Akten des 15. Internationalen Kolloquiums zum Provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffen
Der Stifter und sein Monument Gesellschaft – Ikonographie – Chronologie 14. bis 20. Juni 2017 Graz / Austria
Barbara Porod – Peter Scherrer (Hrsg.) Schild von Steier Beiheft 9
Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Archäologie der Karl-Franzens- Universität Graz [VdIGraz] 16
Herausgeber Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH Archäologie & Münzkabinett
Akten des 15. Internationalen Kolloquiums zum Provinzialrömischen Kunstschaffen Der Stifter und sein Monument Gesellschaft – Ikonographie – Chronologie 14. bis 20. Juni 2017 Graz / Austria
Barbara Porod – Peter Scherrer (Hrsg.)
ISBN 978-3-903179-13-4
ISSN 2078–0141
Redaktion Barbara Porod
Lektorat Barbara Porod, Karl Peitler, Erwin Pochmarski Y'Plus Rechbauerstraße 17/1, 8010 Graz
Grafische Konzeption Lichtwitz – Büro für visuelle Kommunikation
Satz Beatrix Schliber–Knechtl
Druck Dravski tisk d.o.o.
Für den Inhalt der Beiträge sind die Autorinnen und Autoren verantwortlich.
Graz 2019 Inhalt
6 Vorwort 128 Piotr DYCZEK New Imperial Sculpture from 8 Bojan DJURIĆ Ancient Rhizon/Risinium – The Logistics behind Ancient Art Montenegro The Case of Noricum and Pannoniae 138 Audrey FERLUT 40 Mela ALBANA Les piliers à quatre divinités Il medico in età imperiale fra autorap- Un culte militaire des provinces de presentazione e realtà sociale Gaule Belgique et des Germanies
52 Cristina-Georgeta ALEXANDRESCU 152 Vassiliki GAGGADIS-ROBIN Denkmäler des Iupiter Dolichenus- Urnes funéraires et sarcophages Kultes aus der nördlichen Moesia romains à deux places Inferior 164 Nadežda GAVRILOVIĆ VITAS 66 Iva CIGLAR – Jernej UMEK – People behind the Faces: Jasna VINDER Iconography and its Meaning on The Marble Part of an Aedicula from Funerary Monuments in the Wes- the Velenik Hill near Slovenska tern Parts of the Central Balkans’ Bistrica (Slovenia) Roman Provinces
74 Lara CLEMENTE 182 Maria Elena GORRINI – I mausolei del suburbio di Napoli tra Mirella T. A. ROBINO ricerche storiche e nuovi dati archeo- The Rediscovery of a Sarcophagus logici Lid from Ticinum (Regio XI)
86 Maria-Pia DARBLADE-AUDOIN 192 Jasna JELIČIĆ RADONIĆ – A new Marble Portrait from Lyon: Ana TORLAK Lucius Aelius Caesar Sculptures of the Imperial Cult in Salona 94 Nicolas DELFERRIÈRE – Anne-Laure EDME 198 Stephan KARL – Jörg FÜRNHOLZER Polychromie et monuments funéraires Das römerzeitliche Marmorstein- L’exemple de la Gaule de l’Est bruchrevier Spitzelofen in Kärnten – Ergebnisse einer archäologisch- 112 Zdravko DIMITROV topografischen Untersuchung Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria – Data from Sarcophagi Owners, Tomb Com- plexes, Decoration
4 210 Stylianos E. KATAKIS 348 Mathieu RIBOLET Bemerkungen zur spätantiken À la mémoire des élites? La Skulptur aus Aptera und West-Kreta restitution des grands monuments Alte und neue Funde funéraires d’Agedincum (Sens, France) 224 Philip KIERNAN Staging and Experiencing the Gods 366 Isabel RODÀ DE LLANZA – in Romano-Celtic Temples Magí MIRET-MESTRE Un grand masque à l’ager 236 Anja KLÖCKNER – Michaela STARK Tarraconensis (Hispanie citérieure) Der Stifter und sein Schmuck Männer mit Fingerringen auf 374 Claudina ROMERO MAYORGA Grabdenkmälern der Nordwest- und Gaius Accius Hedychrus − Donauprovinzen An Approach to the Role of Religion in the Provincial Society 250 Johannes LIPPS of Lusitania Ein monumentaler Tempel im römischen Ladenburg? 382 Mirjana SANADER – Mirna VUKOV Einige Überlegungen zum Kult der 262 Carlos MÁRQUEZ liburnischen Gottheit Latra The Seated Statue of Divus Augustus Pater Found in the 392 Katarina ŠMID Province of Baetica The Orpheus Monument in Ptuj Some New Observations 274 Branka MIGOTTI The Interdependence of the Epitaph 404 Cristina SORACI and Portraiture in Interpreting Donne, pane e annona nel mondo Inscribed Funerary Monuments romano
284 Sorin NEMETI – Irina NEMETI 414 Marianne TABACZEK Votive Practices and Self-Represen- Ein Relief mit Reiterkampf aus tation in Potaissa (Dacia) Neumagen
298 Aleksandra NIKOLOSKA – 424 Johanna TRABERT Slavica BABAMOVA Ehrenbasen und Ehreninschriften A Group of Funeral Stelae from the aus Aesernia Region of Veles, Macedonia 444 Stefan TRAXLER – Felix LANG – 306 David OJEDA Manfred HAINZMANN Tre statue loricate provenienti dal Hercules im Kalkbrennofen teatro di Tarragona Ein bemerkenswertes Ensemble von I supporti delle sculture romane Steindenkmälern aus Lauriacum/ (Stützen) come metodo di datazione Enns
314 Simona PERNA 454 Jurica TRIPLAT The Social Value of Funerary Art Evidence for Roman Intelligence Burial Practices and Tomb Owners Services along the Eastern Adriatic in the Provinces of the Roman Coast Empire 466 Mojca VOMER GOJKOVIČ 328 Erwin POCHMARSKI – In their Honour and Memory Ingrid WEBER-HIDEN Grabaltäre im nördlichen Noricum – 470 Adressen der Autorinnen und Die Denkmäler und ihre Stifter Autoren Ikonographische Auswertung der Grabaltäre im nördlichen Noricum
