Until they established their own cemetery, Levantine merchants residing in Sibiu who chose not to retire to their native places or who happened to die unexpectedly while in the city were buried near the churches in the surrounding Romanian suburbs or villages, the construction of which some of them had contributed to. But the cemetery that officially served the community of non-Uniate merchants was the one next to the patronal church, in the village of Bungard. Here, over the course of about a century, starting from 1695, a fairly large number of Sibiu companists were buried, during a period when the most intense activity in the history of the association took place.

The Orthodox cemetary is another historical one, found in the Sibiu neighborhood of Iosefin. Founded together with the church there, in 1789, it served as a necropolis for the founders of the Hagi Constantin Pop family, the company merchants and their relatives, and other people with whom the Company or the founders’ family had connections. It operated as an Orthodox confessional cemetery until 1916, when the authorities banned burials in the old cemeteries within the city.

The oldest of the sepulchral monuments of the Sibiu company merchants still preserved today is located near the church in Bungard and dates from 1763. The next one is from 1796 and is found in Iosefin cemetery, where there are still a few from the first decade of the nineteenth century. It was also here that the last of the former members of the Greek Company was buried, in 1890.

On crosses or tombstones, epitaphs written in Greek and, only after the mid-nineteenth century, in Romanian generally follow a standardised formula, recalling the person’s faith, name, age, place and date of death and, in a few cases, the locality or region of origin. The merchants whose graves can still be seen today came from the lands inhabited by the Vlachs in the Balkans, such as Macedonia (Kastoria, Plika), Epirus (Ioanina, Negades, Melenik), Pindus (Agrafa) and Morea. Others, but also these Aromanians, were born in Transylvania or in Wallachia.

Even though only very few of the funerary monuments that once existed in the cemeteries of the Levantine merchant communities have been preserved, they are representative in the way they correspond to a diversity of morphological types such as crosses, tombstones, funerary steles in the form of a plate or obelisk, aedicules; they are often enriched with figurative decorations; and the early ones are reminiscent of the stone carving of Brâncoven, while the later ones employ a Baroque and neoclassical expression. Analysed from an artistic point of view, they reveal similarities with monuments in cemeteries of Orthodox “brotherhoods” in which non-companion (i.e., non company-member) merchants were buried, such as those from Alba Iulia, Orăștie, Făgăraș or Brașov.

[1] N. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții ardelene și maramureșene. Vol. II. Inscripții și însemnări (vol. XIII of the series Studii și documente cu privire la istoria românilor) [Letters and Inscriptions from Transylvania and Maramureș. Vol. II.  Inscriptions and Notes (vol. XIII of the series Studies and Documents on the History of the Romanians)] (Bucharest: Atelierele Grafice Socec & Co, 1906).

[2] N. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții ardelene și maramureșene. Vol. I. Scrisori din arhiva grecilor Sibiului, din arhiva protopopiei neunite a Făgărașului și din alte locuri (vol. XII al seriei Studii și documente cu privire la istoria românilor) [Letters and Inscriptions from Transylvania and Maramureș. Vol. I. Letters from the Archives of the Greeks of Sibiu, from the Archives of the Non-Uniate Deanery of Făgăraș and from Other Places (vol. XII of the Studies and Documents on the History of the Romanians series)] (Bucharest: Atelierele Grafice Socec & Co, 1906); N. Iorga, Scrisori de boieri și negustori olteni și munteni către casa de negoț sibiană Hagi Pop publicate cu note genealogice asupra mai multor familii (vol. VIII of the series Studii și documente cu privire la istoria românilor) [Letters of Boyars and Merchants from Oltenia and Wallachia to the Sibiu Trading House of Hagi Pop Published with Genealogical Notes on Several Families (vol. VIII of the Studies and Documents on the History of the Romanians series)] (Bucharest: Atelierele Grafice Socec & Co, 1906).

