17. Pompeia
'To the Departed Spirits. To Decimus Junius Venerianus. Pompeia Primitiva set this up for her well-deserving son, and for herself, and for her freedmen and freedwomen, and for their descendants. Two feet wide, two and a half feet deep.'
D(is) M(anibus) | D(ecimo) Iunio Veneriano | Pompeia Primitiva | Filio Bene Merenti Fecit | et Sibi et Suis Libertis Liber- | tabusque Posterique Eorum | In Fr(onte) P(edes) Il II In Agr(o) P(edes) II S(emis)
Pompeia Primitiva set up this memorial not only for her son, Decimus Junius Venerianus, but also for herself and her household. The term libertabus, the ablative plural form of liberta, freedwoman, is found only in Roman legal texts and funerary inscriptions.It is used in this way to distinguish male freedmen from female freedmen because the regular ablative plural libertis covered both genders. The final lines of the memorial confirm the size of the plot, two Roman feet by two and a half feet, about 600x750mm in the modern reckoning.
Like many in the Lowther Castle collection, this memorial inscription was discovered in Rome in 1733 by Ficoroni, near the church of Saint Caesarius on the Via Appia. It has been reassembled from three large pieces. The lettering is very well executed and preserved, and some traces of pigment remain. Faint guidelines drawn by the mason are visible on some areas of the memorial, indicating that the stone was prepared before chiselling commenced.