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© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Empúries
Omeka ID 124
Empúries. Àrea suburbana
Late Antiquity

tombstone mosaic

MAC EMP-09859

Object type
mosaic
Production date
400 / 425
Fabric
-
Museum
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Empúries
Culture
Late Antiquity
Discovery location
Empúries. Àrea suburbana
Materials
stone
Township
Escala, l' (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Girona, Alt Empordà)
Technique
opus tessellatum
Where is it?
Exposició permanent
Dimensions
1360 x 2740 x 30 mm
Description
Mosaic funerary tombstone (5th century AD) Tombstone found in May 2003 during the archaeological excavations carried out inside the medieval church of Santa Margarita. This church is located outside the walls of the ancient Greek and Roman cities of Empúries, next to the road leading to Sant Martí d'Empúries. It is a 10th-century church that was built on top of earlier structures corresponding to a baptismal building and a Christian burial cemetery from Late Antiquity (5th-8th centuries), when Empúries was the seat of the bishopric of the same name. The tombstone was part of a privileged tomb made up of a rectangular stone sarcophagus with a double-sided stone roof, which was placed by cutting into the natural rock. The tomb was sealed with this polychrome mosaic tombstone with a three-line Christian funerary inscription in the central part. Later, further burials were carried out which partially damaged the tombstone, so that most of the first line, which contained the name of the deceased and his position or social status, has been lost. The preserved inscription is as follows: (..............................................) .. S/QVIESCET GAVDET/SPIRITVS/QVE/IN/CRISTO/LETA TVR-PLVS/MINVS/VIXIT/ANIS/LX The first preserved word of the first line could correspond to (EPISCO) PVS, a reading which will have to be confirmed. Thus the transcription would be: "(..........) bishop (?), {Here} rest. Enjoy the spirit that rejoices in Christ. He lived more or less sixty years." This tombstone is dated to the first quarter of the 5th century and is clearly related to Christian artistic manifestations of North African origin, specifically from Tunisia.

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