The Tombstone of M. Caelius

[Antek]

Hi!

In the noon I was studying the tombstone of Marcus Caelius son of Titus to gain some information about early principate armament. Caelius was one of the legionnaires killed in the battle of Teutonberg Wald. On his tombstone he is shown on the background of two busts. I'm interesting in who are those two men placed behind centurion. Adrian Goldsworthy claims that their are his freedmen, but maybe their are his ancestors? You know a kind of funeral masks. One of them is signed M. Caelius M. L. Privatus, and the other M. Caelius M. L. Thiaminus.

If anyone know the answer please help.

[L C Cinna]

They are his freedmen.

M.L. stands for Marci libertus = freedman of Marcus

Privatus and Thiaminus are their slavenames. they took the name of their master after being freed and the slavename as cognomen

[Tarbicus]

Inscription:
M(arcus) Caelius M(arci) l(ibertus) Privatus //
M(arcus) Caelius M(arci) l(ibertus) Thiaminus //
M(arco) Caelio T(iti) f(ilio) Lem(onia) Bon(onia) //
|(centurioni) leg(ionis) XIIX ann(orum) LIII /
[ce]cidit bello Variano ossa /
[i]nferre licebit p(onendum) c(uravit) Aelius T(iti) F(ilius) /
Lem(onia) frater fecit

Translation:
(The first two lines record the names of Marcus Caelius' freedmen, Marcus Caelius Privatus and Marcus Caelius Thiaminus) To Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the voting tribe Lemonia, from Bononia, first centurion of the eighteenth legion. At the age of 53 he fell in the Varian War, the bones (of his freedmen) may be interred here. His brother Caelius, son of Titus, of the tribe Lemonia, erected (this tombstone)

http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/component/ ... Itemid,94/

Doesn't licebit mean 'freedmen'? If so, it makes sense they would be on the tombstone. It's often been said soldiers enjoyed a very close relationship with their slaves and freedmen, some of whom trained with them as galearii.

[L C Cinna]

licebit means it is "allowed to..."

about that translation...i'm not sure if I would have added the "freemen" as a suggestion because the original does not talk of the "freeman's bones". I think it actually refers to his bones which should be put in there if found.

[Tarbicus]

Thanks for that explanation.

If his freedmen were allowed to be interred there, surely it makes sense that the two busts would be of them, in anticipation of? They are each referred to as libertus.

[L C Cinna]

Yes. I guess they were allowed to be placed in there because this was not the only time this happens.

I just think that the inscription itself actually refers to his bones in the meaning of "his bones may be placed in here (if found)" on the other hand it really might refer to the liberti as well.

[Praefectusclassis]

Hmmm. Yeah, rereading the inscription, I'd say it's more likely that MC's bones can be buried there if found. This was the very first tombstone in the database (id 4, the first three were probably tests), when my understanding of this phenomenon was a lot less developed. :wink:

[Caratacus]

One of the ways in which the concept of patronage in Roman society was manifested is that when a slave was freed, he took the name of his (former) owner and became one of his clients. He then took this man's family name for his own.

It's often the case as well that when a man was born of a relationship between a soldier and a local girl, he would be assigned to the voting tribe of 'Pollia', his place of origin given as 'in the camp' and because the father was frequently unknown (or refused to acknowledge the boy as his son), he (the boy) would take the name of the ruling emperor. He literaly became a client of the emperor.

As Jasper says, it wasn't that unusual for the name of a former slave to appear (as a freedman) on a monument - often as being the one responsible for paying for said monument if there were no other family members around to do the deed. In this case, the two men clearly followed their former master into the disaster and Marcus' brother felt it necessary to commemorate all three men on the monument.