Furthermore, it’s an open window upon some peculiar techniques that the Romans craftsmen mastered and some curious burial uses. On my behalf I must say that – strangely enough – this ring is not really famous, and the infos are quite scarce, so the source I found at first was incomplete and sort of misleading. So, to bring justice to Titus Carvilius, here is the real story. The ring was in the family tomb of Titus Carvilius, but not actually on his body. Titus had died quite young – he was barely 18yo – it is not clear whether from a fall on horseback or poisoned.
His mother, the noble Aebutia Quarta, was devastated, and arranged for her son the richest funeral and burial she could afford. It’s calculated that the cost of the marble sarcophagus alone was worth the equivalent of about 20 . 000 Euros – about $ 23 . 000. Along with the hypogeal tomb she ordered that golden ring with an idealized portrait of the son – hence the name. The bust is a gold microfusion made upon a wax model, with a technique called “a cera persa” – and a quartz crystal was set upon it to render that extraordinary “hologram effect”.
The ring was so precious – both in material and affective terms – that she barely wore it when se was alive, in order not to spoil it. Only a few years later – just over forty and probably pregnant – she died too, and was buried inside the same tomb, in a sarcophagus set alongside the one of her beloved son. And here come more astonishing facts. Some details lead to think that they were followers of the Egyptian cult of Isis, very fashionable at the time.
She wore a silk vest, that ring on her finger, and a natural wig with another amazing craftsmanship masterpiece: a golden net whose filaments were thinner than a hair – in fact only 7 microns! There is more! The tomb – now known as the “Hypogeum of garlands” – was discovered only in the year 2000, and was quite intact. Along with the treasures already descripted, it revealed all sort of details about some peculiar burial uses and knowledge of the Romans in the 1st century AD.
The bodies were not mummified, but embalmed – and were so well preserved, at the point that are now among the really few known “Roman mummies”, a real rarity. That was so even thanks to a secret hidden in the base of the sarcophagi: under the bodies there was a whole set of “corporeal leakage” drains, an air ventilation and filtering cloth system that preserved the corpses from spores, necrophagous bacteria and moisture. This is also a clear hint that Romans were aware of the existence of a world of microorganisms, and knew some of their effects. Thanks for reading so far, I hope this story has been exciting for you as it was for me. Long live Titus Carvilius Gemello!
Sources:ancient.ournewstimes24
