Event: WEDS TALKS: Archaeological Evidence for Sarcophagi as Multi-use Family Tombs in Roman Asia Minor

ABSTRACT: How many bodies went into sarcophagi in the eastern Mediterranean under Roman rule? Who bought monument and why? For the inhabitants of the Roman East, and in Asia Minor in particular, most patrons purchased a sarcophagus for themselves and their families, authorizing a minimum of two (and up to four) generations burial within. Yet the mortuary remains often reveal the presence of even more depositions than those specified in the texts. Using four evidentiary categories––epigraphy, skeletal remains, the structural outfitting of the sarcophagi, and iconography––I explore the phenomenon of the intended reuse of sarcophagi in Asia Minor.

BIO: Dr. Sarah Madole Lewis is Associate Professor and Deputy Chair of Art History at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (City University of New York). Her research focuses on the funerary landscapes of the ancient Roman world with a specialization on the eastern Mediterranean and the later Empire. As a current Getty Villa Research Scholar she is working on the manuscript for her book project, Roman sarcophagi in their eastern Mediterranean contexts, which examines sarcophagi from Anatolia to Cyrene during the Roman period.