„Post mortem vivere” gondolatok Trimalchio síremlékéről
„Post mortem vivere” Thoughts about Trimalchio’s Sepulchral

Summary/Abstract: Trimalchio’s sepulchral complex (the tomb-garden, the monument and the epitaph) has long been an object of study. This chapter of Petronius’ novel (71, 5–12) has provoked an incredible number of scholarly books and papers either on the part of classicists or historians of ancient literature, art, society and economy. After a short recapitulation of Trimalchio’s origin, career, and financial position in his contemporary society, our paper concentrates on his tomb-complex as compared to available artistic and epigraphic data. My aim is, however, not only the accumulation of comparative material, which is indeed a very useful tool for the study of linguistic, artistic, social, administrative, economic etc. phenomena, but also to look at this text as it is: literary fiction . The satire, to which genre this novel belongs, always uses three basic techniques in making faults and mistakes seem ridiculous: typifying, mixing, and exaggeration/diminution. Trimalchio is a typical representative of the well-off libertus by Campanian standards, but he absorbs some attributes of other Roman celebrities as well (e.g. Maecenas, Claudius, Nero etc.). Compared to other tombs known by archeologists, it is a fact that he did not possess the biggest tomb-complex in the Roman world, but probably he did have one of the tackiest and most tasteless; he did not compose the most bumptious epitaph in Latin, but this relatively short text is just foolish enough to make its contemporary readers laugh.

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