Slab from the family tomb of a wine merchant
Slab from the family tomb of a wine merchant
The brother Lucius Scribonius Festivus and his father-in-law Marcus Manlius Callicarpus ordered the construction of this tomb, built for Lucius Scribonius Ianuarius and subsequently reserved for his freedmen (liberti) and their descendants. The deceased was, during his life, an active trader (negotians) in the wine sector; he used his own ships for transportation, acting as a shipowner and at the same time covering the prestigious role of president (curator) of the corporation of all shipowners operating in the Adriatic Sea. Other figures of a similar type are known from inscriptions found mostly in Ostia, the port of Rome. From their sea trade, documented by thousands of wine amphorae found in the archaeological excavations and the wrecks of fully-loaded sunken vessels, we are able to derive an important image of the economic life of the Roman Empire.