Living with the Dead: Necropoleis in Roman Asia Minor

How ancient individuals and societies dealt with their dead is, in some regard, quite different from how we handle things nowadays: Ancient necropoleis (cities of the dead) were often situated in direct sight to the city, and equipped with monumental tombs that were visible from afar. Periodical festivities were performed at the gravesites, e.g. at the birthday of the deceased, with the whole family taking part. Additionally, former professional colleagues could be involved in the longterm maintenance of the tomb via the donation of a sum of money by the deceased, thus obliging them to regularly decorate his grave. Many of these tombs were also equipped with inscriptions, that deliver important information on the person who founded the tomb as well as on his plans for the future use of his monument. These inscriptions form the most important chunk of evidence for this project. The main goal here is to investigate into the family structures presented in these texts, as well as into questions regarding the respective societythe living in contrast to the dead, so to speak. Therefore, four model cities in Southwestern Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) were chosen: Aphrodisias, Hierapolis (better known as Pamukkale today), Termessus and Olympus. Especially the last two cities have been in the focus of research in Austria for more than a century: Already in the 1890s and 1900s, Austrian scientists visited the cities, collecting, copying and finally publishing their inscriptions. Two main criteria led to the selection of these four cities: For one thing, each of them delivers several hundred ancient grave inscriptions, and for another thing, most of these texts may still be studied in their original contextthus delivering invaluable information on how they were perceived, read and maybe even discussed by contemporaries. The projects main targets are a close examination of the ways in which families dealt with death, burial and commemmoration, as well as a tighter grasp around the strategies of how societies participated and contributed to an ancient culture of commemmoration.

Tens of thousands of funerary monuments and inscriptions still allow us today to learn about the people and their families who lived some 1,800 years ago in the ancient "metropolises" of Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Deciphered and often reconstructed from fragments, these texts offer us insight into life and death in the society of that time. For example, we can observe Aurelia Padamouriane Nannelis, a lady of high society in the mountain town of Termessos, as she commissions a prestigious temple tomb for herself and her closest relatives, and a simple sarcophagus for two freedmen of her late husband. Or one encounters the retired Praetorian Mucianus, who was born in the lower Danube region, then made a career in Rome and was involved in protecting the emperor as part of the Praetorian Guard, before finally retiring to the port city of Olympos - his tomb still stands there today. Or one might read about the Jewish couple Tatianos and Apphia, who, although they had a sarcophagus erected for themselves in Hierapolis (today's Pamukkale) during their lifetimes, would have much preferred to be brought after death to the "fatherland," that is, presumably to Israel. Their sarcophagus, complete with its long inscription, can still be visited today. The research project focused on these and many other individual examples, as well as on the overarching strategies of ancient society in dealing with its own dead. The cities' necropolises were not enclosed areas, but were traversed daily, used for public life, and were an important part of the urban landscape. The tombs, some of which were very elaborately constructed, took this into account by being oriented along the main streets, sometimes even offering benches for visitors to rest, or directly addressing ancient travelers in the tomb inscriptions with phrases such as "Wanderer, stop here!" The inscriptions affixed to the monuments by the tomb's founders not only present individual destinies but, taken as a whole, provide insight into demographic and social conditions, typical family structures, as well as strategies for self-representation, the struggle for prestige, and provisions for one's own death or that of beloved relatives. It is strikingly evident how important it was to the tomb's patrons to have a final resting place befitting their respective status-that is, a monument that corresponded to their wealth, their origins, and sometimes even their profession; in short: their place in public life. For ideally, this site would not only be visited and maintained by the family itself, but would also allow the image that the founder of the grave had established for him- or herself in society to live on for generations to come.