User:Swiftmelody27/Vesonia (Roman)

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Vesonia, a woman from Pompeii, lived during the 1st century BCE. She was the daughter of Publius and was possibly the last member of the prominent Vesonii family. Vesonia was a roman citizen and worked as a patroness, her job was to help the man she worked for navigate society and help with financial support. When Vesonia died her remains were cremated placed in a cooking vessel to contain them and was sealed with a libation pipe installed for offerings, her burial is just outside the burial plot and monument that Phileros had built and dedicated to himself, her, and his friend Marcus Orfellius Faustus. Although she was buried just outside the plot secured by Phileros, the monument depicts three statues representing Vesonia in the middle and Phileros and Faustus on either side of her. Vesonia is dedicated in the monument she worked for was Phileros who was owned by her father before she helped free him and helped him become a Roman citizen. It wasn't uncommon for women like Vesonia to be dedicated in a monument built by a former slave as the action was seen as a way of honoring their service. other than being an important woman in roman society she is also known for the drama that later occurred at her burial between Phileros and his friend Marcus Orfellius Faustus. Something happened between Phileros and his friend with Phileros going so far as beheading his friends statue and covering up his tombs libation pipe and urn with mortar and carved his name on. We know it was Phileros who did this because of an epitaph left on the stelae of the monument he had built.