Funerary Stele of Aurelius Hermia
Catalogue Image
2015-00-00
Name/Title
Funerary Stele of Aurelius HermiaEntry/Object ID
95R0959Description
Stele depicting a draped man and a veiled and draped woman standing, facing in center. Woman raises the man's hand to her lips. Inscription highlighted in red pigment left to right.Type of Sculpture
ReliefArtwork Details
Medium
PlasterContext
It was discovered in 1593 in a tomb near the Via Nomentana. The aspects of face and dress of the man on this funerary stele date it to the last century of the Roman Republic. The woman's head and veil have been restored. By raising her husband's hand to her lips in a gesture of farewell, indicating that she has predeceased her spouse. The spouses in the inscription were freedpersons of the same patron, Lucius Aurelius. When slaves were freed in ancient Rome they usually took some form of their patron's name as their own, hence Aurelius and Aurelia. Their former slave names, which indicate perhaps a Greek origin, are in this instance used as cognomina (last names). The dress and posture of both indicate their new status as Roman citizens. The inscriptions praise especially the qualities of the wife, qualities which conformed with those traits generally admired by the Roman upper classes: dutifulness and faithfulness, chastity and virtue. Since slaves could come to no legally binding relationship, Aurelia must have been placed under the protection of the obviously older man while both were still slaves. Manumission would make their marriage possible and legal.Made/Created
Date made
80 BCE - 80 BCETime Period
Roman RepublicEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Roman