DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.898#0176
60 SEPULCHRES.
ashes were also preserved in urns. In the neighbourhood
of Rome, where the Albano road separates from the Ap-
pian, was discovered, in 1726, the sepulchre of the Irberti
and servi, &c. of Livia*, the wife of Augustus. This ex-
tensive monument abounded with urns and inscriptions f.
The liberti, &c. entered into societies for building these
monuments, and deputed one or more of their number to
oversee the work. Thus we find that the freedman Lucius,
called Alexa, one of the curators deputed by a company to
oversee the building of a sepulchre, executed his trust so
much to the satisfaction of the company, that they allowed
him to choose six places for himself, whilst the others drew
lots for theirs^.
When the bodies of the dead were buried they were
simply extended on the floor §, or deposited in sarcophagi
which were placed in the magnificent tombs erected for
their reception. Sarcophagi were made of stone, of marble,
or of porphyry; and in general were designed to hold only
one corpse, though they were sometimes made sufficiently
capacious to receive two || bodies, or even the remains of a
whole family*]". These monuments of the dead, which in
* Vide Plate 113.
f Piranesi Ant. Rom. torn. iii. tav. 21 to tav. 37.
% Fabrettus, Inscrip. p. 449. § Vide Vignette XVII.
|| Euripides, Orestes, 1052. '
*J Visconti Museo Pio Clementino V. tav. y.
ashes were also preserved in urns. In the neighbourhood
of Rome, where the Albano road separates from the Ap-
pian, was discovered, in 1726, the sepulchre of the Irberti
and servi, &c. of Livia*, the wife of Augustus. This ex-
tensive monument abounded with urns and inscriptions f.
The liberti, &c. entered into societies for building these
monuments, and deputed one or more of their number to
oversee the work. Thus we find that the freedman Lucius,
called Alexa, one of the curators deputed by a company to
oversee the building of a sepulchre, executed his trust so
much to the satisfaction of the company, that they allowed
him to choose six places for himself, whilst the others drew
lots for theirs^.
When the bodies of the dead were buried they were
simply extended on the floor §, or deposited in sarcophagi
which were placed in the magnificent tombs erected for
their reception. Sarcophagi were made of stone, of marble,
or of porphyry; and in general were designed to hold only
one corpse, though they were sometimes made sufficiently
capacious to receive two || bodies, or even the remains of a
whole family*]". These monuments of the dead, which in
* Vide Plate 113.
f Piranesi Ant. Rom. torn. iii. tav. 21 to tav. 37.
% Fabrettus, Inscrip. p. 449. § Vide Vignette XVII.
|| Euripides, Orestes, 1052. '
*J Visconti Museo Pio Clementino V. tav. y.