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Funerary Monuments

Cults and superstitions

The Romans were very cautious in their process of acculturating conquered peoples. Thus, because they did not rigidly impose their habits and beliefs, the pantheon of divinities varied from province to province.

Of their own gods, we know that Liber Pater, Mars, Apollo, Jupiter, Minerva, and perhaps Juno were worshipped in the city. There is no clear testimony for indigenous gods, but we know of the Lares Lubanci and an entity, the Remetes, associated with the imperial cult (Remetes Augusti).

Funerary cult is linked to the beliefs and religious practices of every period.

As already mentioned, the necropolises of the imperial period have not survived to the present day, and the elements on display come from the wall built from the end of the 3rd century onward. For this reason, they tell us nothing concrete about local funerary practices, but their interest is no less significant, given the information that can be extracted from them about the composition of social strata, legal habits, and the culture of the people of Conimbriga during the first two centuries of the city's life.

C - Cults and superstitions - Funerary monuments (Catalogue, section 24)

24.54

Funerary altar

Limestone

Inv. 21.03

Dim. 74x39x30cm

Modern Excavations [2021.RTMC.A.ep3 - Late Imperial wall, sector A]. 1st-century piece, reused in the construction of the wall - late 3rd/early 4th century. Ruivo et al. 2023, 100-103, ep. 3.

URTIENICO/PRIMIGENIO/RVFVS F(ilio)/F(aciendum) C(uravit)

The deceased's onomastics are clearly indigenous and sui generis.

References

  • Etienne, R.; Fabre, G.; Lévèque, P. e M. (1976) - Fouilles de Conimbriga II, Epigraphie et sculpture. Paris: MAFP/MMC.
  • Madail, A. G. R. (1920) - “Uma ara inédita”. O Arqueólogo Português 24, 197-198.
  • Oliveira, C.; Bottaini, C.; Kaal, J.; Back, J. V.; Candeias, A.; Pereira, A.; Miguel, C.; Cardoso, A. M.; Perpétuo, J.; Correia, V. H.; Osório, D.; Dias, V. (2025) - “Tracing literacy in Roman Conimbriga: insights from the metallurgy and ink of a Biebrich inkwell”. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 17, 216.
  • Ruivo, J.; Correia, V. H.; Roquinho, P. (2023) - “Novas inscrições da muralha de Conimbriga (prov. Lusitania, Portugal)”. Humanitas 82, 81-117.
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