**A 2000-year-old ‘hologram’ encased in a gold jewel**
The ring of Titus Carvilio Gemello was found on the finger of a Roman matron, the noble Aebutia Quarta, in the so-called Flavian-Trajan tomb – now known as the “Hypogeum of the Garlands” – and was discovered only in the year 2000 in the Necropolis of Grottaferrata, near Rome.
The underground chapel contained two excellently made marble sarcophagi with relief decorations, on which the names of the two deceased were inscribed: Carvilio Gemello and Aebutia Quarta.
To the great surprise of the archaeologists, when the sarcophagi were opened, they found that the bodies were still intact: the embalming to which they were subjected allowed an extraordinary state of conservation, so much so that Carvilio’s remains became known as the ‘Mummy’. ‘. of Rome’.
Carvilio’s body was wrapped in a shroud and completely covered with flowers; Large garlands in good condition covered the upper half of the body, one of which was placed around the head. His femur was found fractured in two places, in addition, a high percentage of arsenic was found in his hair, so the circumstances of his death were hypothesized as both septicemia due to an injury or fall from a horse, and poisoning.
Carvilio had died very young (he was barely 18 years old) and his mother Aebutia followed him a few years later, when she was between 40 and 45 years old.
Aebutia’s body was barely perceptible because it was covered by a vegetal mantle made up of hundreds of small garlands; A well-preserved wig was placed on the head, wrapped in a net woven with double fine gold thread finished in a braid.
On her finger she wore a gold ring, with a cabochon-worked rock crystal bezel, through whose convex upper surface you can see the bust of a male figure finely executed on a micro-relief sheet.
The luminous effect of the glass lens gives a mysterious depth to the image of the deceased. It seems that, after the loss of her beloved son, Aebutia presumably had the precious gold ring made to keep his memory alive.
The ring is on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Palestrina.