The House of Apuleius is to the east and north of the Four Small Temples, and seems to have been intimately related to the temples. Therefore the original house may have been owned in the first century BC by a Publius Lucilius Gamala who was responsible for the construction of the four temples. Stamps on lead waterpipes suggest that in the second century AD the owner of the house was Lucius Apuleius Marcellus, who had then taken over the house from the Gamala family. In 1989 Filippo Coarelli presented the hypothesis that this was Apuleius of Madauros (a city in the north-east corner of modern Algeria), the author of the famous novel The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses.
In the novel Apuleius, calling himself Lucius, is changed into an ass by a witch. He then experiences many adventures in Greece and hears many stories, including the famous love affair of Cupid and Psyche. Eventually he becomes human again by eating roses. He owes his return to normal to Isis and her main priest, named Mithras. Finally, in Rome, he is initiated into the mysteries of Osiris by Asinius Marcellus. This will be the start of his successful career.
According to Coarelli, Apuleius was the driving force behind the erection of a monument for this Asinius Marcellus, his patron, in the area in front of the four temples. He would also have been responsible for the building of the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres to the west of the house. These events would have taken place in the years 145-152, when we believe that Apuleius was active in Rome.[1]
Plan of the area. Pansini 2017, fig. 3.
A clue for dating the House of Apuleius could come from the excavation of drainage channels in the area in front of the Four Small Temples. The tiles with which they were covered had dated stamps, from 123, 145 and 148 AD the excavators say. There is a small error in the reports, but the date range remains the same.[2]
Plan of the area in front of the Four Small Temples.
A round fountain is marked "g", a presumed base for an equestrian statue "d".
Note three late burials. Image: Paribeni 1914, Tav. II.
The area in front of the Four Small Temples, seen from the north. Photo: Paribeni 1914, fig. 9.
Also in the area in front of the temples lead waterpipes were found with stamps: in 1886 L(uci) Apulei Marcelli A(uli) Fabi Diogenis, in 1905 L(uci) Apulei Marcelli, and in 1913 A(uli) Fabi Diogenis M(arcus) Quintilius Ortphus fec(it) (where Ortphus must stand for the plumbarius ("plumber") Orpheus).[3] From the accounts of the excavators Marilena D'Asdia has deduced that they belong to one pipe branching off: the fragment found in 1886 belongs to the first stretch of the pipe, a branch with the fragment from 1913 fed a round fountain, while the fragment from 1905 continued in the direction of the House of Apuleius. Although it is hazardous to deduce ownership of a building from a stamp on a waterpipe, it is therefore conceivable that the House of Apuleius was owned by Lucius Apuleius Marcellus. The house could have been built around 150 AD in view of a contemporaneous drain. Coarelli points out that in the first half of the second century the Gamala family, presumed owners of the house, may have gone through a crisis: a son was adopted by Cnaeus Sentius Felix. In the years 171-180 AD we encounter a prosperous Gamala again, who had restored the easternmost of the four temples, dedicated to Venus (an altar with the inscription VENERI SACRVM is still in situ).[4]
Lead waterpipe with the stamp L(uci) Apulei Marcell[i]. Photo: D'Asdia 2002, fig. 2.
In front of the second temple from the west is a concrete base (2.60 x 1.40 with a foundation of 3.15 x 1.90) that according to Roberto Paribeni supported an equestrian statue, opposite what may have been a temple of Ceres. According to Coarelli an inscription that was found nearby belongs to it. It mentions the erection of an honourary monument, by decree of the local senate, for Quintus Asinius Marcellus, patron of Ostia. Coarelli suggests that this Quintus Asinius Marcellus is the son of a consul with the same name from the Trajanic period. The son is usually thought to have died by 141 AD, because his brickyards had passed to his daughter Asinia Quadratilla. Coarelli suggests another possibility: he may still have been alive, and the brickyards were part of his daughter's dowry.
