Tomb 78Isola Sacra Menu

Tomb 78 is part of the group formed by the tombs 77 till 80 and is the oldest one in that group. None of these tombs has an enclosure. They do have, however, biclinia flanking the entrance. The fronts of these tombs have triangular tympanums.
Above the entrance of tomb 78 we find the following inscription on a marble slab:

D(is) M(anibus)
TI(berius) CLAVDIVS EVTYCHUS
CLAVDIAE MEMNONIDI
CONIVGI BENE MERENTI ET SIBI
LIBERISQVE SVIS FECIT LIBERTIS
LIBERTABVSQVE POSTERISQVE
EORVM ITV AMBITVM H(oc) M(onumentum) H(eredem) N(on) S(equetur)
IN FRONTE P(edes) XV IN AGRO P(edes) XV

The entrance and the enclosure were made by Tiberius Claudius Eutychus for Claudia Memnonis, his well-deserving wife, for himself and their children, for their freed slaves, and the descendants. The monument could not be inherited. The area in width and in depth measured 15 Roman feet.

Next to the inscription are two terracotta reliefs. On the right one we see a boat with oars and a man at the stern with a helm. The oars are operated by three sitting oarsmen. On the left relief we see a horse turning a grain mill. The horse is managed by a serv 

The tomb is a columbarium. On the back wall are no traces of paintings.
However, Guido Calza mentions a painting of Hercules in a niche in the right wall. He had a club in his left hand and in his right hand probably an apple.
In the opposite niche was a painting of Neptune. Of the last painting only the legs, the left hand holding a trident and the right hand pointing to a dolphin could be seen.
During a second period formae were built below the black-and-white mosaic floor.
A small piece of polychrome mosaic covered a tomb "a cappuccino".
In the left corner was a tomb "a cassone" formed by four marble slabs.
Tomb 78 dates back to the time of Trajan.

• Sources
• Russel Meigs - Roman Ostia, At the Clarendon Press 1973
• Guido Calza - Necropoli nell'Isola Sacra'(1940)
• Dr. Jan Theo Bakker.
• Hilding Thylander - Inscriptions du port d'Ostie (Lund C W K Gleerup 1952).
• Ida Baldassarre, Irene Bragantini, Chiara Morselli and Franc Taglietti - Necropoli di Porto, Isola Sacra (Roma 1996).