Slab with epitaph of a child buried by his grandfather
Photogallery
Slab with epitaph of a child buried by his grandfather
The inscription was commissioned by Lucius Iulius Gamus, for the burial of his grandson Lucius Iulius Marcellus, aged little more than five years and possibly an orphan, adding, after the name and age, an uncommon clarification: “the incorrupt body was deposed in the sarcophagus”, which is repeated almost identically (the word sarcophago is implied) on the altar with the epitaph of the twenty six year old son Epigonus (not part of the Epigraphic Collection of the Vatican Museums). These statements characterise the tomb of a family that did not practice cremation and conserved the bodies in coffins distinct from the supports bearing inscriptions identifying the deceased individuals.