5 The Social Value of Funerary Art Burial Practices and Tomb Owners in the Provinces of the Roman Empire Simona PERNA
Introduction communities through the display of exclusive funerary items. This article first summarises the general charac- The historical period that followed the triumph of terisitics of the urn type – the “tureen”1 – that emerges Octavian Augustus witnessed major socio-political as predominant in both urban and provincial tombs changes across the Roman empire. As a result, many with a particular focus on its manufacture technique individuals, especially the most prominent members of and geographic spread. Then, I review the contextual the single communities, began to seek distinct means information, especially modes of deposition and grave to advocate their social prestige and power. This was goods, as well as textual evidence on the tomb owners achieved especially in the funerary sphere through from selected case studies amongst the better pre- the adoption of articulated funerary rites and items served provincial contexts, in particular in France and that aimed at emphasizing the social standing of the Libya. I hope to use these case studies to show the deceased. Among the exhibited burial apparatus we social value of these funerary objects which represen- find cinerary urns carved out from coloured stone. A ted the artistic and material response to specific socio- vase-shape, skillful workmanship and the precious political and ritual dynamics within changing societies materials – such as Egyptian alabaster and purple por- across the Roman empire. phyry – set these urns aside from most of Roman urban and provincial funerary sculpture. The small number of The tureen urns: aspects of iconography, materials extant examples suggests that these urns were rarer and carving procedure than others, while the funerary contexts where they were found point to high status tomb owners. The use The tureen urns constitute only a portion, albeit of such urns is recorded in élite tombs in Rome and predominant with 64 out of 117 examples, of a group Italy from the early Augustan period. What is more, as of funerary vases in exotic stone that came into use early as the Claudian period, these containers began to in Roman burials from the Caesarian period. Given the appear in funerary contexts belonging to wealthy local typological variety of the remainder of these urns in benefactors of some important provinces (Southern respect to the tureens, they have been labelled non- France, Southern England, Libya, Dalmatia). tureens.2 Not only is the tureen the prevailing type, The dynamics of consumption and geographic distribu- but it also emerges as a purposely created funerary tion of this form of Roman funerary art, particularly in container in respect to most non-tureens, which often provincial contexts, provide the subject matter for this consist of recycled, more ancient existing vases. The paper. I focus on the people behind the urns, in particu- tureen urns are characterised by a series of recurrent lar provincial élite, urban magistrates and villa owners, idiosyncratic features: a deep hemispheric body resting through a contextual survey of the burial evidence to on a convex foot, a domed lid culminating in a high reconstruct the social and ritual pattern of use of these piriform finial and one set of ring handles projecting objects. These urns, I argue, embodied the aspirations from the body and presenting leaf-shaped attachments of prominent provincial individuals who wished to [fig. 1]. Despite this apparent stylistic homogeneity, address their social and cultural identity within local the tureen occurs in three distinct subtypes due to
314 the changing profile of the body and its proportions: those of rebirth and purity, and these appear to have A (height>width), B (height=width), C (height
315 The tureens’ geographic distribution and contexts Breakdown of the tureen findspots across the Western Empire 26 of use
The current evidence regarding the geographic distri- 7 bution of the tureen urns, based on the known find- 4 2 2 spots, shows they mainly appear across the Western 1 1 1 part of the Empire, but according to a rather irregular pattern or clusters of concentration in certain areas [fig. 3]. Twenty-four out of forty-two tureens were found in Italy while eighteen come from burial contexts excavated across the provinces [fig. 4]. If we break fi g. 4 Graph of the full breakdown of the tureens from the Western Pro- these figures down, we have that in Italy the highest vinces (in their Latin names). number of find-spots is recorded in Rome and its envi- rons with a total of sixteen tureens out of twenty-four.
