Bodel, J. (2026). "Tomb Garden of Anonymous 2." Gardens of the Roman Empire, accessed October 2, 2026. https://roman-gardens.github.io/id/c69dd85a16/

Tomb Garden of Anonymous 2

Author: John Bodel
Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-01

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Dates

1901

Garden Description

A broken inscription found near Thyaira in 1901 records the second part of a funerary dedication in which the dedicant prescribes who can be buried in his monument and forbids anyone "to sell this tomb or the garden (περιβόλιον) in front of it with the crematory in it (οὐκ ἐξέσται δὲ οὐδενὶ πωλῆσαι τοῦτο τὸ ἡρῷον οὐδὲ τὸ πρὸ αὐτοῦ περιβόλιον ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ καῦστρα). The prohibition against alienation suggests that peribolion here, like periboloi at Attaleia and Hypaipa in Lydia and often elsewhere, refers metonymically to a garden enclosed within the wall rather than simply to the wall itself. The crematory (καῦστρα)—a feature seldom mentioned in funerary inscriptions in Asia Minor—suggests a Roman style tomb garden, with ustrina and tomb monument enclosed within the same perimeter wall, as often around Rome and on the Bay of Naples.

Bibliography

  • Frontrier, REA 4, 1902:263, no. 12. (Persée)
  • Cagnat R. et al. 1906-1927. Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes. Paris. (worldcat)
  • Kubińska, J. 1968. Les monuments funéraires dans les inscriptions grecques de l’Asie Mineure. Warsaw, pp. 66, 144. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places