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Q(uinto) ASINIO Q(uinti) F(ilio) TROM(entina) MARCELLO CO(n)S(uli) PRAETORI Q(uaestori) AVGVS(ti) CURIONI SALIO PALAT(ino) TRIB(uno) MIL(itum) LEG(ionis) III AVGVS(tae) XVIRO PATR(ono) COL(oniae) DECVR(ionum) DECRETO PVBLICE |
To Quintus Asinius, son of Quintus, of the tribe Tromentina Marcellus. Consul, praetor, quaestor of the Emperor, Salian priest on the Palatine, tribune of the soldiers of the third Imperial legion, Decemvir, patron of the colony By decree of the city council, publicly. |
| Marble slab, h. 0.71, w. 0.67, th. 0.07. Reused as cover of a drain in the area of the Four Small Temples. EDR072724. Photo: ICCD F019471. |
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Here lies one of the arguments for Coarelli's hypothesis that Lucius Apuleius Marcellus was the famous author Apuleius of Madauros. In Apuleius' novel The Golden Ass the main character, Lucius, an alter ego of Apuleius, is initiated in Rome in the cult of Osiris (Serapis) by a priest called Asinius Marcellus. According to Coarelli this is the Asinius Marcellus for whom the statue was erected. The initiative would have come from Apuleius. Marcellus would have been the patron of Apuleius in Rome and Ostia, and Apuleius' cognomen may be a tribute to him. Note that, referring to his former transformation into an ass, Apuleius says that Asinius Marcellus is "a name quite relevant to my transformation": asinus means "ass".
| Prohinc me quoque peti magno etiam deo famulum sentire deberem. Nec diu res in ambiguo stetit: nam proxuma nocte vidi quendam de sacratis, linteis iniectum, qui thyrsos et hederas et tacenda quaedam gerens ad ipsos meos Lares collocaret, et occupato sedili meo religionis amplae denuntiaret epulas. Is ut agnitionem mihi scilicet certo aliquo sui signo subministraret, sinistri pedis talo paululum reflexo cunctabundo clementer incedebat vestigio. Sublata est ergo post tam manifestam deum voluntatem ambiguitatis tota caligo, et illico deae matutinis perfectis salutationibus summo studio percontabar singulos, ecqui vestigium similis sit ut somnium. Nec fides afuit: nam de pastophoris unum conspexi statim praeter indicium pedis, cetero etiam statu atque habitu examussim nocturnae imagini congruentem, quem Asinium Marcellum vocitari cognovi postea, reformationis meae non alienum nomen. Nec moratus conveni protinus eum, sane nec ipsum futuri sermonis ignarum, quippe iamdudum consimili praecepto sacro-rum ministrandorum commonefactum: nam sibi visus est quiete proxuma, dum magno deo coronas exaptat, et de eius ore, quo singulorum fata dictat, audisse, mitti sibi Madaurensem sed admodum pauperem, cui statim sua sacra deberet ministrare; nam et illi studiorum gloriam et ipsi grande compendium sua comparari providentia. | Hence I ought to consider that I was being asked to become the servant of this great god [Osiris] as well. The issue did not for long remain undecided, for next night one of the initiates appeared in a dream before me clad in linen garments. He was bearing thyrsus-rods and ivy, and certain objects which must not be revealed. These he set before my household gods, and then settled himself on my chair, and gave notice of a sumptuous religious banquet. To allow me to recognize him by a clear identification-mark, he walked gingerly with hesitant step, for his left heel was slightly misshapen. In view of his clear intimation of the gods' will, the entire cloud of my uncertainty was dispelled. As soon as my early-morning respects to the goddess [Isis] had been paid, I began to ask each and everyone with the greatest animation whether anyone had a walk as in my dream. Confirmation was forthcoming, for I at once set eyes on one of the pastophori who coincided exactly with the vision of the night, not only by the evidence of his foot, but also by the rest of his build and by his dress. I later discovered that he was called Asinius Marcellus, a name quite relevant to my transformation. I approached him there and then; he was well aware of what I was about to say, for he had been already similarly instructed to conduct the initiation. The previous night he had had a vision: while he was adorning the great god with garlands, he had heard from the statue's mouth (this is the means by which Osiris proclaims the future of individuals) that a man from Madauros who was quite poor was being sent to him, and that he must at once initiate him into his divine rites. By the god's providence this man would gain fame in his studies, and the priest himself would obtain a rich reward. |
| Apuleius, The Golden Ass XI, 27. Translation P.G. Walsh. | |
The documentation of the Asinii in Ostia was studied in detail by Fausto Zevi.[5] He notes first of all that the location of the equestrian statue points to an act of munificence by Asinius Marcellus, regarding the temples or nearby buildings. Zevi does not exclude the possibility that the inscription is linked to Asinius Marcellus junior, but prefers to think of the Trajanic consul. The son was also honoured with a statue, witness another but similar inscription, reused in the pavement near the Capitolium and the Baths of the Forum. The family had close ties with Ostia for quite some time. Caius Nunnidius Fortunatus, an officinator (master-workman) in the brickyards, working for the son and later for his daughter Quadratilla, was buried in the Isola Sacra necropolis of Portus.
