FP3 Pompeii. East tomb 3 at Fondo Pacifico.

Excavated 1886-7. This part of the site is now buried.

FP3 Pompeii. Detail from late 19th century photo.

The tomb has a vaulted sepulchral chamber entered from the rear.

On the inside of the wall next to the street were three niches. Each niche contained an urn.

Directly over the inner niches, and opening to the street, are three other niches (seen in this photo).

Each had a libation tube allowing relatives to pour oil and wine on to the urns inside.

Lava bust stones, one with the appearance of a woman, were placed at the back of the three outer niches.

See Mau, A., 1907, translated by Kelsey F. W. Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New York: Macmillan. (p. 434-5).

FP3 Pompeii left and FP4 right. Late 19th century photo.

See Mau, A., 1908. Pompeji in Leben und Kunst, Lipsia, 1908, p. 452, fig. 266.

FP3 Pompeii. C.1890. Tomb, far left, shortly after excavation. Photo by Paul Bette.

Collection de l'Institut d'Archéologie classique de Strasbourg (fonds Michaelis) inventory number It.IV.A.c.46.

FP3 Pompeii left, FP4, FP5 and FP6. Late 19th century painting.

See Niccolini F, 1896. Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei: Volume Quarto. Napoli. (Nuovo Scavi, Tav.1).

FP3 Pompeii left, FP4, FP5 and FP6 before reburial. Old undated photo. Two tombs were found in 1886 and a further four in the following year.

FP3 Pompeii left, FP4, FP5 and FP6 before reburial. Old undated photo. Tombs found in 1887.

Pompeii FP3 left, FP4, FP5 and FP6. 1899 drawing of tombs.

See Gusman P., 1899. Pompei: La Ville, Les Mœurs, Les Arts. Paris: Société française d'éditions d'art, p. 41.

FP3 Pompeii.  Inscription relating to gladiatorial combat, painted in red letters on the front of the monument.

Glad(iatorum) par(ia) XX Q. Monni Rufi pug(nabunt) Nola K(alendis) Mais, VI. V. Nonas Maias, et venatio erit      [CIL IV 3881].      

Mau translates this as 'Twenty pairs of gladiators, furnished by Quintus Monnius Rufus, will fight at Nola May 1, 2, and 3, and there will be a hunt.'

According to Mau, the forms of the letters and the numerous ligatures point to a comparatively early period, perhaps antedating the reign of Augustus.

The 'hunt,' venatio, was an exhibition of wild beasts, which sometimes were pitted against one another, sometimes fought with men.

See Mau, A., 1888. Mitteilungen des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Roemische Abtheilung Volume III.  (p. 144).

See Mau, A., 1907, translated by Kelsey F. W. Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New York: Macmillan. (p. 221-2)

FP3 Pompeii. Inscription found on the front of the tomb just above the three niches.

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de) this read

Decembres

equa F siquei aberavit cum semuncis honerata a(nte) d)iem) VII Kal(endas) S[ept]embers

convenito Q(uintum) Deciu(m) Q(uinti) l(ibertum) Hilarum [au]t L(ucium) [3]um L(uci) l(ibertum) [Amp]hionem citra pontem

Sarni

Fundo

Mamiano       [CIL IV 3864]

According to Mau Septembres had been hastily corrected into Decembres and thus the inscription translates as

'If anybody lost a mare with a small pack-saddle, November 25, let him come and see Quintus Decius Hilarus, freedman of Quintus Decius, or . . . (the name is illegible), freedman of Lucius, on the estate of the Mamii, this side of the bridge over the Sarno.'

See Mau, A., 1907, translated by Kelsey F. W. Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New York: Macmillan. (p. 436)

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1887, p.34.