Roman Mausoleum of Fabara: A Second-Century Roman Funerary Monument
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Classical
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Roman
- Site type
- Burial
- Remains
- Tomb
On this page10 sections
History
The Roman mausoleum of Fabara is a second-century AD Roman funerary monument on the left bank of the Matarranya River near Fabara in Zaragoza Province, Spain. Probably built in the late second century AD, it reflects the architectural culture of the Roman Empire during the Antonine dynasty, which ruled much of the empire during that century. The tomb belonged to Lucius Aemilius Lupus and was erected by his parents, Lucius Aemilius Priscus and Domitia Severa.
Roman prosperity and construction
The surrounding region prospered during the first centuries AD through cereal cultivation. Wealthy families of Roman origin established villas across the countryside, and numerous rural Roman remains and villa sites are known in the area. Traces of other mausoleum-type buildings have also been found nearby, placing the monument within a wider tradition of funerary construction.
Its precise date is difficult to establish. Comparable funerary monuments existed as early as the reign of Trajan, the Roman emperor who ruled from AD 98 to 117, while the combination of Tuscan and Ionic architectural orders is attested from the second century. The mausoleum’s design also appears to have been influenced by Hellenistic funerary monuments of Asia Minor, including the Nereid Monument at Xanthus.
Legend, recognition, and protection
For centuries, local traditions associated the building with Moorish origins. One legend held that anyone who tried to destroy it would suffer misfortune. Before it attracted archaeological attention, probably because of its isolated position, the structure was used at different times as accommodation by laborers, vagrants, or bandits.
The monument was officially reported to the Spanish administration, specifically the Royal Academy of History, in 1874. Drawings and descriptive and historical notices followed. After passing through several private owners, it was acquired by the Spanish state in 1942. It had already been declared a historical-artistic monument in 1931 and is recognized as a Bien de Interés Cultural, Spain’s principal cultural-heritage designation for protected sites.
Lucius Aemilius Lupus
Three-dimensional scanning in 2014 produced a complete virtual reconstruction of the monument, including its interior chamber and crypt. The reconstructed inscriptions identify the deceased as Lucius Aemilius Lupus, probably a young child or adolescent. Francisco Beltrán Lloris proposed that he may have died at about thirteen years of age.
The front inscription is conventionally reconstructed as “D. M. L’AEMILI LVPI,” meaning “To the Manes of Lucius Aemilius Lupus.” The Manes were the spirits of the dead in Roman funerary religion, and D. M. derives from Dis Manibus, a traditional dedication to them. The restoration of the text remains uncertain, and the reconstruction proposed in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, a major scholarly collection of Latin inscriptions, may be partly inaccurate.
Remains
The mausoleum is a small rectangular temple-type tomb, approximately 7.40 by 6.06 metres, set on a low podium and aligned with the cardinal directions. Its only entrance and principal facade face east. The building is constructed from large sandstone blocks laid without mortar and secured with metal clamps. The side walls are about 0.88 metres thick, while the rear wall measures approximately 0.62 metres.
Exterior architecture
Facade and colonnade
The monument is prostyle, meaning that its colonnade stands across the front rather than continuing around all four sides. Four smooth Tuscan columns form the entrance front, with two attached to the side walls and two placed between them. Tuscan columns are relatively plain classical supports. Fluted pilasters stand at the rear corners and at the centre of each side wall, framing the otherwise undecorated walls of the cella, the principal interior chamber.
The columns and pilasters support an entablature with a frieze. The side and rear sections contain Ionic detailing, including floral motifs and garlands that vary from one face to another. On the facade, bronze letters were once nailed into the stone across approximately 5.20 metres in two lines. The letters were about 14 to 15 centimetres high, and their nail marks remain.
Pediments and entrance porch
Two pediments rise above the entablature. The eastern pediment over the entrance is badly damaged but retains the stone inscription that identifies the tomb. The western pediment is smooth, uninscribed, and much better preserved. The original pitched roof followed the slopes of the pediments and has disappeared, leaving the extrados, or outer surface, of the low barrel vault exposed.
A shallow pronaos, or entrance porch, occupies the space between the colonnade and the facade wall of the cella. Walls approximately 0.54 metres wide bound it on each side. A doorway about 1.70 metres wide connects the porch with the cella.
Interior and funerary chamber
The cella floor is formed from slabs joined with mortar and covered with plaster. A barrel vault roofs the chamber. Beneath the monument lies a semi-subterranean crypt, partly within the podium and partly below ground level. It too has a barrel vault and was reached by a staircase descending from inside the cella, to the left of the cella doorway.
The staircase to the burial chamber, or ossuary, survives inside the monument. The underground vault is almost completely blocked, its depth is unknown, and the chamber is inaccessible or substantially ruined. Its relationship to the cella preserves the basic arrangement of the tomb, with the visible temple-like structure above and the funerary space below.
Surviving inscriptions
The front-pediment inscription occupies a single line measuring approximately 150 by 12 centimetres. The surviving lettering reads approximately “L’ A MILI LVPI.” An additional “E” is thought to have stood between the “A” and “M,” while traces above the inscription probably represent the metal letters “D” and “M.” Together, these remains provide the basis for identifying the monument with Lucius Aemilius Lupus while preserving the uncertainty surrounding the damaged text.
