Archaeologists discover friends of Caesars inside Vatican City
So far, 250 magnificent burials of the Roman elite have been unearthed inside the walls of the Vatican City.
By PHILIPPE BOHSTRÖM, JERUSALEM POST, FEBRUARY 4, 2021
Marble funerary shrine with the four-year old child Tiberius Natronius Venustus.
(photo credit: VATICAN MUSEUM)
New burials discovered
inside the Roman necropolis of Santa Rosa, standing under what is now
Vatican City, have shed light on burials that housed the servants and
slaves of the Roman Caesars.
So
far, 250 magnificent burials of the Roman elite, servants and freed
slaves from the Julio-Claudian era to the times of Emperor Constantin
have been unearthed inside the walls of the Vatican City, revealing the
life of the rich and poor in Rome.
The Roman necropolis stood on the current hill of the Vatican along
the ancient Via Triumphalis. Until now, only a small area of about
1,000 square meters has been investigated by archaeologists.
The numerous tombs with human remains date from the 1st to the beginning
of the 4th century CE, and include a bewildering array of built
chamber-tombs, gravestones, funerary portraits and beautiful sculptured
sarcophagi bearing the names of the entombed, as well as ground-level
libation pipes but also poorer open-air (but underground) deposition
with grave objects still present on the tomb, thus allowing the
archaeologist to study Roman burial customs from the 1st to the 3rd
century CE.
 |
| Cremation burials |
The ongoing excavations have provided intriguing and unexpected
insights into Roman life – such as the mobility of people from the lower
classes to the higher social strata, but also changes in burial
practices and the transformation of beliefs.
”The
burials not only shed light on the transition of burial practices, such
as the passage from cremation to the less expensive practice of
inhumation: The funerary rites also express the hopes and superstition
of the deceased at a time when the Romans stopped believing in the
Olympian gods, so they were left uncertain [how to] trust their
expectation of an afterlife [relative] to new philosophies or old
superstitions,” according to Giandomenico Spinola, director of the
department of Greek and Roman art in the Vatican Museum.
The tombs of the servants and slaves of the Caesars
In
Roman times, cemeteries and tombs were lined along the roads that lead
to urban centers, so that the mere entering of a city would bring the
visitor into contact with the world of death. The funerary monuments
commemorated the lives of the Roman elite, who built lavish monuments to
ensure their lasting legacy.
However,
the newly excavated burials along the Via Triumphalis have provided
intriguing and unexpected insights into the life of those who were
outside this Roman elite.
In
fact, in ancient Rome, the prospect for economic movement existed, and
when people of the lower classes such as former slaves became wealthy,
they sought to memorialize their success by building a tomb or grave
marker that served as a visual reminder of their rise to the noveau
rich.
Two examples
of surviving funerary monuments from the necropolis of Santa Rosa
illustrate some of these tendencies while providing a window into Roman
funerary culture and art associated with freedmen, that is, people who
were former slaves.
In
the eastern part of the cemetery, many of the monumental tombs that
have been excavated have engraved inscriptions providing valuable
details into the life of the deceased.
In
this burial area, the archaeologists also discovered two lavish funeral
altars that date to the time of Emperor Nero (54-68 CE).
 |
| Funerary stele dedicated to a slave by the name of Grathus. |
The first altar was dedicated to Flora by her parents Tiberius
Claudius Optatus and Passiena Prima. Later on, an inscription was added
with the name of their son, Tiberius Claudius Proculus as well as of
Lucius Passienus Evaristus, who was the freed slave and Passiena Prima’s
brother.
What is
of great interest is the specification of Optatus’ job in the
inscription. He had served as Nero’s archivist, a position of trust and
delicacy.
The
second altar is dedicated to the memory of Passiena Prima, showing a
portrait of her with a hairstyle typical of the Julia-Claudian era,
which is identical with the hair style of Agrippina the younger, Nero’s
mother.
“We seem
to have here a group of freedmen all connected, either directly or
indirectly, to the familia Caesaris,” says Dr. Leonardo Di Blasi who is
co-director of the necropolis of Santa Rosa.
