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III. Funerary Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2016

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Extract

Gaius Caecilius Florus, the freedman of Gaius and Gaia. He lived for sixteen years and seven months. Whoever pisses or craps here, may he incur the wrath of the gods of heaven and the underworld.

Not the most decorous of epitaphs perhaps. Yet warnings of this kind were not uncommon additions to Roman tombs and presumably they refer to a common threat. This should not be taken to imply that the Romans had appalling habits or were peculiarly disrespectful towards the dead. In fact these inscriptions suggest something about the position of graves and the prominence of monuments in the lives of the living. Ancient Roman law and custom prevented burial within the religious boundary of a town – the pomerium. Consequently most burial sites were clustered around the roads that led into the town. No doubt they frequently provided a shelter for travellers to rest and relieve themselves, which was not their purpose! But in other ways the builders of funerary monuments did acknowledge and desire the attentions of the numerous passers-by.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Surveys in the Classics , Volume 34: Roman Art , 2004 , pp. 53 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2004

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References

1 CIL 6.13740. Cf. Petronius, Satyricon 71.

2 For further examples of maltreatment see Hope (2001), 2. On Roman funerary practices in general see Toynbee (1971).

3 Inscriptions: CIL 13.3983 (Belgium); CIL 11.6243 (Italy); CIL 2.558 (Spain). Cf. Davies (2000), 120–4. On streets of tombs see e.g.: Hesberg and Zanker (1987); Koortbojian (1996). On bench-tombs: Kockel (1983), 18–22, pls. 5–10.

4 Most accessibly, see Claridge (1998), 328–45.

5 Toynbee (1971), 50–4; 94–100 for gardens.

6 Generally on Roman funerary art see: Toynbee (1971); Walker (1985); Hesberg (1992); Hope (2001). North (1983) and Kleiner (1988) for reviews of recent work with some general discussion.

7 Haynes (2000), esp. 287–99, 335–42, 363–74, 378–83.

8 Davies (2000).

9 Zanker (1988), 15–18; Hesberg (1992), 94–121. Specifically on pyramid: Ridley (1992).

10 Sinn (1987) for catalogue of examples from Rome.

11 Altars: Boschung (1987); Kleiner (1987).

12 Cumont (1942).

13 E.g. Kleiner (1987), 59–88.

14 Treggiari (1969).

15 Zanker (1975); Kleiner (1977); Kockel (1993) with good photographs.

16 Licinii: Kockel (1993), 187, L17, pls. 101a, 102a&b. Generally: Zimmer (1982) with good useful illustrations. For study relating social status to gender note Kampen (1981b). Perhaps the oddest evocation of trade is the Tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces in Rome (c.30 BC). Its strange cylinders are usually thought to relate to the bread-making process which is also depicted in a sculpted frieze. His wife’s cinerary urn took the form of a bread basket. An insight into the oudook of such freedmen can be acquired from a cautious reading of Petronius, Satyricon 71–2, featuring the grotesque fictional freedman Trimalchio and his tomb.

17 Stewart (2003), esp. 102–3.

18 Wrede (1981); D’Ambra (1993b); D’Ambra (1996); Stewart (2003), 47–59. See also Statius, , Silvae 5.1.231–3 Google Scholar.

19 Kleiner (1987), 213–16, no. 83; Koortbojian (1996), 229–31. Inscription: CIL 6.1975.

20 Such visual puns were popular: Ritti (1977).

21 See e.g. Morris (1992), 31–69.

22 Koch and Sichtermann (1982), 597–634.

23 Between 12,000 and 15,000 sarcophagi are known out of an original total production of, say, half a million: Koch (1993), 1. For an overview of sarcophagi see: Koch and Sichtermann (1982); Walker (1985), 18–36; Koch (1993). The standard publication of sarcophagus reliefs is the series, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, initiated by Carl Robert in 1890; the project continues and new volumes are appearing rapidly (Berlin: German Archaeological Institute).

24 On Roman marbles in general see Claridge (1998), 38–42; Borghini (1989); De Nuccio and Ungaro (2002). On marble/sarcophagus trade: Walker (1985), 18–36 briefly, and more extensively, body of essays in Dodge and Ward-Perkins (1992).

25 Dodge and Ward-Perkins (1992). For reasons of money, or perhaps speed, the sarcophagi were often left unfinished in fact. This includes the roughed out heads that were commonly carved on them, to be ‘personalized’ later with the features of the dead individual. Some have suggested that the frequency of these ‘unfinished’ portraits can be linked to some kind of positive, deliberate motivation: see Huskinson (1998). As with other sculptures it was evidently also normal to paint and gild completed sarcophagus reliefs: Koch and Sichtermann (1982), Østergaard (1996), 112–15, no. 48 for a striking example.