Aquileia; 1 Therefore, the number of tureens found in Latium is Rimini; 1 greater than that from all the other Italian regions put Taormina; 1 together [fig. 5]. The tombs that yielded tureens were Pompeii; 1 located along the main consular roads leading to and Syracuse; 2 from Rome in areas falling within the fourteen Augus-
tan regions of the city (from 7 BCE) and its suburbs. Aquileia 1 The remaining eight tureens that are said with varying Rimini Lecce1; 2 Taormina 1 Rome and Latium; 16
degrees of certainty to come from Italy were disco- Pompeii 1 vered at the suburban necropolises and street-side Syracuse 2 Lecce 2 cemeteries of sites corresponding to one-time Roman Rome and Latium Breakdown of the tureen findspots in Italy and total number by site 16 colonies and municipia spread among the eleven fi g. 5 Augustan regions of the peninsula and Sicily [fig. 6]. Graph of the full breakdown of the tureens from Italy. The find-spots of the remaining eighteen tureens are spread over a geographical area that encompasses the western provinces of the early Empire. These include:
examples and the difficulty in saying how far the use of these urns goes in the second century CE. Similarly, the contextual data concerning the other Italian find-spots are only broadly indicative of the date of deposition, the contexts having been roughly assigned by the excavators to the first century CE on stylistic grounds. Only Pompeii with its terminus ante quem of fi g. 3 Map of tureen fi nd- 79 CE provides a more reliable chronology represented spots across the by the early Augustan date of the tomb and the date Mediterranean of the eruption. In all the dateable provincial contexts, (author/Google Earth©). the tureens seem to occur from the Claudian (mid-first century CE) as indicated by the London tureen, found in an area corresponding to modern Warwick square, in the heart of the City of London,6 to the Antonine (mid eight in France (seven from the south and one from second century CE) period as indicated by the tureen Metz, in the north-east), four in Libya (Leptis Magna), found at Aix-en-Provence. Within this chronological two in Croatia (Pula, Salona), two in Egypt (Alexandria), frame we may locate the other tureens found in France, one in England (Warwick Square, London) and one in at Leptis Magna, at Salona in Dalmatia7 and near Spain (Seville). Seville in Hispania Baetica, where a tureen was fortui- The datable contexts in Rome suggest a relative tously found in a rural area presumably corresponding chronology of use spanning from the end of the first to ancient Conobaria8..Based on this, I suggest that the century BCE (early Augustan period) with a peak of use, thus the production, of the tureens was indeed a occurrences from the mid-end of the first century CE phenomenon ascribable essentially to the Julio-Clau- (Julio-Claudian to Flavian). This cannot be securely dian period as confirmed by all the dateable examples, confirmed given the high number of de-contextualised although evidence points to tureens still going in the
316 fig. 6 Map of Italy show- ing the distribution of the urns in colou- red stone by known find-spots (author: Mariarosaria Perna).
mid second century CE. The literary anecdotes on of burial of these urns, and rich caches of grave goods Septimius Severus also confirm this.9 Therefore, it (jewellery, coins and vessels) buried with or within cannot be excluded that tureens were still in use in the them, attest to displays of status and conspicuous provinces, while in Rome itself production had probably funerary expenditure. Textual evidence confirms that already ceased. The fortune of this shape across the the deceased were members of the high-ranking élite Western Empire reveals a shared taste in the latest in Italy and Rome,10 where the social fabric of the funerary trends by people who sought to distinguish wealthy was complex and deeply stratified, embracing themselves in death by means of these exotic contai- members of the Julio-Claudian family11 as well as ners in fancy materials. Indeed, 42 tureens in total are imperial liberti,12 while evidence exclusively for civic recorded as coming from wealthy urban and provincial élite members emerges from the provincial contexts, tombs. Elaborate funerary monuments, the methods particularly those of Leptis Magna and France.
317 What’s in a tomb? The tureen urns and tomb owners the third storey culminated in a tholos with Egyptian in the provinces Aswan granite columns. The shape of the roof is unknown, but for some it culminated in a dome. It has The most conspicuous number of tureens outside of been argued that it would have been one of the most Italy was recovered in France at different times in impressive funerary monuments in Aquae Sextiae. The the past with the earliest discovery dating to the 19th canopy-and-base was one of the most common types century and the most recent to 2003. Seven tureens of Roman funerary architecture from the end of the come from Southern France, the ancient Roman second century CE and a favourite means of funerary province of Gallia Narbonensis13 [fig. 7], and one from display and representation of the wealthy, but also one the north-eastern Grand Est region, once falling in the of the most complex to define due to the many vari- province of Gallia Belgica. Except for two tureens from ants found across the Roman Empire.17 This monument the modern cities of Nîmes (ancient Nemausus) and of type was very common in northern Italy and became Aix-en-Provence (ancient Aquae Sextiae) and one from widespread in many other Roman provinces, also owing a necropolis excavated at Vaison-la-Romaine (ancient to the agency of incoming Italian stonemasons.18 In Vasio), four were found in rural areas in the environs of Gallia Narbonensis, the most famous example is the Nîmes and of Montpellier.14 Metz (ancient Divodurum Iulii’s at Glanum-St. Remy, to which the Aix monu- Mediomatricorum) in the Lorraine region represents the ment has been compared for location, typology and easternmost find-spot of ureens in France.15 because it supposedly belonged to an important local élite family. The question of its ownership, however, is strongly dependent on an inscription, no longer in situ, which discordant sources attribute to the Aix monument [fig. 10]. The inscription consists of two large fragments recently