The question ‘inscriptional or non-inscriptional’, i.e. whether an epigram had an original epigraphic context, has already been raised a number of times. It is particularly crucial when epitaphs specify humiliating or/and harrowing causes or circumstances of death. Modern scholarship tends to assume that “epitaphs would not normally give a dishonourable cause of death”, and to regard funerary epigrams doing so as literary jeux d'esprit; epigrams with over-vivid descriptions of drownings may encounter a similar presumption. These preconceptions will be challenged here, and an epigraphic context asserted for some such epigrams. It will be argued that, while openly scoptic epitymbia are very likely to be fictitious, the culture of antiquity was less sensitive about what modernity would see as embarrassing, heart-rending or macabre details of a death. Indeed an inscribed epigram portraying the circumstances of death in emotionally and psychologically gripping ways could achieve what epitaphs sought to do – attract the gaze of passers-by amid a large number of competing tombstones. Epigrams about individuals who died from drink, or drowning, or both, will be the main focus of discussion.

Death caused by wine

A number of epigrams from the Hellenistic to the Imperial era record a form of death that might seem particularly damaging to the reputation of the deceased – from excessive drinking. Sensible Greeks and Romans naturally did not approve of an addiction to wine so serious that it could kill the addict, nor did they favour habitual drunkenness; the alcoholic and the dedicated drunk might be the butt of disapproval and mockery. But ancient attitudes to wine-drinking were not those of today. Wine was the staple accompaniment to food in an era without most modern beverages, and it was a key ingredient in many ancient medical therapies. Wine was moreover the gift of a god, an essential element of most religious rituals, and a sacred substance that united Dionysus with his worshippers; hence heavy drinking was a concomitant of festivals. The status of wine rose in the Hellenistic period: Dionysus was then more prominent as a saviour god, Dionysiac thiasoi and koina were widespread, and the worship of Dionysus was almost mandatory for poets and artists of all types. Hence the ancient world was, broadly speaking, more tolerant of occasional excessive indulgence in wine, especially by men; and even long-term heavy drinking might be greeted with a cheerful or blasé acceptance.