Grave Monument of Popillius and Calpurnia in the Getty Villa, July 2008

Grave Monument of Popillius and Calpurnia
Roman, 1-20 AD
Marble

Inventory # 71.AA.260

The side-by-side arrangement of the deceased in a windowlike box as well as the style of the carving are typical of monuments made for freed Roman slaves. Families of deceased freedmen placed such panels on the facades of family tombs that lined the roads leading out of Rome. The panels announced the elevated social status of freedmen and their heirs, who were henceforth freeborn.

Text from the Getty Villa museum label.