Home for Eternity. A possible Interpretation of the Late Roman Tomb Paintings from Beska

Abstract

Roman art changed through centuries because of many different cultural and historical circumstances. However, sepulchral art, alongside with the funerary customs, changed very slowly. In the time when Christianity begun to take over the leading role among the religions of the Empire, in Pannonia Secunda a tomb was painted on the necropolis in modern Beska, that shows the endurance of Roman tradition when the understanding of afterlife is in question. Its wall paintings were published more than thirty years ago, because their repertoire is very interesting, but the explanation of its program as a whole is still missing. This work is an attempt to fill the gap by offering one possible interpretation of those paintings.