Subject
Letters found in 1999 inside two lead pipes buried under the Doric Tombs at the 4th mile of the Via Appia Antica. The papers prove a secret and passionate love story that the lover decided to protect in a “time capsule”. On the tubes we can see the initials U.H. and L.L. and a date in Roman numerals: 30th of September 1929.
Reading the letters we understand that Ugo H. and Letizia L. first met at work and they immediately fell in love, but Ugo, older than her, was already married. It was for this reason that, after three years of passionate letters, Ugo had to stop the compromising mailing, asking to be given back all the letters that he sent to her. Instead of destroying them, he buried the letters in an evocative place, under one of the most beautiful monuments of the Regina Viarum.

Accession number –
Paper, lead
Length of the pipes around 25 cm
1926-1929 A.D.

Provenance
Doric Tomb, 4th mile of the Via Appia Antica.

Placement
Complex of Capo di Bove

Credits
Archive of the Appia Antica Archaeological Park.

References
R. Paris, Le lettere d’amore sulla via Appia antica in M.P. Guermandi (ed.), Archaeology & Me. Pensare l’archeologia nell’Europa contemporanea, Catalogo della Mostra tenuta a Roma, Museo Nazionale Romana, Palazzo Massimo, dal 10 dicembre 2016 al 23 aprile 2017, Bologna 2016.

Subject
Triangular shaped fragment of slab with a low relief depicting the upper part of a sitting man, dressed with an exomis tunic cinched at the waist by a belt; behind the right forearm we can see the left one. The severe attitude of the man is underlined by his gaze: staring and focused in front of him, with his carved pupil. The messy beard and the mustache have curls, as well as thick hair where the pileus is placed, the typical pointed hat usually worn by Ulysses. The great mastery employed let us place this relief between the end of the 2nd and the 1st century B.C.
The marble slab probably belonged to the decoration of a sepulchre of the Republican age, revealed near the Barberini tomb in 1985.
Accession number 1201222860
Pentelic marble
Height 35.2 cm; width 26.5 cm; depth 3 cm;
Late 2nd – beginning of 1st century B.C.

Placement
Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps

Credits
Ministero della Cultura

References
B. Andreae, Odysseus. Mythos und Erinnerung, Mainz am Rhein 1999, n. 168.
LIMC VI, 1, 1992, p. 966 (O. Touchedeu-Meynier).
M. De Angelis D’Ossat, Rilievo con figura di Ulisse, in Roma. Memorie dal sottosuolo, Ritrovamenti, p. 358, n. II 637.
Palazzo Altemps, Le collezioni, Roma 2011, p. 306.

Subject
Funerary altar representing a market scene, dedicated by Apelle, freedman of Claudius or Nero, and Asconia Quarta to L. Calpurnius Daphnus argentarius Macelli Magni. Found in the Calpurnia sepulchre in the archaeological area of the Tombs of the Via Latina.
The altar, currently in a private collection, provides clear chronological indication about the sepulchre’s use during the Neronian age. In this period the large market on Celio, where the deceased man carried out his job of money dealer.
Accession number –
Marble
Height 79 cm; width 41 cm; depth 34.5 cm; letters height between 0.4 and 2.7 cm
Second half of 1st cent. A.D.

Provenance
Tombs of the Via Latina, Calpurnia sepulchre

Placement
Massimo collection, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome.

Credits
Images by permission of the Massimo collection, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome.

References
AA.VV. Pecunia non olet. I banchieri di Roma antica, 2023, pp. 182-183.
CIL VI 9183 = ILS 7501 = Supplementa Italica. Imagines. Roma. 5, 5335 (F. Cerrone) = EDR0165457.
L. Fortunati, Relazione generale degli scavi e scoperte fatte lungo la via Latina, 1859, p.68, n.101.
J. Andreau, La vie financière dans le monde romain: les métiers de menieurs d’argent (IV° siècle av. J.C. – III° siècle ap. J.C.), Paris 2015.

Subject
Fragment of a sarcophagus with an imago clipeata, depicting the bust of a young boy with a tunic and a cloak, held by genii of the seasons; below some wicker baskets with fruit. Found in the burial room of the Barberini tomb (from the SU 2119) during the excavation and cleaning conducted by Soprintendenza Archeologica of Rome in 1998-99.

Accession number –
Carrara marble
Height 33 cm; width 34 cm; depth 4 cm
Second half of 3rd cent. A.D.

Provenance
Tombs of the Via Latina, so-called Barberini sepulchre

Placement
Tombs of the Via Latina

Credits
Archive of Appia Antica Archaeological Park (pictures by P. Pinci)

References
S.A. Cugno, Scavi e materiali archeologici del Parco delle Tombe della via Latina in Patrimonium Appiae: depositi emersi, catalogo della mostra a cura di F.R.Paolillo, M. Pontisso, S. Roascio, Quingentole 2022, pp. 247-260.
Relazioni R. Rea, 1998-1999, Archivio PA-Appia.