reunited and analysed by Christol, Gascou and Janon.19 The text mentions three men, Sextius Iulius Verus, Sextius Iulius Paternus and fig. 7 Marcus Iulius, their voting district (Voltinia tribus) Map of tureen find- and military careers. The men were the equites Sextii spots from Sou- Iulii related with each other being the father and thern France (Narbonensis) uncle respectively of the man mentioned first. Their (Author/Google offices included the military tribunate in the legio VII Earth©). Gemina Felix and the legio VIII Augusta respectively, and the flaminate. Paternus had also been a duovir or quattourvir. The importance of this family is further The funerary monument and the porphyry tureen dedi- confirmed by other epigraphic evidence from Aix.20 cated by an equestrian family from Aix-en-Provence to Moreover, the surnames suggest that they descended a young senator-to-be represents an eloquent starting from the first Gallo-Romans to be granted Roman point for understanding the socio-cultural value of these citizenship by Julius Caesar. The inscription has been funerary urns in provincial contexts. A three-storey in fact dated to the second century CE on stylistic monument, known as Tour d’ Horloge, demolished grounds, thus confirming, and confirmed by, the chro- between 1778 and 1786 stood at about 9 metres from nology of the mausoleum provided by the urn’s coin. the Porte d’ Italie, a gateway through the ancient walls Drawings of the monument before demolition show the of Aix-en-Provence to the city’s extramural area16 [fig. inscription on its base; however, its pertinence to the 8]. During the monument’s demolition two white marble tomb and funerary destination were long contested. cinerary urns and the porphyry tureen were discovered, Nevertheless, these seem to be further corroborated on the top, middle and bottom storey respectively. The by the discovery inside the monument of as many urns tureen was sealed inside a stone box fastened by four as were the men commemorated by the epitaph. The iron clamps and placed on a thick masonry block. Two first man to be mentioned in the text, Sextus Iulius coins were found inside the urn, a silver denarius of Verus, died before the other two, thus the monument Trajan and a copper (?) of Lucius Verus, struck 161–166 would have been built in his memory. Consequently, CE, which was relatively new when deposited inside the the porphyry tureen sealed in the monument’s base tureen, thus contemporary to the period of deposition. could be his. According to the commentators, when the The original appearance of the monument, which was a inscription was carved the father and the uncle were base-and-canopy tomb, has been reconstructed through at the height of their military career, while he must 18th century drawings [fig. 9]. It would have been twenty- have died at a relatively young age as suggested by his four metres high resting on a large square podium. The short cursus honorum. Nevertheless, he is addressed second storey was cylindrical with semi-columns, while as laticlavius, a title designating equites admitted to
318 fig. 10 Image of the inscription presumably pertaining to the Tour de l’Horloge of Aix-en-Provence (after Christol et al. 2000, 32 fig. 6). fig. 8 Porphyry tureen from Aix-en-Pro- vence (Malgouyres 2003, 55 no. 9). the senatorial order but still awaiting the completion of military training before taking on their first public office.21 It can thus be inferred that Sextus Iulius Verus was a senator-to-be, born into an equestrian family, and designated patron of the colony, an honorary title passed on from father to son. Therefore, if the perti- nence of the inscription to the monument were upheld and the first man named in the inscription was indeed the same person buried in the porphyry tureen, the choice of the purple stone for his funerary container could be aptly read and understood as a tribute paid to this young local benefactor and senator-to-be who died before seeing his career fulfilled. Moreover, a bulla (now lost) was reportedly found inside the stone box next to the porphyry tureen. This discovery encouraged a previous reading PVERO of the word later corrected as Vero and the hypothesis that the urn contained the remains of a child. If the bulla existed, seeing that pro- bably the deceased was an adult male, like the other two, the object may have been deposited by his urn for its apotropaic function or because it symbolically refer- red to both the deceased’s young age and premature death. Despite being a later example of tureen use, this monument represents an eloquent case in point of the social importance of this funerary trend and its resonance amongst those civic élites that had experi- enced socio-cultural change following the Roman con- quest. Indeed, when the tureens began to peak, that is in the Julio-Claudian period, Narbonensis Gaul had already been a Roman province for about 160 years.22 The establishment of the Colonia Narbo Martius had encouraged the Roman presence that increased even further when Caesar’s army veterans settled in the area after 45 BCE, while Nemausus, a colonia Latina fig. 9 18th century engravings showing the Tour de L’Horloge at Aix-en- from 28 BCE, had become the second most important Provence prior its demolition in 1786 (after Landes 2002, 180 no. Roman centre of the province. On the whole, the pro- 3a.) vince had a population that included Roman incomers,