[3] Dumitru Z. Furnică, Documente privitoare la comerțul românesc: 1473-1868 [Documents Concerning the Trade in Romania] (Bucharest: Tipografia România Nouă Theodor I. Voinea, 1931).

[4] Nestor Camariano, Catalogul manuscriselor grecești din Biblioteca Academiei Române [Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts in the Library of the Romanian Academy]. Tom II (Bucharest: National Printing House, 1940), 116-120.

[5] Ioan Moga, “Politica economică austriacă și comerțul Transilvaniei în veacul XVIII” [Austrian Economic Policy and the Trade of Transylvania in the Eighteenth Century], AIIN VIII (1936-1938): 86-165.

[6] Andrei Oțetea, “Casa de comerț Hagi Constantin Pop din Sibiu și rolul ei în dezvoltarea comerțului din Țara Românească” [The Hagi Constantin Pop Trading House in Sibiu and its Role in the Development of Trade in Wallachia] Comunicări și articole de istorie (Bucharest: Societatea de Științe Istorice și Filologice, Secția Istorie, 1955): 29-44.

[7] Dumitru Limona, Elena Limona, Catalogul documentelor grecești din Arhivele Statului de la Orașul Stalin [Catalogue of Greek Documents from the State Archives in Stalin City], vol. I-II (Bucharest: Direcția Generală a Arhivelor Statului, 1958); Dumitru Limona, Catalogul documentelor referitoare la viața economică a Țărilor Române în sec. XVII-XIX. Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu [Catalogue of Documents Relating to the Economic Life of the Romanian Countries in the Seventeenth-Nineteenth Centuries. Documents from the State Archives of Sibiu], vol. I-II (Bucharest: Direcția Generală a Arhivelor Statului, 1966-1967) (forwards: Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu); D. Limona, E. Limona, “Catastihurile Casei Comerciale “Ioan Marcu” din Sibiu” [The Registers of the “Ioan Marcu” Commercial House in Sibiu”], RA 2 (1959): 225-243; Teodor Bodogae, “Le privilège commercial accordé en 1636 par G. Rákócz aux marchands grecs de Sibiu”, RRH 4 (1972): 647-653. For a framing of the Greek Merchants’ Company of Sibiu in the Romanian historical and archival context, see Loredana Dascăl, Din arhiva Companiei Negustorilor Greci din Sibiu (1453-1895). Texte epistolare grecești [From the Archive of the Company of Greek Merchants from Sibiu (1453-1895). Greek Epistolary Texts] (Iași: Editura Universității “Al. I. Cuza”, 2013), 20-24.

[8] Nestor Camariano, “L’organisation et l’activité culturelle de la Compagnie des marchands grecs de Sibiu”, Balcania VI (1943): 222.

[9] Cornelia Papacostea-Danielopolu, Lidia Demény, “Grecs, Roumains, Bulgares et Serbes dans la Compagnie “Grecque” de Brașov (1777-1850)”, Bulletin d’Association d’Etudes du Sud-Est Européen nr. 2 (1972): 266, 268-269; Cornelia Papacostea-Danielopolu, “Organizarea și viața culturală a Companiei grecești din Brașov (sfârșitul secolului al XVIII-lea și prima jumătate a secolului XIX-lea)” [The Organization and Cultural Life of the Greek Company of Brașov (Late Eighteenth Century and First Half of the Nineteenth Century)], in Studii istorice sud-est europene [Southeastern European Historical Studies], vol. I (Bucharest: Editura Academiei RSR, 1974), 159-212.

[10] Olga Cicanci, Companiile grecești din Transilvania și comerțul european între anii 1636-1746 [Greek Companies in Transylvania and European Trade between 1636-1746] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei RSR, 1981), 156-168.

[11] Athanasios E. Karathanasis, Elenismul în Transilvania [Hellenism in Transylvania] (Bucharest: Omonia, 2003).

