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Laudatio Turiae ("praise of Turia") is a tombstone with a speech engraved on it.[1] It was made in the late first century BC. It portrays the love of a husband for his loyal wife Turia.

This inscription [2] is traditionally known as the "Laudatio Turiae". The subject of this tombstone is not known for sure or named in the writing, [3] however it has been identified with Turia.[4][5] W. Ward Fowler states, "...there is a very strong probability that her name was Turia, and that he was the certain Q. Lucretius Vespillo..." [6]

Contents

[edit] Tombstone

Although this appears to be a speech, it is in fact a fragmented inscriptive tombstone. The inscriptive tombstone contains the speech by a husband addressed to his deceased wife, where he lauds her virtues, self-sacrificing love, and unflinching loyalty toward him when she was still alive. The inscription is broken and found in pieces all over Rome perhaps due to multiple wars Rome had over the years. It is currently the longest surviving inscription with 180 lines by an individual.

[edit] Inscription

The inscription gives insight into what the Roman world was like in the late first century BC during the rise of Augustus Caesar, considering this was a primary and first-hand source into the ancient past. The inscription fragments contain many aspects of the Roman society. In the inscription, the wife is said to have done many things for her husband, ranging from sending him jewelry and money when he was in exile to offering a divorce so he could have an heir. Her virtues were also mentioned in the tombstone: they include weaving, obedience, faithfulness to family, and religious purity. According to the inscription, the first accomplishment worthy of praise is to avenge her parents’ murder. These give insights into the roles of women within the family and the society. Her marriage was also unusual because it lasted forty years with her dying first while he was much older.

[edit] Identities

The current pieces of the Laudatio Turiae is unfortunately missing the fragmented piece which contains the identities of both the husband and wife, thus until this day, their names remain unknown. However, early studies indicate that the husband is Quintus Lucretius Vespillo, consul in 19 BC, and his wife Turia. This assumption was made while learning from Valerius Maximus 6, 7, 2 and Appian Bell.civ. 4, 44; Turia was said to have saved her husband the same way it happened in the inscription pieces. It is very probable that they are one and the same, but most scholars reject this assumption.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Private Lives and Public Personae University of Tennessee
  2. ^ Laudatio Turiae tombstone
  3. ^ JSTOR: A New Fragment of the Laudatio Turiae
  4. ^ Women in Rome
  5. ^ A funeral eulogy. Rome, 1st cent. B.C. (ILS 8393. Tr. E. Wistrand. L)
  6. ^ Social life at Rome in the Age of Cicero by W. Warde Fowler

[edit] References


[Category:Burial monuments and structures]] [Category:Acknowledgements of death]] [Category:Inscriptions]]