319 local freeborn élite with Roman citizenship and liberti earliest phase of the complex, was unique and possibly who had reached high offices within their communities belonged to one of the estate’s owners. This seems to and had access to senatorial careers through links with be confirmed by Woolf who argued that élite burials on Rome by the Antonine period, as in the case of the private estates, villas or farms were the norm in Narbo- Sextii Iulii23. Therefore, the high number of cremations nensis Gaul.27 Consequently, it can be plausibly argued within tureens in such ethnically and socially challen- that despite their unpretentious appearance, these ging an area as Narbonensis is unsurprising as people simple graves could be just as indicative of the high fig. 11 would have found in this funerary practice an ideal status of wealthy patronage as masonry tombs. Receptacle of the tureen B from Leb- means to project their identity of incomers or empha- Indeed, most of the burial evidence from the provinces rija (Sevilla) (after size their new socio-cultural connection with Rome. show a slight bias towards the wealthy, primarily Rodríguez-Oliva The Sextii monument belongs to the series of Roman because throughout the Roman world the wealthy pos- 1994, 240 pl. VII). masonry tombs (e.g. multiple hypogeal chambers, sessed a greater ability compared to any other social altars, precincts, temple/houses, base-and-canopy, group “to represent their lifestyle and outlook”.28 In columbaria) in Rome, Italy and the provinces that yiel- general, the importance of the grave, whether modest ded tureen urns and of which the size, decoration, or ostentatious, in Roman society should never be inscription and location aimed at celebrating the sta- overlooked. Moreover, already by the mid-first century tus of the person commemorated. However, it remains CE restraint, and not ostentation, characterized élite the only tomb of this kind in France to have yielded a burials, in contrast with the extravagance of non-élite fig. 12 tureen, as most of the examples recovered there were burials,29 and many social groups selected unpreten- The tureen B from buried in “simple graves”. These correspond to the tious and more humble tombs like these. These simple Meynes and its grave goods (after definition of “unadorned holes in the ground for both graves may thus represent the proof that not all the Gallia 1964, 501 fig. inhumation and cremation” given by Toynbee,24 howe- wealthy shared the same desire to be buried in a visi- 29). ver, they often present an internal structure consisting ble funerary monument, but still decided to invest into of a receptacle lined up with irregular stone blocks or a a costly cinerary container, which, in some cases, may “box”. The recorded French examples consist of crema- represent the lifetime investment of people who, com- tion graves, where the urn was placed along with the pelled by the desire to distinguish themselves in grave goods, and are similar to the other provincial death, put all their financial efforts into a “fancy” burials of this type that are known to have yielded coloured stone urn. As seen above, some of these buri- tureens, such as the one discovered near Seville [fig. als yielded rich funerary caches and, despite the type 11], thus also confirming Toynbee’s view of these buri- of grave, pointing in an apparent contradictory direc- fig. 13 als occurring primarily in Roman provinces. These sim- tion, these confirm the standing and ambition of pro- The tureen B from ple graves are regrettably anonymous and visibly not vincial tomb owners through high funerary expen- Montpellier on dis- play at the Musèe des ostentatious in respect to the masonry tomb discussed diture. For example, the tureen discovered at Beaux Artes in Lyon above; however, it can be argued that despite their Montpellier was also buried in an anonymous simple with the two alabas- unpretentious appearance, they could just as equally grave and was accompanied by a prefericulum in the ter vessels (Photo: http://p9.storage. be indicative of the relatively high status of their shape of a trilobed jug (Greek oinochoe) with a high canalblog. owners as the masonry tombs. These French burials, in single handle and a patera with a long handle termina- com/91/82/ fact, yielded the highest number of grave goods known ting in a ram’s head30 [fig. 13]. Despite being quantita- 137895/ 73533248_p.jpg to have been found with tureens. Moreover, despite tively low, these grave goods are qualitatively high. (accessed giving the impression in some cases of being isolated These vessels are stone skeuomorphs of pottery as 19.10.2012). graves, these seem to rather pertain to rural private well as metal specimens, which duly feature amongst estates and villas belonging to wealthy patrons. For the ritual apparatus of provincial burials.31 Alabaster example, the simple grave excavated at Meynes (Sou- examples are quite rare and only a few examples are theast of Chateau de Clausonne)25 that yielded a calca- known to date, such as the patera and the prefericu- reous alabaster tureen along with a rich assemblage of lum dating to the first century CE discovered at some fourteen grave goods was found in a small burial Begram in Afghanistan.32 The two French vases had not ground at about 200 metres east of a villa with been used as ash containers and it cannot be excluded annexed a large pottery yard [fig. 12]. Excavation that they featured in the grave as ritual symbols of revealed that the burial within the tureen urn and the libation and ablution or to signal the owner’s social rest of the cemetery were directly related to the villa, identity, his offices or priesthood. Unfortunately, due which was connected to the workshop. The production, to the lack of epigraphic evidence, the identity and which included sigillata, common ware, amphorae26 status of the individuals buried in these French graves tiles and bricks, spanned from the mid/end of the first is not clear. The social and ethnic make-up of the to the third century CE. A group of large kilns were also Gallo-Roman towns is reflected best in the funerary discovered, but not excavated. It is not known what and epigraphic record where many of the surviving the other burials yielded, but it seems that the crema- Roman-style monuments and epitaphs indistinctively tion within the alabaster urn, which is ascribable to the belong to both local indigenous and incomers, whether
