The most exciting question of old times for me is how average people lived. Not the famous people who somehow influenced the rules of the world, but the simple, ordinary people who, with their silent, persistent work, built the world unnoticed. What they thought about the world, the age they lived in, how they saw each other and themselves. I like to search for such ‘clues’ in the past.
That’s why this is one of my favorite tombstone in the Aquincum Museum, which depicts a mother and daughter. Women are almost invisible in history, with a few character exceptions. This tombstone, in turn, presents us two Roman women. Roman women who lived here in Aquincum, despite the official Latin language and Roman culture, they preserved the traditions of their ancestors. Observing these two women, the opposite of tradition and the new world is well seen: it is there, and yet it is not.
They are obviously Romans, because the inscription is in Latin. The scene depicted on the tombstone is also ‘Roman’: the mother embraces her daughter, both facing the viewer. They also smile a little. The girl holds an apple: a symbol of eternal life, a favorite motif of the death cult. Eternal life, of course, means eternal life AFTER death ...
But they are Celts to the depths of their souls. Everything that is important to a woman in her appearance, that she sends about herself to her environment, is not Roman, but Celtic, a tradition of the natives. Their clothes, their hairstyles, their jewelry all evoke a Barbaric world. Their hairstyle is simple: split in two the middle, tightly combed. But on the girl we see an interesting hair selection ornament that is not Roman at all. We also see the necklace on the girl: the characteristic twisted torques of the Celts. The mother’s tunic rises high up to her neck, not seeing if she has jewelry on. It is also possible that the mother gave all her treasures to her daughter. Why? Because the maiden is the dead one. Although mother and daughter are both pictured, the dead one, for whom the tombstone was made is merely the girl, not the mother, or not both of them. Just the little girl. Maybe that's why her mother gave her all the ornaments. Because your child has come a long way ...
However, this can only be seen from the caption:
D(is) M(anibus)/ Manil(ius) Roga/tus
vet(eranus) et (A)elia/ Dubitata Ze/buca(e)
fil(iae) ann(orum) X/ parentes vivi/ fec(erunt).
To the Gods of the Dead. Manilius Rogatus veteran and Aelia Dubitata, her parents erected (the tombstone) for their 10 years old daughter, Zebuca, still in their lives.
It is characteristic of the ancient tomb inscriptions that they must be read aloud. Because the dead live as long as we remember them.
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