Tomb of Eurysaces The Baker - Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces

Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces

Although there is no conclusive statement on the monument that Eurysaces was a freedman - there is no "L" for libertus in the inscription - there are a number of reasons for believing that this was the case. His name takes the form of a Roman praenomen and nomen followed by a Greek cognomen, nomenclature typical for a freedman, combining as it does the identity of the former owning family with that of the individual when a slave. The inscription also lacks the filiation usual for the freeborn. The banausic and labour-intensive activities commemorated, those of baking, are not usually celebrated by the freeborn upper classes. The unusual form of the monument and of its inscription have also been used to locate Eurysaces as a nouveau riche parvenu in the manner of Trimalchio, with his "naive ostentation" vulgarly imitative of elite culture.