People of the Eastern Necropolis

Most buried people in the Eastern Necropolis are civils: their tombs are more than forty. A part of some exceptions, they were common people. Usually there is written the dedicator of the tomb and the deceased, sometimes with affectionate expressions, like coniugi dulcissimo[1] (dearest husband) or pientissimo filio[2] (most devoted son). Women actively participated in the creation of sarcophagi: half of civil burials were partly or completely commissioned by a female individual. They contributed to the construction of ten double sarcophagi, financed five burials for a relative and for themselves during their lifetime, commissioned another five exclusively for themselves and, in three cases, dedicated the burial to another person.

There were about thirty arcae dedicated to soldiers. In most cases, their epitaph shows the numerus in which they served and their rank.[3] The numeri were a military contingent of the late antiquity, and the eastern necropolis of Concordia represents a fundamental source to study their number and names, other than the Notitia Dignitatum.

Another group represented in the necropolis is the fabricenses. These skilled workers were linked to the city's arrow factory. The fabricenses occupied a unique position, existing at the intersection of the civil and military spheres. From a civilian perspective, they were employed by a civilian official, the Magister Officiorum,[4] and were not permitted to carry weapons, a privilege granted to soldiers.[5] However, like soldiers, these workers were organised according to military hierarchy. The vocabulary used in the inscriptions found on the burial grounds is also peculiar and typical of the semantic field of war: the corpus of the fabricenses is defined as sc(h)ola,[6] and one of their members, Flavius Calladinus, describes himself as a veteranus (veteran) who militavit in fabrca sagittaria (served in the arrow-making workshop).[7] There are seven complete inscriptions mentioning six fabricenses: two of them are dedicated to the wives of Romulianus, who remarried after the death of his first wife.[8] An epigraphic fragment also suggests the presence of a seventh fabricensis, whose name has not been preserved.[9]

Another important group is composed by Greek-speaking people who came from the oriental side of the Empire, most of them from the ancient city of Apamea, Syria.[10] Their role was probably as olive oil traders.[11]

Thus, the eastern necropolis of Concordia was home to an impressive variety of people from different backgrounds. This is also evident from their names, which are of Latin (Mercurius[12]), Germanic (Gunthia[13]), Celtic (Sirramnis[14]), Greek (Ziper[15]) and Semitic (Cham[16]) origin.

As far as worship is concerned, only a few clues allow us to identify the religious beliefs of certain individuals. Six inscriptions contain the abbreviation D(is) M(anibus), meaning a dedication to the Manes, the gods who represented the souls of the dead.[17] Furthermore, six sarcophagi with Latin inscriptions bear the Constantinian monogram. These two elements would suggest pagan and Christian beliefs respectively. However, the presence of both in the double burial of Flavius Martinianus and Severina calls this apparent distinction into question. It is possible that the initials DM had lost their original meaning, while retaining a generic connection with death, as suggested by Lettich.[18] Nor can it be ruled out that the two deceased professed different faiths. It should also be noted that the dedication to the Manes gods was on the now lost lid, known only from Bertolini's testimony;[19] several significant elements may therefore have been lost without any documentation.