Inscriptions
A dedicatory inscription is carved into the east and west flanks of the pyramid, so as to be visible from both sides. It reads:
- C · CESTIVS · L · F · POB · EPULO · PR · TR · PL
- VII · VIR · EPOLONVM
- Gaius Cestius, son of Lucius, of the gens Pobilia, member of the College of Epulones, praetor, tribune of the plebs, septemvir of the Epulones
Below the inscription on the east-facing side is a second inscription recording the circumstances of the tomb's construction. This reads:
- OPVS · APSOLVTVM · EX · TESTAMENTO · DIEBVS · CCCXXX
- ARBITRATV
- PONTI · P · F · CLA · MELAE · HEREDIS · ET · POTHI · L
- The work was completed, in accordance with the will, in 330 days, by the decision of the heir Pontus Mela, son of Publius of the Claudia, and Pothus, freedman
Another inscription on the east face is of modern origins, having been carved on the orders of Pope Alexander VII in 1663. Reading INSTAVRATVM · AN · DOMINI · MDCLXIII, it commemorates excavation and restoration work carried out in and around the tomb between 1660–62.
At the time of its construction, the Pyramid of Cestius would have stood in open countryside (tombs being forbidden within the city walls). Rome grew enormously during the imperial period, and, by the third century AD, the pyramid would have been surrounded by buildings. It originally stood in a low-walled enclosure, flanked by statues, columns and other tombs. Two marble bases were found next to the pyramid during excavations in the 1660s, complete with fragments of the bronze statues that originally had stood on their tops. The bases carried an inscription recorded by Bartoli in an engraving of 1697:
- M · VALERIVS · MESSALLA · CORVINVS ·
- P · RVTILIVS · LVPVS · L · IVNIVS · SILANVS ·
- L · PONTIVS · MELA · D · MARIVS ·
- NIGER · HEREDES · C · CESTI · ET ·
- L · CESTIVS · QVAE · EX · PARTE · AD ·
- EVM · FRATRIS · HEREDITAS ·
- M · AGRIPPAE · MVNERE · PER ·
- VENIT · EX · EA · PECVNIA · QVAM ·
- PRO · SVIS · PARTIEVS · RECEPER ·
- EX · VENDITIONE · ATTALICOR ·
- QVAE · EIS · PER · EDICTVM ·
- AEDILIS · IN · SEPVLCRVM ·
- C · CESTI · EX · TESTAMENTO ·
- EIVS · INFERRE · NON · LICVIT ·
This identifies Cestius' heirs as Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus, a famous general; Publius Rutilius Lupus, an orator whose father of the same name had been consul in 90 BC; and Lucius Junius Silanus, a member of the distinguished gens Junia. The heirs had set up the statues and bases using money raised from the sale of valuable cloths (attalici). Cestius had stated in his will that the cloths were to be deposited in the tomb, but this practice had been forbidden by a recent edict passed by the aediles.
Read more about this topic: Pyramid Of Cestius
Famous quotes containing the word inscriptions:
““Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. Bribery and corruption are common. Children no longer obey their parents. . . . The end of the world is evidently approaching.” Sound familiar? It is, in fact, the lament of a scribe in one of the earliest inscriptions to be unearthed in Mesopotamia, where Western civilization was born.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)