1 Earliest Rome

(ThyIandcrU952)A25)
4.13 The house-tomb
1. Tomb entrance, c. 1.4m. high. It would normally have been closed with a wooden door,
framed in iron and clad in lead.
2. Masonry couches - for feasting. A funeral feast was held at the tomb on the day of the
funeral, and another on the ninth day afterwards. Other meals might be taken at the
tomb through the year, as relatives and friends commemorated the deceased on their
birthday and on public festivals concerned witli the dead - such as the Parentalia
(Scullard (1981)74-6).
3. The inscription (flanked by two small windows) survives:
To the spirits of the departed. Quintus Appius Sattirninus, son of Quintus, built this for
himself and for Annia Donata, his well-deserving wife, and for their children and ex-
slaves, male and female, and for their descendants. This tomb shall not follow the heir,
and may the right of sale not be allowed either to those to whom I have left it, or to
Donata. Width 10 feet, length 12 feet.
(Thylander(1952)A6l)
The last part of the text protects the tomb against future sale or 'alienation' - ensuring
that it does not pass to an heir outside the family, but that (as implied in the earlier part),
if the direct family line dies out, it should pass to the ex-slaves of the household, who
would use the same family name as their original masters. The dimensloiis of the tomb
to which these conditions apply are carefully specified.
4. Inscription;
To the spirits of the departed. Tiberius Claudius Eutychus built this for Claudia
Memnonis, his well-deserving wife, and for himself and their children, and for their ex-
slaves, male and female, and for their descendants. There shall be right of approach and
to move around the tomb. This tomb shall not follow the heir. Width 15 feet, length 15
feet.
5. Two terracotta plaques showing: (a) a boat with oarsmen (b) a grain mill driven by a
horse (Meiggs (1973) plates xxviii (a) and (b)). Eutychus was perhaps a grain merchant.
4.13b House-tomb at /sola Sacra — interior
House-tombs were intended to hold multiple burials - sometimes as many as
100 cremation niches. Illustrated here is the inner chamber of one of the
grander tombs at Isola Sacra (middle of the second century A.O.). A second,
outer, room included not only more burials, but also an oven for the preparation
of funeral meals.
For full description, Calza(1940) no. 87. pp. 113-17, 345-8.
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