320 that be civic élite, army veterans, freedmen, traders or since it protected them particularly from tomb plunde- priests. The tureen found at Nîmes33 together with an ring and weathering. This system of “Chinese boxes” assemblage of more than five objects belonged to a that sealed the tureens is widely attested, particularly male adolescent as analysis revealed. All together his in Italy and France, and eloquently communicates the was a humble grave, an impression that seems to be high value of these burials and the care put into set- confirmed by the fact that the urn itself appears to be ting them up to secure perpetual memory to the tomb reused, since the lid was missing and the body extre- owner. For example, the tureen found on a private mely tarnished at the time of the discovery. The tureen estate at Vaison-La-Romaine had been placed inside a in fact was encased in a receptacle made of large stone casket lined with lead and sealed by bronze pebbles randomly disposed directly onto the natural clamps.34 It was perfectly intact and contained a gold bed-rock. One as of Hadrian, struck 125–128 CE, had finger-ring, an ivory brooch, a clay pot, a glass flask been placed among the burnt remains together with and three clay lamps. We do not know the identity of some toiletry items including a strigil. It is possible the tomb owner, but judging by the urn and the grave that the buriers (parents?) still wanted to provide an goods, the person commemorated must have been a honourable burial for their dead, but all they could get notable woman. A similar instance may be represented hold of was a discarded or damaged alabaster urn, if by the alabaster tureen found in Metz that was inter- this was reused at all. In fact, it is equally possible red in a two-compartment stone casket along with a that the absence of an inner protective structure might limestone urn of local artisanship. The burial was in have caused the urn to deteriorate while the lid the necropolis south to the perimeter of the ancient together with upper layers of the grave might have Roman town, however, the information in hand is insuf- gone lost in soil erosion or damaged by agricultural ficient to determine its date and ownership. Neverthel- activity already in the past. Indeed, the presence of an ess, this burial, like in the Aix-en-Provence case, is illu- inner lining inside the grave or of outer caskets contai- minating in regard to the dynamics of selection, within ning the urns was determining for their preservation the same context, of two different material vehicles
fig. 14 The Western suburb of Leptis Magna (Photo: http:// www.mart-a.it/ archives/150 (accessed 19.01.2018).
321 – the alabaster tureen and the local stone urn – to locally quarried limestone from Ras-el-Hammam or rec- mark or address the different social identity of one of tangular caskets (it. a cassetta). The latter containers the tomb owners and their ability to compete in this have Semitic origins and are the commonest type of form of funerary display. funerary container in use in first century CE Romano- An analogous interpretation may be given for the Punic tombs at Leptis and in other North African areas. four tureens discovered at Leptis Magna, once in the The alabaster urn must have acted as a further conduit Roman province of Africa Proconsularis. Two different for status display in respect to both imported and local funerary contexts were excavated in more recent years urns. The coexistence of customary containers along in the coastal western suburb of Uadi-er-Rsaf, modern with urns in exotic foreign materials or shapes in the Khoms, an area once stretching north and south of the tomb seems to point to two tendencies, one orien- ancient Oea – Leptis thoroughfare [fig. 14].35 The dis- tated towards a new cultural identity, the other tied coveries included a villa with adjacent necropolis on its to ancestral traditions. The tureen was un-inscribed, western side, a portion of the ancient road and a small but the seventeen casket-urns from the same tomb cemetery with funerary precincts and hypogeal tombs. bear inscriptions: nine in Latin alphabet and eight in The necropolis where one alabaster tureen was found neo-Punic, all carved on the short sides. The caskets was located west of a villa.36 It included a total of four with neo-Punic inscriptions are stylistically earlier than hypogea, two inhumation graves and five individual the Latin ones. Five caskets bear the personal name cremation burials [fig. 15]. The predominant burial type DMN/T (Lat. Adimu; Greek Aedimon) of Libyan origins. was in fact the hypogeal multiple chamber accessible Its frequency may suggest that the caskets belonged through a shaft (It. ipogeo a pozzo) marked on the to the same familial nucleus, possibly a Leptitan élite surface by a sema. The villa complex consisted of three family, to whom the person buried in the tureen was nucleuses (A, B, C) joined together and expanded in somehow related. It is believed that given its inwards various building phases starting from the mid-end location in respect to the coastline the villa was not of the first to the fifth century CE. It had undergone amongst the richest in the area. However, judging by major restructuring during its peak period of occupa- its size and the tombs, it is likely that this complex in tion in the early Severan period (ca. 225 CE). Like in the the Leptitan suburb belonged to a wealthy family of abovementioned case at Meynes, a direct connection Punic or Libyan origins that had begun to embrace new between the necropolis and the villa may be envisa- cultural trends. ged. The hypogeum that yielded the tureen lies in the The context that yielded the other three tureens was north sector west of the villa. It is accessible through another multiple hypogeal chamber tomb dateable to a 4.5-metre deep shaft and consists of a rock-cut, the end of the first century CE – second century CE undecorated vaulted chamber of irregular rectangular on stylistic grounds.37 It was located further west of shape with one niche in the back wall. It was sealed by the villa complex along with other hypogeal tombs. fig. 15 two sandstone slabs and had been used from the mid- Unfortunately, very little is known of this tomb except Tureen C without first to the early third century CE by the same owners, for its possible pertinence to a high rank personage, inscription from a Romano-Libyan family. It hosted forty-one burials of Caius Bibius Crescens, whose name is carved on one Leptis Magna (after Libya Antiqua 1998, which thirty-seven cremations dating to the first two of the tureens [fig. 16]. The name followed by the pl. LII a). phases of frequentation (mid-first/mid-second century formula “c.v.” classifies him as a clarissimus vir, that CE). All the urns, placed directly onto the floor, had is, a senator. His tria nomina indicate that he was a been piled up against the back wall of the chamber member of a Leptitan élite family, the Bibii (?), possibly to make room for the inhumations which replaced the of Punic origins who had been granted the citizenship, cremations towards the mid-second century CE. The while