Roman urn of Attii family seized from farmhouse garden

A Roman cinerary urn with an important dedicatory inscription has been has come to light in Portogruaro, a town on the outskirts of Venice, northern Italy. The urn dates to between the 1st century B.C. and the middle of the 1st century A.D. Engraved in Latin capitals on the front of the box is an inscription commissioned by Attius Lucullus, a member of the Attii family who were prominent in the area and known from numerous inscriptions in nearby ancient Altinum.

The box is made of limestone and has a rhomboid shape with a pseudo-square base. There is a cut-out square cavity at the top which held the cinerary remains. Originally, the cavity was covered by a lid, but that is long gone, as are the ashes of the deceased. The inscription has suffered heavy wear and tear and is only partially legible with the naked eye. It reads:

L(ucio) Attio Sex(ti) f(ilio) patri,

C(aio) Attio Sex(ti) f(ilio) patruo,

[-] Attio L(uci) f(ilio) fratri,

[-] Attius L(uci) f(ilius) Lucullus.

It names four members of the Attius family: the dedicator, Attius Lucullus, his father Lucius, his uncle Caius and his brother.

The limestone box was discovered in the late 60s or early 70s in a field near a farmhouse, but the finder never reported it. It was left in the garden of the cottage even as different owners acquired it. When the current property owners, bought the farmhouse in 2023, they reported the urn to the Archaeological Superintendency who launched an investigation.

At the end of the investigation, in January 2024, the Pordenone Public Prosecutor’s Office seized the urn on the grounds that the current property owners had no legal title to it and assigned it to the Concordiese National Museum in Portogruaro. The Carabinieri Nucleus for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Venice have now delivered the urn to the Concordiese National Museum. Researchers are now examining it further in the hope of being able to make out the faded parts of the inscription.

* This article was originally published here