Monument Mondays: Tomb of Eurysaces

Have you ever wondered what those big marble holes in Porta Maggiore were?

Today we are going back in history to check out one of Roma's most interesting monuments.

Ancient Roma was full of slaves. Many were former artisans that were seized with Roma's expansion into new territories, while others were born into servitude. While slaves were usually treated better than the name connotes, they lacked many rights that Romans enjoyed. One such right was the privilege to be remembered through history by sculpture. For Romans, this was the ultimate goal. A Roman citizen would take great pride in the busts of his ancestors, and typically display them throughout his house. When a person died, their entire "family" would be present at the funeral, with a procession of busts accompanying the wake.

Liberated slaves were called freedmen, and they usually possessed lucrative skills from their former lives as Roma's laborers, domestic help, artists, physicians, and even accountants. Freedmen often became incredibly wealthy, and their new status as a legitimate citizen allowed them to commission sculpture to be remembered forever. This could range from a simple funerary urn to a grand mausoleum, and are considered to be a vital part of today's ancient Roman sculpture studies. Upon  the gift of freedom, a freedman would take the last name of his/her former master, one was something that slaves never had the right to have in the ancient world.

The tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces is one of the largest and best preserved examples of any funerary monument in Roma. Eurysaces was a baker, and after he obtained freedom with his wife, he became an extremely successful selling bread to the Roman masses. He built this tomb for himself at the end of the Republic, around 50-20 BCE. The most interesting part about the monument is it's beautiful frieze, which depicts the entire bread baking process from picking the grain to distributing the fresh loaves. Roma had a very low literacy rate, and so sculpture was used as a tool to spread information to the public. Those big holes are probably depictions of kneading machines or grain storage vessels.

It was illegal for Romans to be buried inside the city walls, so the best real estate for funerary monuments was located on Roma's major roads leading into the city. This meant that every visitor that passed through Roma would see the accomplishments of the freedman, promising him eternal recognition. 

The tomb of Eurysaces is located in front of the ancient gates of Porta Maggiore, where tens of thousands of Romani see his monument every day. You can take a step back in time (although this time to 1973) to see this monument with TramTracks! We meet on the other side of the walls inside the city, but be sure to stop by and pay your respects to this incredible treasure.