Sepulcrum Eurysacis Pistoris
About
A wedge-shaped tomb built by a freed slave who made his fortune baking bread under state contract, standing where two busy roads met outside the city walls. Its frieze carved rows of round openings to mimic the mouths of dough-mixing machines, a boast in stone about the trade that made him rich. An inscription names him Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces, baker and contractor, beside his wife Atistia. Already close to two centuries old by 117 CE, it stood as a freedman's answer to senatorial tombs.
What happened here
Roman burial is a family matter conducted in public. The dead are carried out of town, cremated or laid in the ground, and mourned with formal noise; the funeral of anyone important is a procession with masks of the ancestors carried by hired men. The tomb that follows is designed to be read by strangers on the road: name, age, offices, sometimes a trade shown in relief, often a line addressed directly to the passer-by. Ordinary people appear here as they nowhere else — a baker with his ovens carved on the front, a freedman naming the woman he could finally marry, a child's age given in days. Anniversaries bring the family back with food and wine.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →