Vatican Museums

Lucius Cornelius Atimetus, who commissioned the altar possibly to commemorate the death of his freedman (libertus) Epaphra, intending it for him, other freedmen and their descendents, wished to leave not simply a modest sepulchre, but a fully-fledged monument representing them and their working activity. Atimetus was probably the owner of an ironmongery specialising in knives, and Epaphra would have been a collaborator or managing partner. The engraved front of the altar is flanked by two fluted pilasters with capitals, and the opposite side bears the vase and bowl, symbols of funerary rites. There are figurative scenes on both sides: on one, a workshop with two men busy beating iron on the anvil in front of already finished products; and on the other, the shop with knives on display for sale behind a counter that separates the seller from the client, engaged in purchase.