Biographical Narration and Roman Funerary Art

Abstract

Roman biographical funerary monuments are shown to have developed from prototypes of the late Republic and Early Empire, in eulogy, written biography and visual images. From the earliest sculptured example, the Flavian/Trajanic Via Portuense monument, one sees a process of transformation toward an increasingly emblematic and non-narrative composition on sarcophagus facades; the evolution includes a new emphasis on abstract concepts of virtue as opposed to a chronological representation of mores maiorum. Analysis of composition and comparison of changing types show that the Republican concepts of virtue became less and less relevant to patrons of the later second and third centuries and were gradually replaced by a new and transcendent ideal of spiritual superiority.