Embodied Epitaphs

Embodied Epitaphs: The Role of Inscriptions in Pisidian Funerary Ritual

Pisidia, a region of ancient Asia Minor, witnessed a dramatic change in the Roman period: the largescale introduction of stone memorials for the dead. Over the course of the 1^st-4^th centuries CE, the necropoleis that bordered the cities became littered with thousands of stone sarcophagi, tombstones, altars, and busts or urns atop columns. The majority of these monuments were decorated with architectural and floral motifs, some carried portraits of the deceased, and many were inscribed with an epitaph. The epitaphs of Roman Pisidia customarily recorded the names of the deceased and those commemorating them, but could also include further details, such as familial relations, social roles, or personal qualities.

By memorializing people’s faces and/or names in stone, the absent dead were presenced in a way that was new to Pisidian communities. This project seeks to shed light on how stone memorials, and epitaphs in particular, altered the relationship between the living and the dead. It focuses on three main aspects: the role of the epitaph in commemorative practices, their role in the protection of the grave, and the way they mediated interaction between the living and the dead at the gravesite.

The project critically interrogates the traditional research emphasis on the content of texts and instead considers the materiality and archaeological context of epitaphs as key in understanding their importance. As such, it approaches inscribed funerary monuments as active objects through which mortuary customs were continually given shape, maintained and reproduced.

Researcher: Tamara Dijkstra