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Roman funeral monuments can be found virtually everywhere in the former territory of the Roman Empire, that is ca. 36 countries today from Britain to Iraq and Germany to Algeria. According to some calculations their number can exceed the half a million.
The ancient Roman tombstones were not only grave-markers. Their main purpose was to keep memory of the deceased alive. To achieve this they indicated everything which—in accordance with their values—recalled the person passed away, signed his standing in the social structure, his profession, his role within the narrower community, as well as denoted his religious affiliation and his relations with the transcendent. The stone monuments, however, do not exclusively confess through their inscriptions about the deceased, but their ornaments and pictorial representations carry important information about the deceased person as well. We can assume that for the contemporary observers the meaning of the frequently used “scroll in hand”-motive on the funeral monuments was obvious, but modern-day scholars—without a comprehensive basic research—only could formulate hypotheses.
Members of our research group are undertaking to collect all “scroll in hand”-type representations from the former territory of the Roman Empire. Our plan is to build-up an open access on-line database of these epigraphic material (including reliefs and inscriptions belonging to them) with the help of which we could compare the text and pictures. Just to give a few examples: the scroll could be a profession-marker if we would have been informed from the inscription that the deceased was a copyist or librarian; the scroll could considered as a legal document if we knew that the person was a former slave who has been liberated etc. by the end of the research we hope to be able to determine the basic types of meanings of this very common Roman iconographic motive.
The iconographic motif of book-scrolls on funerary reliefs in Noricum
An unpublished Roman tomb stele fragment with inscription from the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs
Az Aberkios-felirat. Egy „szent szöveg” születése
Representations of Writing Materials on Roman Funerary Monuments Text, Image, Message
Data on the Roman stone monuments connected to Dunavecse
From the “golden navel” to the reading frame ‒ The culture of reading papyrus-scrolls.
Digitising a Roman tabula cerata from Alburnus Maior (Roșia Montana, jud. Alba/RO)
Papirusztekercs és pásztorbot – Frígia faragott és írott világa
‘The Book of Fate’: A Distinctive Representation of Matronae/Parcae and the Spread of Literacy in the Northern Provinces of the Roman Empire
Popular Interpretation of Two Roman Tombstones in Flóris Rómer’s Travel Notes)
Forschung (EDUC European Digital UniverCity), Universität Potsdam Philosophische Fakultät
Fiatal Római Koros Kutatók XV. Konferenciája, Komarno – Komárom
Pécs-Baranya évszázadai 7. Országos helyismereti konferencia, Pécs
XVI. Magyar Ókortudományi Konferencia, Pécs
XVI. Magyar Ókortudományi Konferencia, Pécs
XVI. Magyar Ókortudományi Konferencia, Pécs
Time(s) of transition and change. 7th International Colloquium on Roman Provincial Art, Vienna / Carnuntum
Representations of writing materials on Roman funerary monuments. Text, image, message. International conference, Pécs
Representations of writing materials on Roman funerary monuments. Text, image, message. International conference, Pécs
Representations of writing materials on Roman funerary monuments. Text, image, message. International conference, Pécs
