Roman Soldier's Tombstone Returns Home After 80 Years

When anthropologist Daniella Santoro spotted a marble slab etched with Latin in her overgrown New Orleans garden, her instincts told her this wasn't just garden decor.

The phrase "spirits of the dead" caught her attention immediately. Living in a historic Carrollton neighborhood home, Santoro feared she and her husband Aaron Lopez might have uncovered an old grave.

She did what any good scientist would do: she called in the experts. Archaeologists from Tulane University and the University of New Orleans examined the stone and quickly recognized something extraordinary.

The tablet turned out to be an authentic Roman funerary marker, nearly 2,000 years old. It commemorated Sextus Congenius Verus, a Thracian soldier who died at 42 after 22 years of military service.

The inscription begins with "Dis Manibus," a standard Roman dedication to departed spirits found on thousands of tombstones across the former empire. This particular marker had been commissioned by the soldier's heirs, Atilius Carus and Vettius Longinus.

But the discovery got even more interesting. Researchers found early 20th-century records showing the stone had belonged to the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia, a port town in Italy where the soldier's cemetery once stood.

The museum was heavily damaged during Allied bombing raids in 1943 and 1944. Countless artifacts were lost or displaced, and this grave marker was among those later listed as missing.

The former homeowner, Erin Scott O'Brien, helped solve the mystery of how it crossed the Atlantic. Her grandfather, Charles Paddock Jr., had been stationed in Italy during WWII and kept the tablet in his Gentilly home alongside other heirlooms.

When O'Brien inherited the stone in the early 2000s, she had no idea of its significance. "I just thought it was a piece of art," she told Preservation in Print. "I had no idea it was a 2,000-year-old relic."

Why This Inspires

More than eight decades after war scattered Europe's cultural heritage, one ancient soldier's memorial is coming home. While we may never know exactly how the stone traveled from Italy to Louisiana, its return represents a victory for cultural preservation.

The FBI's Art Crime Team is now coordinating the tombstone's repatriation to Italy, where it will rejoin the museum collection it was torn from during one of history's darkest chapters. A soldier who served the Roman Empire 1,900 years ago will finally rest where he belonged, thanks to one homeowner's curiosity and willingness to ask questions.

Sometimes the most important discoveries happen when we trust our instincts and reach out for help.