Coelia’s Story
Browse Objects
Scroll down to explore some items in the Kelsey Museum that would have been familiar to Coelia.
Statue of Aphrodite
Aphrodite, or Venus, was a key figure in the Roman pantheon; indeed, she gave birth to Aeneas, the mythical founder of the Roman people. Among her many forms and responsibilities, Aphrodite was associated with love, fertility, pregnancy, and motherhood. Given her role in protecting mothers, children, and family lines, Coelia and her patients may have prayed or made offerings to Venus, along with other goddesses associated with pregnancy, such as Juno and Diana.
Aureus of Faustina the Younger
Gold coins such as this one (called aurei) were minted in Rome during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE), a particularly strong and powerful period of the empire. They are decorated with portraits of the imperial family: Antoninus Pius; Empress Faustina; their daughter, Faustina the Younger; and her husband, future emperor Marcus Aurelius. Both mother and daughter were praised as perfect examples of Roman marriage and motherhood. This coin celebrates Faustina II’s many successful pregnancies and her role in raising the imperial family.
Karanis Poppy Seeds
Medical practitioners like Coelia were aware of several different uses of the poppy plant (opium), from eating the seeds to employing its latex to suppress hunger, ease pain, and induce sleep. Ancient medical texts contain remedies and prescriptions for the poppy’s use in women’s health. Coelia possibly employed poppy extract to provide for the health of Puteoli’s women. The dangers of opium were well known to Greek and Roman physicians, so she would have used this medicine with care.
Medical Tools
Tweezers, a curette (a small spatula for mixing and applying medicine), one or more probes, and a sharp blade: these were the most common tools in a doctor’s kit. To keep these objects close at hand, doctors often suspended them from a common ring, much like a key chain. Coelia would have carried her own set of medical tools with her when visiting her patients.
