NG4 Pompeii. Porta Nola Tombs. Tomb of Sextus Caesernius Montanus, son of Spurius.

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, H92, p.273.

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 NG4 Pompeii. Tomb of Sextus Caesernius Montanus, son of Spurius.

Marble stele, with rounded top.

SEX(tus) CAESERNIUS

SP(uri) F(ili) VEL(ina) MONTANUS

AQUILEIA SPECUL(ator)

MIL(itavit) ANN(is) XI H(ic) S(itus) E(st)

Sextus Caesernius Montanus, son of Spurius, of the Velinan tribe, from Aquileia, bodyguard, performed military service for 11 years, is buried here.

In the 2017 excavations the fourth and most westerly tomb excavated contained the cremation urn of Sextus Caesernius Montanus.

The area was found to have been significantly disturbed by the earlier excavations.

Like the other burials the urn appears once again to have been placed behind the burial marker.

See Pompeii Porta Nola Necropolis Project in Papers of the British School at Rome: Vol. LXXXVI, 2018, p. 315.