26 There was also a fashion especially in the third century for sarcophagi in the form of the bath- shaped wine vat or lenos: Koch and Sichtermann (1982), 80–2.

27 Toynbee (1971), 270–1; Koortbojian (1995), 13–15.

28 Huskinson (1996); Koortbojian (1995), 6–7.

29 Besides other examples cited here note e.g. Huskinson (1996) on childhood; Huskinson (1999) on gender.

30 See e.g. Kampen (1981).

31 On this example: Walker (1985), 59–60; Walker (1990), 51–2, no. 66, pl. 26; Zanker (1995), 268–9, fig. 144.

32 Marrou (1938); Zanker (1995), 267–84 for brief and subtle analysis; Ewald (1999b). See also Huskinson (1999) on changing role of women in such scenes.

33 On social status of users see e.g. Müller (1994), 156–69; Koortbojian (1995), 14–15; Huskinson (1996), 82–5. On senatorial sarcophagi: Wrede (2001).

34 Note e.g. Seneca, De Constantia 2 on Hercules (and Ulysses) as exemplars.

35 Note Turcan (1966).

36 Myth, generally: Koch and Sichtermann (1982), 127–95; 382–422.

37 See Nock (1946) demolishing Cumont (1942); Turcan (1978); Koortbojian (1995) for mythical scenes as analogies for the deceased and exempla of virtue.

38 See Brilliant (1984), 145–61 for detailed analysis and justification.

39 Koortbojian (1995), 8, with n. 17 for further references.

40 Koortbojian (1995), 8–9. Ariadne: Walker (1990), 38. no. 43; Koortbojian (1995), 135–141, fig. 50. Muses: Huskinson (1999), 195.

41 See Brilliant (1984), 124–65 on ‘reading’ the different parts of sarcophagus sculpture and on meaningful arrangements of scenes.

42 McCann (1978), 34–8, no. 3. For overview see Koortbojian (1995), esp. 19–22, 63–113.

43 For extended discussion of this tendency see Koortbojian (1995). Brilliant (1984), 161–5 on simplification and its effects. Turcan (1987), acknowledging accidental corruption of models.

44 Koortbojian (1995), 78–84.

45 Koortbojian (1995), 145–6. Koch (2000) is a recent handbook of Christian sarcophagi.

46 See e.g. Müller (1994), 86–106, 156–69. For survey of recent work see Ewald (1999).

47 See e.g. Froning (1980), with critique of other theories; Koch and Sichtermann (1982), 246- 52, 454–5.

48 See esp. excellent overview by Müller (1994), 139–70. See Eisner (1998) for art and the ‘Second Sophistic’.

49 Theatrical connection: Turcan (1978), 1721–6. On evidence for social status see Müller (1994), 159–69.

50 Toynbee (1971), 253.

51 See Colledge (1976), 67–73 and pls. 63–94 for overview.

52 Toynbee (1971), 113–18; 188–244.

53 (G. Webster in) Henig (1993), 45–6, no. 137; Henig (1995), 107–9.

54 E.g. the fourth-century BC gravestone of the Athenian Dexileos, or Trajan as rider in the ‘Great Trajanic Frieze’ (see Chapter Six).

55 E.g. Phillips (1977). Note cautionary comments in Johns (2003), esp. 17–20.

56 For enthusiasm see Henig (1995), e.g. 9–11; Henig (2003). Contextualizing: e.g. Millett (1990), 112–17; Scott and Webster (2003).

57 Besides numerous specific catalogues, etc. note the volumes of the Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani (Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman Empire) which have been cataloguing provincial sculpture in Britain and other provinces since 1963. There is an increasing number of foreign works specifically on provincial funerary sites and monuments.

58 Scott and Webster (2003); Webster (2003), esp. 24–7. Green (1998) for Celtic British motives for development of Romano-British religious art.

59 Few have really tried to consider the artistic culture of the whole empire together. A rather outdated but important exception is Bianchi Bandinelli (1970b).

60 Schleiermacher (1984); Hope (2001), 37–49, esp. 41–2.

61 See Doxiadis (1995); Borg (1996); Bierbrier (1997); Walker (2000) - similar range of material also in first edn: Walker and Bierbrier (1997).

62 For the history of excavation and reception of the portraits see Bierbrier (2000); Fenton (1998); Montserrat (1999).

63 Doxiadis (1995), 93–102 on materials and techniques. Note also 90–92 for influence on development of Byzantine icons.

64 For a spirited attack on that view see Fenton (1998), 35–9.

65 Walker in Walker (2000), 34–6 for overview of chronological issues.

66 Walker and Bierbrier (1997), 56–7, no. 32.

67 Walker (1997); Walker in Walker (2000), 24–5.

68 Gschwantler (2000), 19–22.