The Laudatio Turiae, a 2,100 years old Love Letter

Carved in stone by a Roman husband to his wife, Laudatio Tuare is an old love letter for the time of Augustus, that expresses the husband’s love and appreciation for his late wife. It is the longest personal inscription found, although many parts are still missing.

Laudatio funebris, The Funeral Eulogy

Among the many surviving funerary inscriptions honoring Roman women, there are some exceptionally long texts, like the Laudatio Turiae. These texts often reproduce the spoken obituary speeches delivered by the late woman’s husband, son, or son-in-law, meaning they are “gentilice,” or given by family members rather than friends.

The laudatio funebris, a literary genre created by the Romans, is traditionally conservative and phallogocentric, reflecting a kyriarchal discourse rooted in male power and authority within the family. Presented in the second person (the “du-Stil”), these private, fragmentary texts reveal much about Roman society, particularly the family structure.

They highlight the wife’s important role as the true guardian of the household, despite the husband’s official dominance. While male authority was considered normal in Roman families, Roman law did grant women a notable degree of independence. (LAVDATIONES MVLIERVM: LIVES AND VIRTUES OF FIVE EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN by Dimitrios Mantzilas)

The laudatio funebris traditionally interrupted the funeral procession as it moved from the home of the deceased to the place of burial or cremation. The procession would divert to the Forum and stop before the rostra, from which the speech was delivered. It is said that this practice began because Romulus was supposedly buried there, though some may find this surprising due to the legend of his disappearance in a storm-cloud.