A name between two worlds

History and context

The lid shows the deceased reclining and the box preserves an inscription identifying Aulus Latinius. In the 3rd century BCE, names, languages and funerary forms circulated within an Italy increasingly dominated by Rome.

The piece prevents dividing the past into two pure colours. A Latin name does not automatically make someone Roman, nor does an Etruscan inscription prove resistance: families could negotiate citizenship, language, kinship and memory in overlapping ways.

The Metropolitan dates the urn to the 3rd century BCE and relates the mould of its frontal battle to workshops in Chiusi. The reclining figure on the lid and the inscribed name combine an Etruscan funerary mode with an onomastics participating in an expanding Latin world.

The piece allows telling integration from a material biography and not from a flag change: inscription language, name, clothing, workshop and legal status could vary at different rates within the same family.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: the Metropolitan Museum dates the urn to the 3rd century BCE and records the name Aulus Latinius in its inscription. Interpretation and caution: the deceased’s ethnic affiliation, citizenship and everyday language cannot be deduced from a single funerary name. Expanded documentation: Polychrome terracotta cinerary urn of the 3rd century BCE, probably from Chiusi, inscribed for Aulus Latinius. Expanded interpretation and caution: The name alone does not fix ethnicity, citizenship or political stance; ‘Romanisation’ must describe observable processes and not a total identity.

AI-recreated portrait of Aulus Latinius. The clothing is based on the historical context of the entry; the face, the age depicted, the colouring and the details not preserved are interpretive. It is not an authentic photograph nor a scientific facial reconstruction.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date

3rd century BCE

Location

Probably Chiusi, Tuscany

Material

Polychrome terracotta

Context

Inscribed cinerary urn under Roman expansion

Curatorial reading

The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.

Relief

Unidentified battle, repeated on urns associated with Chiusi workshops

Dimensions

66 cm high

Provenance

Probably Chiusi

Historical framework

Roman expansion with local funerary continuity

Documentary coverage

2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Reference images and provenance

No verifiable entrance photograph is preserved for this representation. You may consult its documentation, but we would not present its face as an exact reconstruction.

Additional visual documentation

A cited publication does not establish which image was used to create the character.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Terracotta cinerary urn of Aulus Latinius
• British Museum · Hellenistic Period (Etruscan)

Where it is held

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Terracotta cinerary urn of Aulus Latinius
• British Museum · Hellenistic Period (Etruscan)
• The Met · Togatus
• British Museum · Roman leather shoe

Expand this information and consult its sources