The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-10
a ROMANCE OF OLD ROME.
A Bride Buried IN Fer Wedding Dress
1900 Years Ago.
From the North American Review.

called to witness the opening OF two marble
collins which had been discovered two DAYS
before under the foundations Of the new
halls of justice, in the neighborhood of
Hadrian's mausolsum. Orders had been
given for the removal of both sarcophagi
10 the city museum OF the capitol. where the
ceremony of cutting the brass clamps which
fastened their lids, and of examining and
describing their contents could be carefully
accomplis he'd. This plan, however, was not
found practicable, because both collins
happened to be filled with water, which
had in bygone centuries filtered within.
drop by drop, through the interstices of the
lids Under such circumstances it was
impossible to rem We the collins to the capi-
FOL, not only on account Of the excessive in
crease in weight produced by the water, but
also because the violent shaking of the
LIQUID mass would have damaged aud other
wise disordered the skeletons and the OBJ
iscts which, perchance, had been buried
within. fastened to the spot to see the
matter properly attended to, and this is
what saw in the course of that memorable
morning.
At depth of twenty-five feet below the
level Of the city-that is to say, four or five
feet only above the level of the Tiber.
which runs close blythe two marble cot
HIS WtI6 ~ Ltl5 oAdO Ny o14O, culDeuu0u III
the soft, damp clay. The one ON the left
hand side was inscribed with the simple
name
CREPEREIA TRYPHAENA,
and decorated with bas-relief represent
ing the scene Of her death. The young
maiden is lying on the funeral bed, with
the head bending gently on the left
shoulder. A yelled lady, sitting at the foot
of the bed, seems to gaze intently at the
dying girl. At the opposite end, near the
pillow, is male standing figure, absorbed
in intense grief
The other coffin, inscribed with the name
L[UCIo] CREPEREIo EvHoDo,
appeared to be perfectly plain and simple.
Enough to say that it contained 10 objects
of Interest but the skeleton of q man about
90 years of age the contents of the first
coffin were far more precious, and almost
unique of their kind.
No sooner had the seals been broken and
the lid put aside than my assistants and
myself, and, in fact, the whole crowd of
workmen which had congregated around
on the first announcement of the find were
almost Mortified at the sight before us.
Gazing at the skeleton, through the veil of
the pure water, we saw the skull, covered.
as it were, with dense long masses of brown
hair floating IN the liquid crystal The
crowd by which we were surrounded were
almost as interesting as the discovery itself;
the news concerning the prodlgious hair
spread Ike wlldtire among the commeres of
the district, and so the exhumation Of Gre
pereia Tryphaena was accomplished with
unexpected solemnity, and its remembrance
will last for many years to come in the
popular traditions of the new quarters of
The Halls of Justice. The mystery of the
boi r is oociixr oxryN1ainad ia
spring water, germs or bulbs of an aquatic
plant had entered the sarcophagus, settled
on the convex surface of the skull, and
developed into long glossy threads OF a
dark shade.
The skull was bending gently toward the
left shoulder, as represented, by chance in
the bas-rellef. On the same shoulder was
lying an exquisite little doll carved i'll oak.
On each side of the head there were gold
earrings with drops of pearls. Mingled in a
hear with the vertebre of the neck and of
the backbone there were a gold necklace,
woven as chain, with thirty seven pend
ants Of green jasper, and a large brooch
with an intaglio in amethyst, of Greek
workmanship, representing the fight of a
griffin and deer. Where the left hand had
been lying we found four rings of solid
gold. One is an engagement ring, with an
engraving in red jasper representing two
hands clasped together. The second has the
name
PHILETVS.
engraved on the stone. The third and the
fourth rings are plain gold bands and need
no special account.
Proceeding further with the exploration
of the coffin, we discovered next to the right
hip bone box containing toilet articles.
The box is made of thin sheets of hard wood,
lnlaid with lines, squares, circles, triangles,
and diamonds of bone, ivory and wood of
different kinds and colors. The box, how
ever, had been completely disjointed by the
long immersion, and am afraid it will be
very difficult to reconstruct it. Among it's
contents we noticed a couple of fine combs,
IN excellent preservation, with the teeth
larger on one side than the other; small
disk of polished steel, very likely mirror,
and small silver box for cosmetics.
There were also a hairpin, six inches
long, made of three pieces Of amber, an
oblong piece of soft leather, and few frag-
ments probably Of sponge-a substance
SO often found in the cistde at Palestrina,
the ancient Praeneste. The most impressive
discovery was made after the removal of
the water and the drying up of the coffin.
II was found then that the woman had been
buried in a shroud of fine white linen,
large pieces of which are still encrusted aud
cemen ed against the bottom of the coffin,
and that she had been laid down with a
wreath of myrtle fastened on the forehead
with silver clasp. The preservation OF
the leaves is really remarkable, and we
nave been able to put together a consider
able portion OF the wreath
Who was this woman, whose sudden and
unexpected appearance has created such
sensation among us? When Gid she live2
at what age did she die? What was her
condition in life? Did she have happy
existence loving and loved? Was she hand
s0mes Why was she buried with her doll?
The careful examination of the tomb as
described above, enables us to answer salts
iactorily all these uuestions-with certainty
IN some cases, with probability in others.
/, Crepereia Tryphaena must have lived at
tne beginning of the third century after
Shrlst, under the empire Of SeDtimius
neverus or Caracalla, as shown by the form
ol letters and by the style of the bas-relief
engraved on the sarcophagus. She was not
noble woman by birth; her Greek sur
name, Tryphaena, proves that she belonged
10 q family of freedmen, that is to say, of
lqrmer servants of the noble family of
Nrepereia. She was well proportional, tall.
anu erect. Prof. Alessandro Ceccarelli the
distinguished surgeon, who at our request
mas kindly examined and rearranged the
SSAeleton, states her age as II or Is. We
AuoW nothing about her features, but
we can at least state that she had
strong and fine set of teeth.
mere is no doubt that she was betrothed
10 The young man Philetus, whose name is
engraved m ctr yNf4 has annVld rim