Reunited At Last

 In the News

A married couple from Pompeii were finally brought back together with the recovery of a missing piece of a 2000 year old marble puzzle made from inscribed fragments. Broken during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the pieces once belonged to a tomb inscription and were recently brought back  together. 

In 1813 they were unearthed and stored in huge deposits at the national Archaeological Museum of Napes. Later when the six pieces were reassembled, three were translated to refer to  "Lucius Caltilius Pamphilus, freedman of Lucius, member of the Collinian tribe," and two fragments contained the Latin word "uxori," indicating a wife.

Kruschwitz and Campbell identified the missing spouse by scrutinizing photographs of various fragments of inscriptions stored at the Naples museum. Until now the missing piece was at the same museum but not recognized as part of the same marble inscription. Containing nothing but the name of a female -- Servilia -- and the first part of a phrase, the fragment reads: "Seruiliae [...] amico anim [o ...]."

Although there are some other small pieces missing, the inscription is now legible and reads: "Lucius Catilius Pamphilus, freedman of Lucius, member of the Collinian tribe, for his wife Servilia, in a loving spirit."

After spending nearly 2,000 years apart, Lucius Catilius Pamphilus and Servilia were finally reunited.

"What makes the story so beautiful is the way the inscription was fragmented, with the name of the wife separated of that of the man, and the 'in a loving spirit' bit left with the wife's fragment," Kruschwitz told Discovery News.

  

Clearly an outsider to the Pompeian establishment, Caltilius Pamphilus was a former slave who took great pride in his status demonstrated through his choice of displaying his tribal affiliations in the inscription.

The Caltilii family became fairly powerful at a slightly later phase of Pompeii, under the rule of Nero. It has been alleged that an esteemed political leader known as Quintus Coelius Caltilius Iustus,  of 52/53 A.D. was indeed the child of this couple. 

I adore a good archaeological love story <3. 

Link: http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/pompeii-vesuvius-inscription-110307.html