Description:
rectangular marble urn carved on three sides, inscription on front, two heads of Ammon support garlands and leaves in upper front corners, above festoon small Triton blows horn, carving on front higher in relief and shows drill work, carving on sides lower in relief; death/mourning

Label Text:
Cremation was the most common form of burial in first-century Rome. The Latin inscription on this stone urn states that it held the ashes of Aulus Seius Zosimianus, an accomplished military official and construction supervisor. His son commissioned the monument for his “most devoted” father and displayed it in their family mausoleum.

The front of the urn is decorated with foliage and wildlife. At each of its top corners, the artist has depicted the horned head of Jupiter Ammon, a hybrid Roman-Egyptian god that may have been worshipped by the family. A flowering garland hangs between the two heads, and underneath the inscription a small water god blows his trumpet. The artist used a drill to make the deep holes throughout the carving.

Inscription
D M
A SEIO ZOSIMIANO
EQUIT ROM PRAEF CO
HORT III BRACAR AVG
TRIB LEG XI CL SUCCU
VIAE ET DEC ANTIATI
A SEIUS AFRICANUS FI
PAT PIISSIM B M FECIT

Translation
For the departed spirits
of Aulus Seius Zosimianus,
a Roman cavalryman,
commander of the Third Infantry Cohort from Bracara Augusta,
officer of the eleventh Claudian legion,
assistant superintendent of the road,
foreman for the Antiates,
and a well-deserving, devoted father;
Aulus Seius Africanus, his son, made this urn.

Tags:
archaeology; religion; mourning

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1920.21.1

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