Crescens was quite a popular cognomen at Lep- tureen, which is ascribable to the end of the first cen- tis. Deplorably, the complete prosopographic analysis tury CE – second century CE phase, was the only one of this personage and of Pompeia Galla, named on to be left in the primary position on the floor in front another tureen found in the same tomb, still await of the pile. It contained a fine gilded bronze oinochoe publication, thus no definite conclusions can be drawn. with long neck and two handles in the shape of two However, this context represents a further tangible standing satyrs. The jug, whose shape and decoration proof of the use of tureens by the provincial senatorial clearly hint at a Dionysiac sphere, may have been used élite. The adoption of Roman contemporary funerary in the funerary ritual possibly to pour wine to extingu- trends by the local Romano-Punic nobles clearly ish the fire before the ossilegium. Only the tureen and expressed their newly acquired socio-cultural identity a strigillated white marble urn (probably imported from and full citizenship. Italy) stand out for their quality. The other cinerary containers were either vase-shaped urns carved in the
322 in respect to others who chose less fancy containers. The production analysis of tureen urns makes apparent that the amount of labour added an extrinsic value to fig. 16 the constituent lithic material and to shipping costs, The tureen B of as they were exported as fashion went beyond Rome’s Bibius Crescens (top left) and Pom- boundaries. In fact, whilst the funerary practice started peia Galla (bottom in Rome, where production essentially took place, it right (Photo: cannot be excluded that it spread by means of social http://www.mart- a.it/archives/150 interaction between provincial élites and cannot be (accessed completely excluded that urban workshops sent out 19.01.2018). artisans to meet demand in the provinces. In many ways, the actual standardisation of the tureen shape was determined by élite embracing this form of fune- rary display. Such urns did not represent the cheapest Conclusions: The social meaning of the tureen urns alternative on the market and thus acted as a marker in provincial contexts for people’s wealth. It is apparent therefore that the possession and the display of an imported coloured Summing up, distributional data show that Italy has stone tureen was first and foremost a socially and yielded the highest number of tureens, but the total is symbolically charged act as it defined people’s social altogether low if compared to that yielded by the city image. In the absence of epigraphic evidence, beside of Rome alone, currently outnumbering the sample the grave context, clues that further contribute to with fifteen out of twenty-five examples. Secondly, the identification of the social persona are the grave the highest number of tureen urns outside Italy is goods, such as gold jewellery, personal items and ritual found in France, followed by Libya. Indeed, one of the objects, buried in or by the tureen. Moreover, some most interesting aspects is that the tureens appear other deposited luxury items, such as stone vessels, almost simultaneously in provincial tombs. This seems show how these were intended for status display to suggest either that they were moving with Roman during those funerary rituals, such as the funerary incomers or that intense social connections allowed procession or the gathering of the ashes from the pyre, the local indigenous élite to participate into wider, taking place before the public eye. In this manner, global trends. Either way, the use of coloured stone the social prominence of the deceased was further tureens shows a high adherence to a trend that was stressed and advertised one last moment before depo- embraced in Rome and other Roman Italic cities and sition into the tomb. Similarly, the tureens appearing marked newly acquired social prestige, social status in urban and provincial burial contexts alongside or even ethnic identity within the provincial commu- funerary containers in other media, often carved in nities. The consumption of coloured stone urns within humbler local materials and styles, make apparent the Roman burials mirrors, and is a consequence of the degree of competition in funerary display. Regrettably, phenomenon known as funerary monumentalisation.38 it is currently not possible to determine any other This cultural practice was set in motion in Roman Italy, crosscutting distinctions such as religious, ideological probably due to the civil war, and saw the increasing or ethnic link that may help to further interpret the adoption in many parts of the Roman world of common use of tureens. In addition, the data on gender and age models of ostentatious funerary display by the civic are too scanty, and while the current sample shows élites that sought to express and assert their identity a slight bias in favour of female individuals, it is not in the wake of major socio-political changes across possible to be sure. society. In this light, the cultural resonance of the In conclusion, this survey has made apparent that tureen urns, which began to proliferate in the Augus- coloured stone tureens alongside other funerary tan age and peaked from the Julio-Claudian period on prompts acted as a means of social and cultural across a broader geographic spectrum, is even more display in the context of death for very affluent pro- significant. It can be argued that these came to be vincial tomb owners. A form of luxury that remaining exploited by the wealthy for their increasing desire restricted to few, as the small number of examples to seek alternative funerary material means in the demonstrates, became a widely recognised and emplo- expanding first century CE Roman empire. People’s yed means to express the prestige and status of those strive for diversification must have led more and more who could afford it, whether that be members of the individuals to the selection of new media to compete civic élite or politically irrelevant wealthy individuals. with their peers and diversify their funeral from the The consumption of these urns came to signify both mass. A coloured stone urn certainly represented a differentiation and self-representation within provin- novelty, a claim in matter of taste and financial ability cial society.