While
the freed slave Tiberius Claudius was not a member of Rome’s elite or
patrician class, he certainly wanted to convey his importance and close
proximity to the imperial family by erecting these two altars, showing
his family’s status.
 |
| Funeral altars, dating to the time of Emperor Nero, which were dedicated to Flora and Passiena Prima by the freedman Tiberius Claudius Optatus. |
Next to the family tomb of Tiberius Claudius, the archaeologists
discovered a beautiful funerary building dedicated to the slave Alcimus,
whom Emperor Nero had commissioned to carry out maintenance work inside
one of Rome’s most important theaters, Theatro Pompeiano, also known as
the theater of Pompeus since it was built by Pompeus the Great in 55
BCE.
Nearby was
found a marble funerary shrine with the portrait of young child,
Tiberius Natronius Venustus, who was four years, four months and ten
days old when he died.
1,800-year-old knight found inside a chamber tomb
Another magnificent burial,
dating from the mid-3rd century CE, has been found on the hillside, in
the northeastern corner of the Vatican and above an earlier tomb dating
back to the 1st century CE.
The
entrance of the tomb leads to an 1,800-year-old chamber room, with two
arched recesses at the back of the chamber, which was used as a place of
entombment. Here the archaeologists found five sarcophagi placed on an
elaborate decorated mosaic floor, with a braided pattern depicting
cupids harvesting grapes from vines, and a Dionysius leaning on a young
satyr.
”From the
end of the second century, families belonging to the new social class
built their own sepulchres above the ancient burials, displaying their
social status through the rich marble sarcophagi that replaced the
practice of cremation,” explains Di Blasi.
Buried
inside one of the sarcophaguses was Publius Caesilius Victorinus, a
Roman equestrian (equivalent to the social class of a knight) who died
at the age of 17. The lid of the sarcophagus depicts several dolphins
swimming among the sea waves.
“Dolphins,
known as friends of sailors, were considered a good omen by seamen;
there are many legends about dolphins that lead sailors to safer
shores,” explains Di Blasi.
 |
| Grave stele of Nero's servant Alcimus who carried out maintenance work at theater of Pompeus in Rome |
In the classical world, dolphins often give lifts to both mortals
and gods, and were considered Poseidon's special messengers. In the
funerary context, therefore, the dolphins accompany the souls to the
underworld.
“Victorinus
was buried at a time when Christianity was spreading in the Roman
Empire. Interestingly, the iconography of the sarcophagi displays both
pagan and Christian elements. For instance, the figures of the dolphins
are symbolically transformed into Christ, who leads the dead to the
"safest shores" of the sky.
Another
clue to the Christian faith of the deceased is a female figure with her
arms raised in prayer, which in Roman art symbolizes virtue or pietas, a
religious devotion for one’s family and homeland. However, in Christian
iconography, the image symbolizes the committing of the soul to Christ
in prayer.
The
Mausoleum-like building that contained the five sarcophagi bears close
resemblance with the so-called “tombs of the Egyptians” that was found
in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica. It is called the Egyptian
tomb because of the picture of Horus, which is painted in the center of
the north wall of the tomb.
Alongside these monumental graves, the archaeologists have found hundreds of burials of ordinary roman citizens.
“The
necropolis of Santa Rosa is one of the best-preserved burial sites of
the Roman world and contains a treasure trove of the life of the ancient
Romans. In this graveyard we have found the burials of ordinary men
such as postmen, bakers, blacksmiths, fountain makers, ambassadors and
members of a team of the charioteers that competed in the circus,” Di
Blasi concluded.
“The site will continue to provide valuable insight into Roman society.”
Since February 1, 2021, the necropolis inside the Vatican has been open to the public.
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Erect no monuments for me, just a simple stone please & a wall carving in my cave of my likeness
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| Erect no monuments for me, just a simple stone please & a wall carving in my cave of my likeness |
Neander-Troll says :Be sure to recommend and follow Chucks " Life of Earth " Blog at:
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