Vatican Museums

Senator Ovinius Curius Proculus Modianus Africanus, Roman consul in an unspecified year, commemorates the completion of the construction of a particular type of burial structure known as a heroum, a word of Greek origin (heróon), previously intended for the worship of men and women deemed to be demigods and subsequently used to define sepulcral monumental complexes. The heroum of the epigraph, which was suitably equipped with a tutela or protective fence, was dedicated first to the worship of the memory his wife Claudiana Eusebia and young nephew Lucius Ovinius Africanus, and subsequently of the senator himself. The long series of personal names that identify the senator reflects a custom typical of the Roman ruling class, who sought to thus remember distinguished paternal and maternal ancestors.