Arts & Entertainment

2nd century AD funerary altar of teenage girl discovered in Rome

Rome, May 3 (EFE).- A funerary altar indicating the location of the remains of Valeria, a 13-year-old girl who died in the 2nd century AD, has been discovered during archaeological excavations carried out in Rome.

The new excavations have revealed a funerary building with urns embedded in the walls dating back to the 2nd century, the Special Superintendence of Archeology of Rome announced.

Two meters below Luigi Tosti Street, a perfectly preserved white marble funerary altar with an epigraph that reads “Valeria Laeta, daughter of P[ublio] lived 13 years and 7 months” according to the experts’ translation.

Some fragments of a white marble sarcophagus have been discovered, with one of the pieces having a well-preserved bas-relief of a hunting scene: a lioness and a hunter on horseback, the culture ministry said in a statement.

According to experts, the small columbarium was built in tuff, a porous and light limestone, and was made up of 80-centimeter-high walls covered with an excellently crafted brick cladding.

The building was found collapsed and badly damaged, so it might have been mechanically pulled down during the urbanization of the district in the 1930s. EFE

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