NG2 Pompeii. Porta Nola Tombs. Tomb of an anonymous soldier who served 11 years.

Bibliography

De Caro, 1979, Cronache Pompeiana V, pp. 179-187.

Dobbins, J. J. and Foss, P. W., 2008. The World of Pompeii. Oxford: Routledge.

Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2014. Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, H90-94, p.272-3.

Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge. G66-9, p.156.

Pompei Oltre la Vita: Nuove testimonianze dalle necropoli. Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, 1998, pp. 39-42.

Pompeii Porta Nola Necropolis Project in Papers of the British School at Rome: Vol. LXXXVI, 2018, pp. 313-6.

Burials of Praetorians

The praetorian guard was the emperor’s personal bodyguard.

The names of various praetorians from different cohorts appear in graffiti at Pompeii, which suggests that praetorians were present in the town on a number of different occasions.

In addition, one of the wax tablets of Caecilius Iucundus documents a transaction with a member of the guard stationed at Nuceria.

Four (probably) of the guard were buried together in a line just outside the Nolan Gate, possibly on public land.

This may have been an honour reserved for those who died in public service.

Their monuments are stone markers with rounded tops, a type of funerary monument similar to ones found elsewhere in Italy, but they are the only ones of their type so far discovered at Pompeii.

Perhaps the physical form of their monuments was intended to distinguish these burials at a glance as being those of outsiders.

By contrast, the burial of a praetorian from Pompeii is marked by a herm, the funerary monument typical of the region.

It is also located away from the other praetorians, outside the Stabian Gate.

See Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge. G66–68, G69, H59, H79, p. 156.

Tomb NG2 Pompeii. Tomb of an anonymous soldier. The top of the tombstone is broken off.

The inscription remaining has only the length of his service.

ANNVS XI

11 years.

See De Caro, 1979, Cronache Pompeiana V, pp. 86-93.

In 2016 the analysis of the cremations within the necropolis of Porta Nola focused upon the burials of two Praetorian guards which had been discovered by the excavations in the 1970s but which were not subject to osteological analysis. The first of these was the burial of Lucius Betutius (See NG1).

The second cremation corresponded to an individual whose funerary stela records only that he served as praetorian for eleven years.

The anthropological study revealed an individual aged about 30 years.

Due to his mature age and the physical activity during his eleven years of service some of his bones showed pathological characteristics, such as the formation of enthesiophytes in the pelvis.

This may have been caused by the micro-trauma of repetition action, and it is interesting to note that this is a pathology which often affects archers in modern times.

See Pompeii Porta Nola Necropolis Project in Papers of the British School at Rome: Vol. LXXXVI, 2018, p. 314.

Tomb NG2 Pompeii. July 2017. In the excavations carried out in 2017, approximately 2m to the west of the tomb of Betutius, a further fragment of marble burial marker was found, behind which at a depth of 0.85m was the cremation urn. Photo courtesy Stephen Kay, British School at Rome.

See Pompeii Porta Nola Necropolis Project in Papers of the British School at Rome: Vol. LXXXVI, 2018, p. 314.