Funeral bust of the freedman C. Aurunceius Princeps

3D Image

by Geoffrey Marchal
published on 19 March 2018

Funeral bust of the freedman C. Aurunceius Princeps, Circa 40-50, Rome (tomb of the Aurunceu near Porta Tiburtina, 1880), Marble. Musée du Cinquantenaire (Brussels, Belgium). Made with CapturingReality.

This portrait of a former slave (Princeps) who has become a Roman citizen mimics the verist tendency typical of patrician portraits. The work adorned his tomb (columbarium). A columbarium is a building in which the urns of members of the same family or of the same professional association (which forms a collegium funeraticium) are kept in niches in the walls, evoking a dovecote, hence the name. Inscription: C (aio) Aurunceio C (ai) (and) M (arci) l (iberto) Principi / conliberti and conlibertae honoris caussa (sic) merenti (for Caius Aurunceius Princeps, freed from Caius and Marcus Aurunceius, [this portrait was raised by] his freedman and freedwoman, as a tribute because he deserved it).

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