From 'The Tomb of St. Peter' by Margherita Guarducci,
Hawthorn. 1960 |
This
tablet is on the tomb of Caius Polilius Heracla (first
half of the second century A.D.). The words in
Vatic(ano) ad circum can be read on lines 6 and
7.
He
commissioned his heirs to build him a sepulchre on
the Vatican near the circus, in the vicinity of the
monument to Ulpius Narcissus.
|
From:
'The Tomb of St Peter' by Margherita Guarducci, Hawthorn
Books, 1960
The existence of the arena in that area of the Vatican is
proven by an epigraph found during the recent excavations
under the basilica. The evidence is a marble tablet placed
on the door of a sepulcher; the inscription on the tablet
state that a certain C. Popilius Heracla had required his
heirs to bury him in a mausoleum "in the Vatican near the
arena" (in Vaticano ad circum) (Fig. 5). Since the mausoleum
in which the heirs placed the remains of their benefactor
is certainly that which the excavations discovered, we can
deduce with certitude that the arena was in the immediate
vicinity.
Tablet
Translation from: P. Zander. The Vatican Necropolis,
in "Roma Sacra", 25, Roma 2003
Into the hands of the gods. Caius Popilius Heracla salutes
his heirs. To you, my heirs, I ask, order and give you mandate,
in the name of your faith, to erect for me a monument on
the Vatican, near the circus, near the monument to Ulpius
Narcissus, for a value of six thousand sesterces. For the
construction of the sepulchre, Novia Trophime will be given
three thousand sesterces and three thousand sesterces will
go to his co-heir. And I want my remains to be placed there
and those of my wife, Fadia Maxima, should anything bad
happen to her. I leave the rights relative to this sepulchre
to my freedmen and to those who, by will, will have been
freed, or better, to those I have freed. Futhermore, I leave
these rights to Novia Trophime, to her freedmen and freedwomen
and to the descendants of the above mentioned and establish
that she is entitled to go, enter and visit the sepulchre
to carry out the funeral rites.
Sources
P. Zander. The Vatican Necropolis, in "Roma
Sacra", 25, Roma 2003
Margherita Guarducci, The Tomb of St Peter, Hawthorn
Books, 1960
John Evangelist Walsh, The Bones of St Peter, New
York, 1982
J. Toynbee - J.W. Perkins. The Shrine of St Peter and
the Vatican Excavations, London 1956
Michele Basso. Guide to the Vatican Necropolis, Fabbrica
di S. Pietro in Vaticano, 1986
