Marble slab from the family tomb of a castellarius
The inscription reads:
D(is) M(anibus) / Cleme(n)ti Caesar/um n(ostrorum) / servo caste/llario aquae Cl/audiae fecit Clau/dia Sabbathis et si/bi et suis
The deceased, Clemens, controlled the distribution tanks (castella) of the Aqua Claudia (initiated by Caligula in 38 and completed by Claudius in 52), mentioned in the epigraph of the arches (now Porta Maggiore) incorporated in the Aurelian Walls (the final part of a 69 km path fed by springs from the upper valley of the River Aniene). The massive water system that served the capital of the Empire, described in a monograph by Frontinus, alone offers an indication of the magnificence of the city, divided into 14 regions and filled with fountains and thermal baths. Clemens was buried by his wife who bears, alongside a name of Semitic origin (Sabbathis), the same family name as Claudius. Perhaps the deceased (referred to generically as “slave of our Caesars”) belonged to this emperor and others who succeeded him rather than to the two co-reigning emperors: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161-169 A.D.), M. Aurelio and Comodo (177-180 A.D.) or Septimius Severus and Caracalla (198-209 A.D.).
From Rome, unknown burial monument Second half of the first – late second century A.D.
“Need an inscription carving or anything else in marble? Here you have it”
Engraved on a marble slab, the text indicated to locals and passers-by the presence of a marble worker’sworkshop, where marble was carved and epigraphs were also engraved, as the expression scribere titulus attests:
D(is) M(anibus) / titulos scri/bendos vel / si quid ope/ris marmor/ari(i) opus fu/erit hic ha/bes.
In a sign from Palermo we instead read: “Here inscriptions can be ordered and carved” (tituli heic ordinantur et sculpuntur), while another text, mutilated, possibly commemorates a Vitalis scriptor titulorum, “engraver of epigraphs”. The poor quality of the item, the messy style of the text and the mediocre engraving of the characters suggest a small shop, frequented by customers with little money and few pretensions. We do not know the location, but it may originate from the area of Campus Martius which is known to have had a high concentration of marble workshops.
Marble funerary Inscription of Caecilius Hilarius, physician to the famous Caecilia Metella. Her circular tomb is still seen as a large monument on the Appian Way south of Rome.
The inscription reads:
Q(uintus) Caecilius Caeciliae / Crassi〈uxoris〉 l(ibertus) Hilarus, medicus, / Caecilia duarum / Scriboniarum l(iberta) / Eleutheris, / ex partem dimidiae sibi êt suis.
meaning: “Quintus Caecilius Hilarus, a doctor, / Freedman of Caecilia, wife of Crassus. / Caecilia Eleutheris, freedwoman of / two Scriboniae. With the share of a half. / For himself (themselves?) and their (family).”
The doctor’s praenomen Quintus was taken from the name of Caecilia Metella’s father. Caecilia Eleutheris was Hilarus’ wife. She was the freedwoman of the two “Scriboniae,” one of whom was the first wife of Augustus (40-39 BC) and mother of his only child, Julia. The other sister was married to the son of Pompey the Great, Sextus Pompeius, who was defeated by Augustus/Octavian in 36 BC.
In the second line, the inscriber ran out of space and put the final “us” of “medicus” in small letters.
27 BC / 14 AD.
Found in Rome on the via Salaria in the so-called “Monumentum Caeciliorum“.
Marble funerary altar, carved in high relief with the figure of the deceased, named in the accompanying, elegantly carved Latin inscription as Anthus. The altar was set up by his father, L(ucius) Iulius Gamus. Although Anthus’ age is not given, he clearly died while still a child, since he is referred to as “(his) sweetest son,” and a personal touch is given to the relief by showing Anthus with his pet dog.
The inscription reads: Diis Manib(us) / Anthi / L(ucius) Iulius Gamus pater fil(io) dulcissim(o), meaning “To the Spirits of the Departed. Lucius Iulius Gamus, father, to Anthus, (his) sweetest son”.
Marble lid of a cinerary chest, fashioned to look like the roof of a barrel-vaulted building with acroteria at the corners in the form of theatrical masks and palmettes. The inscription on the front panel reads:
meaning “To the spirits of the dead, [of] Sextus Flavius Pancarpus, who lived 67 years.”
Despite the fact that the inscription mentions only a man, the lunettes at the sides show both male (globe and box of scrolls) and female (mirror and spindle) attributes, indicating that the chest also may have contained the remains of Pancarpus’ wife.
Marble cinerary chest with lid. Above the inscription is a scene in which the deceased, standing on a pedestal, is making an offering to a female figure, perhaps Tellus (mother earth), who reclines on a couch bedecked with flowers. They are attended by two young servants, holding food and wine. The chest is in the form of a pedimental building, with flaming torches taking the place of columns at the corners.
The latin inscription reads:
Dis Manibus. / M(arcus) Domiti/us Primigenius fecit sibi / et suis, libertis libertabusq(ue) / posterisque eorum.
It translates: “To the spirits of the dead. M. Domitius Primigenius made [this] for himself, his freedmen and freedwomen, and their descendants.”
