Titulus

In the display case, it is possible to admire some fragments of the Titulus, dictated by the historian of the Lombards Paul the Deacon, which once stood on the walls of the Palatine Chapel to celebrate Arechis II and the palace he had built at Salerno. During the archaeological excavations, 11 fragments of the precious original epigraphy have been found. The support consists of white marble slabs of oriental origin, 34.5 cm high and 4.2 cm thick, three of which preserve a number of engraved letters "in flat groove". It allowed some holes to fix the corresponding metal letters, probably of gilded bronze. The characters of the titulus inscriptions are in uppercase and their base had a rectangular shape with a 16.5 cm height that corresponds to the mid-foot used in high medieval Salerno. The shapes, sizes, and the techniques of engraving, well attested by the records of monumental triumphal arches of the Roman imperial tradition, immediately evoke the grandeur and prestige of the classical era, and well-correspond with the fragments of opus Sectile that decorated the floors and walls of the palatine Chapel. Thanks to the manuscript tradition, the original text of the seven opening lines is known:

[Chri]ST[E SALUS UTRIUSQUE DECUS SPES UNICA MUNDI] |
[DUC A] GE DUC C[LE]M[ENS ARICHIS PIA SUSCIPE VOTA |
PERPETUUMQUE TIBI HAEC CONDAS HABITACULA TEMPLI. |
REGNATORI TIBI SUMME DECUS TRINOMINIS ILLE |
HEBREAE GENTIS SOLYMIS CONSTRUXIT ASYLUM |
PONDERE QUOD FACTUM SIC CIRCUMSEPSIT OBRIZO |
DUXIT OPUS NIMIUM VARIIS SCULPTUMQUE FIGURIS |
BRAC(TEATIS)...]

«O Christ, salvation, glory, and only hope for both worlds Come !, Help, direct graciously, and Embrace the pious vows of Arechis, and your glory forever shall build this temple. For you, high sovereign, he built a dwelling worthy of the Jewish Jerusalem of the three names. Once completed, he adorned it with pure gold thereby greatly increasing its value with various figures of splendid metal foil...».