"Tender Bones": Searching for Solace in Tomb H-H1 of the Vatican Necropolis (20 min)

Presenters

Regina Gee, Montana State University

Abstract

This paper proposes a reading for the decoration from a tomb belonging to the Vatican Necropolis, Tomb H-H1 (of the Valerii), in light of the presence of three child burials documented by death masks, portraits, and inscriptions, directly connected to the original owner of the tomb. The monument type represented by Tomb H-H1 housed burials of individuals who remained familially connected postmortem, including spouses associated by marriage, slaves, and freed slaves. Built around 160 C.E., it is the largest monument in the necropolis by total area and number of loculi. The interior decorative program features a complex, singular display dominated by a near life-size sculpture gallery of deities, family members, and philosophers in molded stucco lining the rear and lateral walls. The tomb has no overt visual or textual references to the pain of child loss, and iconographical or epigraphical references to premature death, a topic familiar from previous studies, is not the claim here. Instead, the study considers the presence of children to be one element within the complex narrative of a family memorial unfolding in this space over time. It explores the iconographical themes for their potential to offer solace to tomb visitors, cold though that comfort may have been in the face of the implacable anguish occasioned by a child’s death. Poignant responses often expressed by parents include fears for the tender soul feeling cold, frightened, lost, or lonely. With this in mind, the reading does not treat the imagery as ontologically fixed, but dynamic, responsive, and perhaps situationally improvised in a manner not usually considered for funerary art. The exploration of emotional experience in light of changes in status includes evidence from additional inscriptions, portraits, and associated finds.