Tomb 55Isola Sacra Menu

Tomb 55 is the northernmost grave of the row formed by tombs 55-81. Tomb 55 borders on the so-called "Field of the Poor" and dates back to the second period of use of the necropolis (Antoninus Pius).
The entrance of the grave was flanked by a biclinium. In front of this biclinium is a square pedestal on which probably once a table top was attached.
Tomb 55 has a beautiful facade with a tympanum. Above the entrance, flanked by two small windows, is a marble slab with the following inscription:

D(is) M(anibus)
SCANTIA SALVINA
SCANTIAE SABINAE FILIAE
PIENTISSIMAE ET M(arcus) SVLPI
CIVS FORTVNATVS FECER(unt)
SIBI ET LIBERIS ET LIBERTIS
LIBERTAB(usque) POSTERISQ(ue) EORVM
H(oc) M(onumentum) H(eredem) N(on) S(equetur)

According to this text, the grave was built by Scantia Salvina for her pious daughter, Scantia Sabina, and by her and Marcus Sulpicius Fortunatus for themselves, their children and their freed slaves, and their children. The monument could not be inherited (in the sense that it must not go out of the family name when it is passed on to later generations).

The burial chamber, preserved well, was used for both burial rites. We find three arcosolia for inhumation surrounded by small niches for urns.
The barrel vault was painted gold-yellow and had several pictures. Among these were four heads in a medallion, representing the four seasons. In two other medallions are satyrs.
In the middle of the vault, in an octagon, a winged person was depicted, probably Psyche. The whole was completed with garlands and cupids.

• 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).
  
  
• Notes
• 1:Thylander ascribes the inscription to tomb 56 and concludes that Calza exchanged the inscription of tomb 54 with 56. He did not report on what ground. Baldassarre remains quit about this issue. Because of the measurements of the grave mentioned in the inscription and the physical nature of both tombs we must at least give Calza the benefit of the doubt. (note author) - Guido Calza: Necropoli Nell’Isola Sacra 1940; Thylander: Inscription du port d’Ostie