View of the Isola Sacra necropolis. At the far left is the tomb in which Caius Nunnidius Fortunatus was buried. Photo: Gerard Huissen.
The House of Apuleius is related to the four temples, but also to the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres: a few steps lead to the mithraeum. This shrine became the "hinge" of the entire complex: it is precisely on the north-south axis of the temples. The mosaics in the mithraeum show a unique order of the planets, but, says Coarelli, scholars have overlooked that an almost identical order is found in two works by Apuleius. The only discrepancy is the order of Mars and Venus, who have changed position. This may be due to the presence of the mosaic dagger near the entrance, the weapon of Mars. Now in The Golden Ass a prominent role is played by a priest of Isis called Mithras (in Greece, before the initiation in Rome). In the novel, Lucius has been changed into an ass by a witch. In Kenchreai he returns to human form during the Navigium Isidis, the "Ship of Isis", a feast celebrated on 5 March: he eats roses from a garland carried by the priest. Mithras then initiates him in the mysteries of Isis, after which Lucius leaves for Rome:
| At sacerdos ut reapse cognoscere potui, nocturni commonefactus oraculi miratusque congruentiam mandati muneris, confestim restitit, et ultro porrecta dextera ob os ipsum meum coronam exhibuit. Tunc ego trepidans, assiduo pulsu micanti corde, coronam, quae rosis amoenis intexta fulgurabat, avido ore susceptam cupidus promissi devoravi. Nec me fefellit caeleste promissum: protinus mihi delabitur deformis et ferina facies. Ac primo quidem squalens pilus defluit. | What happened next made me realize that the priest recalled the divine message which he had received the previous night. He registered astonishment at how the task laid upon him had materialized; he halted abruptly, stretched out his right hand unprompted, and dangled the garland before my very face. Then in trembling haste (for my heart was beating wildly), I seized with greedy mouth the garland which gleamed with its texture of beautiful roses. I was eager to see the promise fulfilled, so with even greater eagerness I bolted it down. Nor was I cheated of that promise from heaven, for my ugly animal form at once deserted me. |
| Nec me fefellit vel longi temporis prolatione cruciavit deae potentis benignitas salutaris, sed noctis obscurae non obscuris imperiis evidenter monuit advenisse diem mihi semper optabilem, quo me maximi voti compertiret, quantoque sumptu deberem procurare supplicamentis; ipsumque Mithram ilium suum sacerdotem praecipuum, divino quodam stellarum consortio, ut aiebat, mihi coniunctum, sacrorum ministrum decernit. | The saving kindness of the powerful goddess [Isis] did not fail or torture me with lenghty delay, but in the darkness of the night by commands by no means dark she clearly warned me that the day I had always desired had arrived, on which she would bestow on me my greatest ambition. She also explained how much I needed to contribute to pay for the ceremonies; and she appointed Mithras himself, her own high priest, to carry out the ritual, since she said that he was joined to me by some divine conjunction of our stars. |
| Complexus Mithram sacerdotem et meum iam parentem, colloque eius multis osculis inhaerens veniam postulabam, quod eum condigne tantis beneficiis munerari nequirem. Diu denique gratiarum gerendarum sermone prolixo commoratus, tandem digredior, et recta patrium Larem revisurus meum post aliquam multum temporis, contendo; paucisque post diebus, deae potentis instinctu, raptim constrictis sarcinulis, nave conscensa Romam versus profectionem dirigo; tutusque prosperitate ventorum ferentium Augusti portum celerrime ac dehinc carpento pervolavi, vesperaque quam dies insequebatur Iduum Decembrium sacrosanctam istam civitatem accedo. | I embraced Mithras, the priest who was now my father. I clung to his neck and kissed him repeatedly; I begged him to pardon me for being unable to offer him worthy recompense for such great kindness. After remaining for some time prolonging my words of thanks, I eventually parted from him. I hastened by the shortest route to set eyes once more after this long lapse of time on my ancestral home. A few days later the powerful goddess moved me to pack my bags in haste, and to board ship. I set out for Rome, and very quickly arrived safe and sound through the favour of a following wind at the Port of Augustus. From there I speeded along by carriage, and on the evening of 12 December I reached the sacred city. |
| Apuleius, The Golden Ass XI, 13, 22, 25-26. Translation P.G. Walsh. | |
The Mithras-specialist Roger Beck accepts Coarelli's hypothesis, particularly because of the presence of Quintus Asinius Marcellus in the area: "To suppose otherwise is stretching coincidence too far".[6] Coarelli is mistaken however when he traces the unique order of the planets in the shrine to works of Apuleius. The order in the mithraeum has been called unique, because it is not the order that was favoured during the Imperial period (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon). The order of the planets described by Apuleius is a known and older (Platonic) order (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Moon). But this too is not the order in the mithraeum: the Sun (Mithras himself), Mars and Venus are out of position. Beck argues that the planets are a reference to the spring equinoxes (21 March) of 172 and 173 AD. He suggests that the mosaic is a later change to the mithraeum, if that was indeed built around 150 AD.