323 Notes 17 Von Hesberg 1994, 156–158, 160; Toynbee 1996, 126–127.
1 18 Perna 2014. Gabelmann 1972, 101; Gros 2002, 13–32.
2 19 These can be divided into: ‘tub-pots’ (12 examples), i.e. cylind- Christol et al. 2000, 24–38. rical urns with lug handles, reused or re-cut from Egyptian and Middle Eastern squat storage jars of greater antiquity; ‘canopic’- 20 shaped urns usually without foot and handles (10 examples); A Sextius Iulius Verinus a flamen and aedilis munerarius (CIL XII and ‘miscellaneous’, variously shaped vase-urns (31 examples) 522). stone skeoumorphs of ritual metal or pottery vessels such as jugs, craters, cistae, probably put to a secondary use as ash containers. 21 Suet. Aug 38.2 tribunus laticlavius; Suet. Nero 26.3., Val. M. 5.1.7 3 laticlavia tunica. Handle types: attaching on rim (a,a1,a2), shoulder (b,b1,b2,b3) or other (c). Lid types: convex (a1,a2), domed (a3), concave/ 22 conical (b) or other (c). Finial types: piriform (a1,a2), round (b) Rivet 1988, 162–63; Woolf 1998, 35, 37–39. or other (c). Foot types: detached-high (a1,a2) or un-detached (b1,b2). These categories of course apply exclusively to genuine 23 surviving elements; in many instances there are modern replace- Hope 2001, Chapters 2, 3, 5 and 7. ments (M) or parts that are irreparably missing (0). 24 4 Toynbee 1996, 101–103. Perna 2015a, 126–130. 25 5 Chateau de Clauzonne, Private Property Mr. Meger; Gallia 1964, Perna 2015b, 1023–1027. 500; CAG 1999, 450–451 no. 166.
6 26 Perna 2015a, 130–131. Gallic G1 and G4 forms.
7 27 Jeličić Radonić – Sedlar 2011, 67–83. Woolf 1998, 166.
8 28 Rodriguez-Oliva 1994, 228 Woolf 1998, 162.
9 29 SHA. Sev.77, 15 Hope 2001, 2–10.
10 30 For example, the mid- first cent. CE Marcii Artorii Gemini or Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon; Comarmond 1855–57, 141 Sulpicii Platorini funerary monument in Rome, Perna 2012, no. 10, 142 nos. 11–12. 787–800. 31 11 Pearce 2015, 231. 238. The urn of Livilla (CIL VI 191), Germanicus’s daughter and Caligula’s sister, who died in 41 CE, found in 1777 in the gardens 32 of the Mausoleum of Augustus, Perna 2012, 787–800. Hiebert – Cambon 2011, 176–177 nos. 61. 63.
12 33 CIL VI 34939; CIL VI 22868, Perna 2012, 787–800. On avenue Jean Jaurès no. 78. Bel et al. 2005, 239.
13 34 Mejannes-les-Ales (ancient Oppidum at 60 km from Nîmes) urn Avignon, Musée Calvet, Inv. No.: L 494. Landes 2002: 222 no. 62, in Paris, Louvre; Basements Inv. No.: 3870.509; Montpellier; 234 fig. 62; CAG 2003: 443, 6, no. 006 Meynes in the Plan de Clauzonne at 20 km from Nîmes; Herault at 6 km from Montpellier urn in Montpellier, Musée Languedo- 35 cien de la Societé Archeologique; Rasteau, 10 km from Vaison-la- Excavated by the University of Roma Tre directed by L. Musso Romaine. (1994–1997) they await full publication. Information can be currently found in Libya Antiqua. 14 Records of tureens found throughout Southern France come from 36 Carte Archéologique de la Gaule Romaine (abbr. CAG). Libya Antiqua 1996, 152–168; Libya Antiqua 1997, 257–294; Libya Antiqua 1998, 176–201, 196–199. 15 Exhibition Metz 2015 < https://romaaeterna753.wordpress. 37 com/2015/09/06/exposition-tresors-des-mediomatriques- Libya Antiqua 1996, 152–153; Libya Antiqua 1998, 176–179, 182. quand-la-moselle-etait-gallo-romaine/> (30.05.2017). 38 16 von Hesberg – Zanker 1987; Fasold 1998; Bodel 1999; Morris Aix-en-Provence, Musée Grenet. Inv. No. 164; Atlas 1998, 1992; Pearce et al. 2000; Heinzelmann et al. 2001; Hope 2001; 175–194; Landes 2002, 143 no. 3 and 180 fig. 3b.; Malgouyeres Carroll 2013. 2003, 54–56 no. 9.
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