Spose per sempre: nuptiae e lanificium nella scultura funeraria romana della Regio IV

Abstract

This article examines Roman funerary sculpture in the Regio IV, with special regard to a number of monuments dedicated to deceased women between the end of the first century B.C. and the mid Imperial period. On the grounds of antiquarian sources and some comparanda, the author proposes a new interpretation of the objects carved in the bas-reliefs (parasols, sandals, tálaros, carding combs, ecc.). According to iconographic and semantic models attested from the Archaic period in Italy, these objects referred to the themes of wedding and lanificium, and indicated the virtues of the honoured women (domiseda, lanifica, ecc.).