Schematic representation of the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres. Beck 2006, p. 104 fig. 3.
Beck draws attention to the cosmological aspect of the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry, writing at the end of the third century, informs us of the function and design of the archetypal mithraeum in his essay On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey. Porphyry explains that the Mithraists "perfect their initiate by inducting him into a mystery of the descent of souls and their exit back out again, calling the place a cave. This cave bore for him the image of the cosmos which Mithras had created, and the things which the cave contained, by their proportionate arrangement, provided him with symbols of the elements and climates of the cosmos". The "elements" are the planets and the background of stars that constitute the Zodiac. The Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres is the most explicit example of Porhyry's description that has been preserved, it is the most 'learned' of all mithraea.
It would be going too far to try to explain in detail exactly how the mithraeum is to be understood. Let it suffice to say that the mithraeum focuses on the journey and salvation of the soul, which "takes place" in the shrine. This quest brings to mind the famous and central story of Cupid and Psyche in The Golden Ass: the Soul in her quest for Love. Beck also points out that the gods who were worshipped in the Four Small Temples (Venus, Fortuna, Ceres, and Spes) figure prominently in the novel. The temples may have been one of the templates for the composition of the novel.
Now what about the House of Apuleius itself? The mosaics were published by Giovanni Becatti. Fairly detailed descriptions of the rooms were made by Antonella Pansini, but unfortunately the building has not yet been examined by a masonry dating specialist.[7] Opus mixtum in the building has been assigned to the Trajanic or Hadrianic period, opus latericium to the second half of the second century, opus vittatum to the third or fourth century. There is a succession of floors, assigned to the early second century, the middle of that century, and the early third century. The date of the waterpipes is by no means certain.
D'Asdia added another piece to the puzzle. An emblema in the centre of a geometric mosaic in the house had a depiction of a chariot and a charioteer holding the palm of victory (the mosaic is intact, but the emblema has been removed and disappeared). It was accompanied by the text MVSC[---] IN COL[---]. D'Asdia has suggested that we should read Musclosus in colonia. Musclosus is known as the name of two succesful charioteers. In the epitaph of one of them, from Rome, we read that he was married to Apuleia Verecunda. Her name could be associated with that of Lucius Apuleius Marcellus. We should note that the man was buried in Rome. Only one other Lucius Apuleius is known from Ostia: Lucius Apuleius Luci libertus Bacchius.[8]
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D(is) M(anibus) MVSCLOSO A(gitatori) F(actionis) R(ussatae) NAT(ione) TVSCVS VIC(it) PAL(mas) DCLXXXII A(lba) III P(rasina) V V(eneta) II R(ussata) DCLXXII APVLEIA VERE CVNDA CONIVNX M(arito) C(arissimo) P(osuit) To the Di Manes. For Musclosus, charioteer of the red faction, of Tuscan origin. He won 682 palms: 3 for the Whites, 5 for the Greens, 2 for the Blues, 672 for the Reds. Apuleia Verecunda, his wife, had this monument erected for her dear husband. |
| The funerary inscription of Musclosus, found in Rome. EDR139037. | |
We should also have a look at the date of Apuleius' novel. The adventures of the ass are also told in a short story entitled Lucius or The Ass (traditionally attributed to the second-century author Lucianus, but probably in error). It has a different ending, not as told by Apuleius in the closing book of the novel, the "Isis-book". There was a longer Greek version of the adventures, called the Metamorphoses of Lucius of Patras. The text is lost, but it was seen by the ninth-century church leader Photius. He believes that Lucius was the author, but we should probably understand the last part of the title as "experienced by Lucius of Patras". This work must have been written at the end of the first or in the first half of the second century. Modern scholars are inclined to think that it was the example for Apuleius' work. There is still no agreement however about the date of The Golden Ass. Proposals range from the late 140's to the late 180's (a summary in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt says: "probably no earlier than the 170's").[9]
Apuleius-the ass takes human form. Illustration from a 14th century manuscript.
