FUNERARY EPIGRAPHY IN ROMAN HISPANIA: A REVIEW OF THE PRACTICE OF INDICATIO PEDATURAE IN THE TITULI SEPULCRALES

Abstract

The present article revolves around a critical revision of 160 epitaphs that use a set of formulae pedaturae refering to the loci measurae sepulcri, that is, the measures of the burial sites. The corpus inscriptionum showed that this phenomenon constitutes an idiosyncrasy of the necropolis of southern Hispania, assembled on three important administrative units: the conventus Astigitanus, Cordubensis e Emeritensis, analyzed in an attempt to relate the data of the epigraphic sources with those from the archaeological context, for a better understanding of the possible connections between the models used, the beliefs implied and the social classes that adopted them. It was also intended to establish a relationship between the burial modules (rectangular and quadrangular), the social profile of the deceased and the phenomenon of imitatio Vrbis.