Marble Funerary Altar of Julia Sperata
Marble Funerary Altar of Julia Sperata
3D
Published 2017-05-15T18:48:59+00:00
This is a marble funerary altar carved with an eleven-line Latin inscription, which translates to, "To the spirits of the departed. Gaius Iulius Sabinianus, had this made for his most pious mother Jula Sperata, for her freedmen and freedwomen, and for their descendants". The pedimental lid is decorated with palmette acroteria in the corners and carved in front with a bird facing an overturned fruit basket. There is a shallow rectangular cavity on top of the altar under the removable lid for insertion of the cinerary urn.
The son who produced this monument, Gaius Vettius Sabinianus Julius Hospes, was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed consul around AD 175-176. He had a long and distinguished military and political career under the reigns of the emperors Antonius Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. More information available here.
Many thanks to Norman Wetzig for the revisions to this object's description.
| Date published | 15/05/2017 |
| Complexity | Easy |
| Title | Marble Funerary Altar of Julia Sperata |
| Date | 100 - 200 AD |
| Dimension | Width: 30cm (base) / 36cm (top) |
| Accession | MMoCA465 |
| Period | Roman Empire |
| Medium | Marble |
| Credit | Found in 1894 presumably in the necropolis outside the Porta Salaria in Rome, or shortly before in a vineyard adjacent to the ground of the Villa Albani |
| Record | https://www.mouginsmusee.com/en/collections/greece-and-rome |
| Artist | Unknown artist |
| Place | Mougins Museum of Classical Art |