Image: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, manuscript Vat.lat.2194.
Coarelli's hypothesis remains attractive. The striking mosaic, the architectural relation between the mithraeum and the four small temples, the names Asinius Marcellus and Lucius Apuleius Marcellus: in how much coincidence do we want to believe? At first sight it seems that the work of Zevi and Beck weakens the hypothesis. Coarelli squeezes all the events in the years around 150 AD, but Zevi links the inscription from the area of the four temples to a Trajanic Asinius Marcellus, and Beck places the mosaic in the mithraeum in the years 172-173 AD. In reality however the two scholars make the hypothesis more intelligible. By concentrating the events around 150 AD we are left with the question how a young newcomer in Ostia could have acquired a house in such a prominent position, and was allowed to build a mithraeum on such a significant spot (even as a private shrine it must at least have attracted the attention of the mayors, the city council and the priest of Vulcan, the main religious authority in the city). We can now describe the sequence of events in a more natural way, as follows.
Around 100 AD the Ostians wished to thank their patron, Quintus Asinius Marcellus (senior). The family of the Asinii Marcelli was befriended with that of the Lucilii Gamalae, an ancestor of which had built the four small temples. Thus the location of the equestrian statue, in front of the temples, could be chosen. Several decades later, in the 140's, the young Apuleius from North Africa was introduced in Rome with the help of another Quintus Asinius Marcellus (junior). The two shared an interest in mysteries and magic. The Asinii Marcelli had a house in Ostia, and Apuleius visited the family there. He will also have met the Lucilii Gamalae. Apuleius then started his many travels. Around 170 AD he wrote "The Golden Ass". In the final book of the novel he paid tribute to his old patron. He came to Rome at the occasion of the publication and of course went to Ostia, to visit the Asinii Marcelli (the daughter, Quadratilla, and her father, if he was still alive) and the Lucilii Gamalae (the prosperous Gamala, documented in an inscription from 171-180 AD). He was offered the house next to the temples and the space to build the mithraeum. Gamala joined the celebrations by restoring the temple of Venus, who has a prominent role in the novel. Apuleius may have left the further use of the house to his familia.
The altar dedicated to Venus from the temple.
Photo: Klaus Heese.
Finally, inevitably, we must mention the House of Cupid and Psyche. The story of these two lovers is the most famous tale in Apuleius' novel. From the house comes an equally famous statue of the two. It was made and placed in the house in the second quarter of the fourth century AD. Was the owner inspired by the fomer presence in Ostia of the novelist?
Cupid and Psyche. Museo Ostiense. Photo: Carole Raddato.
In the early fifth century Augustinus mentions Apuleius' novel in The City of God, writing about "what we should believe concerning the transformations which seem to happen to men through the art of demons":
| Nam et nos cum essemus in Italia audiebamus talia de quadam regione illarum partium, ubi stabularias mulieres inbutas his malis artibus in caseo dare solere dicebant quibus vellent seu possent viatoribus, unde in iumenta ilico verterentur et necessaria quaeque portarent postque perfuncta opera iterum ad se redirent; nec tamen in eis mentem fieri bestialem, sed rationalem humanamque servari, sicut Apuleius in libris, quos asini aurei titulo inscripsit, sibi ipsi accidisse, ut accepto veneno humano animo permanente asinus fieret, aut indicavit aut finxit. | Indeed we ourselves, when in Italy, heard such things about a certain region there where landladies of inns, imbued with these wicked arts, were said to be in the habit of giving to such travellers as they chose, or could manage, something in a piece of cheese by which they were changed on the spot into beasts of burden, and carried whatever was necessary, and were restored to their own form when the work was done. Yet their mind did not become bestial, but remained rational and human, just as Apuleius, in the books he wrote with the title of The Golden Ass, has told, or feigned, that it happened to his own self that, on taking poison, he became an ass, while retaining his human mind. |
| Augustinus, De Civitate Dei XVIII, 18 (Quid credendum sit de transformationibus, quae arte daemonum hominibus videntur accidere). Translation Marcus Dods. | |
(1) There are many uncertainties concerning the chronology of Apuleius. He was probably born in the period 120-125 AD. The years suggested for the stay in Rome are plausible. We do not know where and when he died.
