| Upper part of one of the Republican-period female funerary sculptures found in the area of the Early-Christian Necropolis. MNAT(P) 2772. |
Various reused late-Republican sculptures
were found during the excavations of the Necropolis. These must
have formed part of funerary monuments. The sepulchral inscriptions
of this period refer almost exclusively to slaves and freedmen,
most likely sent to Tarraco
by their masters in Rome as artisans or merchants. Having reached
a certain level of prosperity, some of these freedmen probably
had monumental tombs built, using the statues as part of the decoration.
In addition to these sculptures in local
stone, various marble statues were found in the area. The most
interesting is a bust with toga from the beginning of the third
century AD, the latest example of its type to be found in Tarragona.

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