Of the eighteen epitaphs found in Briord, three are of presbyters. For the two other presbyters, see [1847] and [1850]. The latter is the epitaph of Presbyter Amatus, the same who in this inscription presents himself as antistes. Both the title he adopts for himself and the location of the enigmatic Veserontia have been the subject of scholarly discussion.
Veserontia is probably the same place which was mentioned by Gregory of Tours as the location of the battle between Franks and Burgundians at which King Chlodomer lost his head (both figuratively and literally): Veserontia locus urbis Viennensis (Histories, III.6). The most likely identification is that with present-day Vézeronce-Curtin, some 50 km east of Vienne and 15 km south of Briord. Other locations which were also proposed, such as Vérisieu, have now been discarded as not evidence-based.
As to the antistes, the older editors of this inscription largely considered it a title for a bishop, which seems impossible to defend: 1) Veserontia was certainly not the episcopal see; 2) in the epitaph of Amatus [1850], he is presented as a presbyter. Descombes also rejects the possibility that Amatus could be a chorbishop, claiming that this title was introduced to the West only in the 8th century, which, however, is contradictory with the acts of the Council of Riez (Gaul, AD 439), see e.g. [382] and [404]. I agree, nevertheless, with Descombes that there is no reason to assume that Amatus was a chorbishop: a presbyter could call himself an antistes (see e.g. [1351]), just as could be titled sacerdos, although this was very rare. Finally, it is plausible that Amatus was an archpresbyter, as Descombes suggests, given that it was a customary title to all semi-independent parish priests in rural areas. Contrary to Descombes, however, I do not think that there is a connection between Amatus' archpresbyterate and his title of antistes: any presbyter could be called that, especially when he is addressing himself by this title in the epitaph he ordered to be engraved.
The 3rd year of indiction probably indicates the year 630, as from the epitaph of Amatus himself [1850] we learn that he died in 633 or 634, at the age of 48. Thus, the year 615 (of the 3rd indiction as well) is somehow less probable, since Amatus would have then been an antistes at Veserontia while being only 29 or 30 years old.