(2) There is some confusion about the brick stamps. Paribeni (1944, 477) says: "In queste fogne erano messi in opera mattoni coi bolii C.I.L. XV, 932 c, 1070, 1071, 1364, quest'ultimo databile all'anno 148 d. Cr.". This is quoted by Coarelli (1989, note 24) as: "Bolli: CIL XV 932c (123); 1071 (145); 1364 (148)". Number 932 is dated to 123 AD, but there is no 932c. Number 1070 seems to be early-Antonine. Number 1071 is dated to 145 AD. Number 1364 is dated to 123 AD, not 148 AD. To this may be added number 2165, dated to c. 145-150 AD (Bloch in SO I, 221; Vaglieri in NSc 1913, 174: "Nel tratto della via innanzi all'area dei quattro tempietti vengono in luce a nord varie rovine di costruzioni diverse e di diverse epoche, che non è ancora possibile né di descrivere, né di identificare. Nella copertura della fogna che le taglia si è riconosciuto un mattone sesquipedale con la marca C.I.L. XV, 2165 (circa della metà del secondo secolo). Nella fogna stessa poi si raccolsero quattro lucerne della forma Dressel 27, di cui una con la nota marca ostiense di Annio Ser(apione?); cfr. C. I. L. XV, 6296 a, e un'altra con orlo stondato intorno al disco, e la marca: IVcVNDI"). The lamps with number 6296 were produced at the end of the second and in the first half of the third century.
(3) D'Asdia 2002. The find from 1886 is described by Rodolfo Lanciani in NSc 1886, 163. His words suggest that the two names are on the same pipe. What has been preserved today are two fragments that are not identical: one has an outer diameter of 0.09 and an inner diameter of 0.065, the measurements of the second fragment are 0.095 and 0.075. The second fragment is mentioned by Giuseppe Gatti in NSc 1905, 84, the third by Dante Vaglieri in NSc 1913, 205. On Diogenes see also Bruun 1998, 271.
(4) Adoption: EDR146424; prosperous Gamala: EDR143921; temple of Venus: EDR165862.
(5) Zevi 2005. The second inscription is EDR106554. The funerary inscription from the Isola Sacra necropolis (tomb 81) is EDR101459.
(6) Beck 1979; Beck 2000; Beck 2006, 102-115; Beck 2017. I did not see R. Beck, "Lucius and the Sundial: A hidden chronotopic template in Metamorphoses 11", in M. Zimmerman and R. van der Paardt (eds), Metamorphosic Reflections: Essays presented to Ben Hijmans at his 75th Birthday, Leuven 2004, 309-18, and R. Beck, "Divino quodam stellarum consortio coniunctum: The astrological relationship of Lucius to the priest of Isis as a 'chronotopic' template for Apuleius, Met. 11", in C. Santini et al. (eds), Concentus ex dissonis: Scritti in onore di Aldo Setaioli, Napoli 2006, Vol. 1, 85-96.
(7) Mosaics: Scavi di Ostia volume IV; Pansini 2019; valuable remarks also by Patrizio Pensabene (2007, 114-118).
(8) The other Musclosus is mentioned in an inscription from Rome dated to the years 146-150 AD (EDR102150). Bacchius: EDR172978. There are a few more Luci Appulei with a double p: EDR031469, EDR151155, EDR170976.
(9) H.J. Mason, "Greek and Latin Versions of the Ass-Story", ANRW II.34.2, Berlin - New York 1994, 1665-1707; R.G. Summers, "A Note on the Date of the Golden Ass", AJP 94,4 (1973), 375-383; V. Hunink, "The Date of Apuleius' Metamorphoses", Hommages à Carl Deroux II, Bruxelles 2002, 224-235.