Nota Bene - University of Chicago

This placement of a necropolis just outside the city walls is as bustling a site in an ancient city
as one can imagine, akin to the impressive funerary monument of C. Vestorius Priscus at the
Vesuvian Gate, or the many funerary monuments lining the street from the Herculaneum gate
at Pompeii. Like them, Abercius intended his βωμο� ς to be conspicuously displayed to passers-
by (πα�ς ο� συνω� δο� ς), even while he lived. 75
Although other burials are not in the view of the author of his vita, who gives the
impression of a solitary, prominent monument (like the Kasserine tomb is now), they are,
however, acutely in the mind of its author, who used his precious marble space to call out the
punishments to be levied against anyone who laid another body in his tomb. Recognition of this
strong possibility -- that the Abercius monument originally stood within a necropolis -- is an
insight that once uttered makes us realize how little we really do have access to the most
essential features of its original historical context. What graves stood near it (and when?)?
Could it have been in or near a complex of family tombs (while the literary vita does not mention
Abercius’ family, did the placement of his tomb signal it loud and clear?)? Was it conspicuously
larger than any neighboring tombs? How tall did the βωμο� ς stand on its base? Could one see
all the lettering clearly from ground level? None of these questions can be answered in the
absolute, either, for necropoleis are continually shifting over time. How did the environs of
Abercius’ tomb monument change in the decades and years that became the two centuries or
so between Abercius’ death and the composition of the vita Abercii? Were other burials placed
near that of Abercius, either early or late (as part of the practice of burial ad sanctos which we
saw much evidence of in floor mosaics from basilicas in North Africa)? Did the necropolis
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change from a predominantly non-Christian to Christian one (as seems likely)? 76 When was
that change noticeable (and to whom)? And was there another inscription on the baths nearby
Aberciosinschrift als Grabepigramm,” 35). See Fig. XX.
75 The formula V F (vivos fecit) is very common in Latin inscriptions, and directly parallels the ζω� ν ε� ποι�ησεν
in many other Greek inscriptions in Asia Minor (see Johnson, Early Christian Epitaphs from Anatolia, nos. 1.7, 8,13,
22, 23, etc.).
76 Given the demographics and the eventual enfranchisement of the Christian cult. The author of the vita
Abercii presumes Hieropolis was predominantly “pagan” in his hero’s day.