Dorian
BORBONUS Social Differentiation and Servile
Identity: The tabula Inscriptions from Roman
Columbarium Tombs
Material
evidence and epigraphic sources often convey a vivid
picture of the social identity and organization of urban
non-Elites in the early and high Empire. Recent
scholarship has consequently shown growing interest
towards the social, religious, and professional life of
the lower echelons of Roman society, which is,
paradoxically, equally well reflected in burial customs
and commemoration of the dead. At Rome, slaves and ex
slaves were often buried collectively in columbarium
monuments, in which each burial niche was accompanied by
a funerary epitaph. My presentation offers a statistical
analysis of the demographic information of these tabula
inscriptions, each recording the existence of an
individual in a collective environment. Based on this
epigraphic survey, I address how the inscriptions and
monuments reflect and maintain social identity and
ranking.
The communis
opinio regarding the interpretation of columbarium
tombs has accepted two observations: (1) the main purpose
of the tombs' compact form is to meet increased cost of
real estate by accommodating a maximum amount of burials
in a confined space. (2) The internal orientation of the
chamber tombs reflects a culture of reduced
self-representation in the early imperial period. I offer
an alternative to this interpretation: the function as
collective burial spots, creating a communal identity for
the buried individuals, is equally important. The
quantity of epitaphs and their architectural setting show
that the monuments continued to be a medium of
presentation, but the audience had changed from public
domain to circles of relatives and amici.
My
presentation posits three essential constituents of a
'servile identity': social status, professional careers
and familial relationships. These three variables
characterize the users of columbarium monuments as
socially homogeneous groups united and defined by shared
burial spots. At the same time, one can differentiate
between tombs that are, for example, different in
clientele or construction date. Additionally, slight
differences within particular monuments indicate that
social differentiation was openly displayed in the tomb.
Visible to everybody with access to the monument, tabula
inscriptions thus define the identity of the deceased,
with the background of ñ but also in contrast to
ñ an assembly of dozens or even hundreds of other
individuals. In this way, the burial monument provides a
frame of reference for their living users who could see
the deceasedís social position reflected in a
textual commemoration, but also the fittings, size and
location of the burial niche. This approach thus reveals
the interplay between textual and visual means to express
and display a servile identity in the capital of an
empire that was largely based on slave labor.