Monument to Caio Menio Basso




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The tomb is located at 26,284 miles of the Tiburtina Valeria road towards the slopes of the Ramanna hill, in the area of a modern quarry. This tomb results from the reconstruction made in 1825 - during the construction of the Rome-Pescara Railway - after the discovery of the epigraph with cursus honorum of Caio Menio Basso and the discovery of the marble elements which were part of the monument. During the railway construction works the monument was slightly shifted towards the North compared to its original position.

The high podium is covered by terminal framed slabs where three modern steps lay. The high podium overlaps with the upper part of the monument, composed of lateral pilasters which frame the funerary inscription. These pilasters have a trapezophors shape having a leonine paw with four claws and a Medusa's head as a crowning element in a convex profile and articulated in the decorations free area and, in a concave profile, with seven shafts. The altar is crowned, in the upper part by a molding which is modern too. This monument is an example of architectonic sepulchral altar, transformed into a monument, which was placed in front of the chamber tombs. Thanks to the presence of the leonine trapezophors, it can be assumed that the intention was to revive the shape and style of a canteen. The inscription on the front of the monument sums up the political, religious and military career of the tomb owner, C. Menio Basso, citizen of Tivoli pertaining to the Camilian tribe, and describes him as an Aedile and a quadrumvir, Master of the Herculanei and Augustales colleges, that's to say the person in charge of the worships to Hercules Victor and to the emperor; he was also blacksmiths prefect of M. Silanus in Chartage and consul of the third Augustan legion. According to the same inscription - also recalling a certain M. (Junius) Silanus, consul in 19 AD and proconsul of Africa in 35-40 AD - this monument can be dated around the mid-first century AD. Because of the almost total lack of evidence of funerary monuments on the Tiburtina road, this tomb has a fundamental importance for the reconstruction of the different kind of graves, which were once located along the consular roads in Roman times.


Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Colonna del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Dettaglio della Colonna del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Facciata del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Panoramica del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Resti della Colonna del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso
Resti del Monumento di Caio Menio Basso






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icona pin
Via Tiburtina Valeria km 42.300, 00029 - Vicovaro (RM)
icona info
Uffici Turismo e Cultura del Comune di Vicovaro
Via Delle Scuole, 1 - 00029 Vicovaro
Tel: 0774 498002
E-mail: Ufficio Turismo





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