Gessiernas gravrelief

Abstract

Summary A Roman Tombstone by Olof Vessberg. In 1936 there was in the market in Rome a sculptured tombstone with an inscription; it had been in private ownership and no account of it has ever been published before. (Figs. 1 & 2.) The material is marble, the length of the stone is 2.15 m. and its height 0.65 m. It is one of that fairly large category of tomb‐stones with portrait busts which is characteristic of the last century B. C. and whose area of distribution appears to have been Central Italy, but especially Latium. There is a distinct physiognomical as well as an artistic difference between the conventional side‐figures and the splendidly realistic central figure. The woman is wearing the “Octavia” coiffure in one of its many variations, and both her posture and the arrangement of her mantle are of the type known as “Pudicitia”. Cf. the figure furthest to the right in the Ampudius relief in the Brit. Mus. (fig. 4). The face of the old man is sculptured with the same sense of drastic power as we find, for instance, in the portrait of Antius Restio on coins (fig. 6). The portrait of Restio which was the model for the portrait on the coins must have been made during the period 80–50 B. C. But the tombstone cannot be dated so early for stylistic as well as for antiquarian reasons (for instance, the “Octavia” coiffure should not be dated prior to 45 B. C.; on the other hand, it affords only a very slight clue to the date, seeing that Ovid, Ars Am. III, 135 et seq. shows that this style of coiffure remained in fashion up to about the date of Christ's birth). The date is more likely to be about 45–30 B. C., with a margin of one or two subsequent years. The old man Gessius is wearing armour—a unique feature on tomb‐stones dating from that period. His portrait was doubtless executed from an earlier model. In an inscription found at Adramytium in Asia Minor (published by Viereck in Sermo Graecus etc., Comm. phil. Göttingen 1888, p. 22 et seq.) mention is made of a P. Gessius P. filius as being one of those present at the passing of a decree by the Senate. Viereck dates the inscription 96–94 B. C. In spite of the fact that the P. Gessius of the inscription and that of the tombstone are attributed to different tribus it is not impossible that they are identical, for before the Social War (the date of the inscription) the tribus was still based on the possession of property and membership could easily be transferred. However, another possible alternative is that the two are father and son. Thanks to its excellent artistic quality and its, in part, unique execution, this tomb‐stone represents an important contribution to our knowledge of the last decades of the Republic.