Selecting a Monument

Choosing a monument, the location where it was to be erected, and what it was to express were necessary considerations when preparing for death. Of course, not everyone was or could be prepared for death, nor did everyone have a say in how, or even if, they would be commemorated. A brief epitaph for a female slave in Portus, inscribed simply Glycerae servae (to Glycera, a slave), presumably on orders from her owner, is one of many inscriptions cut for individuals of low status who themselves were not in a position to ensure their commemoration. For those who did make plans, however, the monument could be designed by the deceased, or written specifications for it could be left in a will, a plot could be selected and paid for and a clear visual message could be conveyed to communicate what was important to the person as fitting memorial. A marble slab on Tomb A in the Vatican cemetery under St Peter’s basilica in Rome reproduces a supplement taken from the will of Gaius Popilius Heracla. In it he instructed his two heirs to build him a tomb near the circus on the Vatican hill at a cost of 6,000 sestertii.

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