[12] Teodor Bodogae, “Sibiul, vatră de viețuire ortodoxă românească” [Sibiu, Home of Romanian Orthodox Life], in Arhidieceza Sibiului – Pagini de istorie [Archdiocese of Sibiu - Pages of History] (Sibiu, 1981), 13-22; Teodor Bodogae, “Câteva momente mai importante din trecutul catedralei mitropolitane din Sibiu” [Some More Important Moments from the Past of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu], MA  5 (1987): 96-102.

[13] Mircea Păcurariu, “Scurtă istorie a vieții bisericești a Sibiului”, in Catedrala mitropolitană din Sibiu – 1906-2006 [A Brief History of the Church Life of Sibiu, in The Metropolitan Cathedral – 1906-2006] (Sibiu: Andreiana Publishing House 2006), 9-20.

[14] Daniel Dumitran, “Spre o reală toleranță pentru răsăriteni? Probema concivilității în orașele libere din Transilvania” [Towards a Real Tolerance for the Easterners? The Problem of Concivility in the Free Cities of Transylvania], AUA hist. 15, II (2011): 257-308.

[15] Mihaela Grancea, “Dispariția cimitirelor vechi din Sibiu, efect al modernizării urbane” [The Disappearance of the Old Cemeteries in Sibiu, an Effect of Urban Modernization], Monumentul II (2009): 155-164; Mihaela Grancea, “«Orașul celor morți» și interacțiunile culturale specifice artei funerare moderne. Studiu de caz: Cimitirul Municipal Sibiu” [“The City of the Dead” and the Cultural Interactions Specific to Modern Funerary Art], in Ioan Popa, Mihaela Grancea, ed., Interferențe culturale în Sibiul secolelor XVIII-XX [Cultural Interferences in Sibiu During the Eighteenth and the Twentieth Centuries] (Sibiu: Astra Museum, 2014), 57-106; Valeria Soroștineanu, “Biserica din Groapă și grecii din Sibiu” [The Church in the Pit and the Greeks from Sibiu], în Popa, Grancea, ed., Interferențe culturale în Sibiul secolelor XVIII-XX, 37-57; Valeria Soroștineanu, “Cimitirul Bisericii din Groapă” [The Cemetery of the Church in the Pit], SUCH VII (2010): 135-153; Gudrun-Liane Ittu, “Cimitirul Central (Municipal) din Sibiu, un loc al memoriei («lieu de mémoire») şi de artă funerară” [The Central (Municipal) Cemetery of Sibiu, a Place of Memory (“lieu de mémoire”) and of Funerary Art], ATF V (2016): 527-536; Răzvan C. Pop, “Ethnic, Civil and Military Cemetries in Sibiu Throughout the Seventeenth-Eighteenth Centuries”, BAM 1 (2013): 107-120.

[16] Maria Crîngaci Țiplic, “Explorând topografia ecleziastica medievală a Sibiului și a altor locuri sacre” [Exploring the Medieval Ecclesiastical Topography of Sibiu and Other Sacred Places], in Maria Crîngaci Țiplic, ed., Spațiul sacru în orașul medieval: perspective arheologice și istorice [Sacred Space in the Medieval City: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives] (Cluj-Napoca: Mega, 2021), 269-293; Andrei Nacu, “Topografia cimitirelor din Sibiu reflectată pe planurile orașului publicate înainte de mijlocul secolului al XIX-lea” [Topography of Cemeteries in Sibiu Reflected on City Plans Published Before the Mid-Nineteenth Century], in Crîngaci Țiplic, ed., Spațiul sacru în orașul medieval, 295-304.

[17] Daniel Dumitran, Sidonia Petronela Olea, Claudiu Stoian, “The Evolution of the Alba Iulia Jewish Community Reflected in Funerary Art: A Proposed Model for Researching Jewish Cemeteries”, Museikon 7 (2023): 149-196.

[18] Camariano, “L’organization”, 210.

[19] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 3.

[20] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 180 (doc. 612). The full text of the inscription, in the version published by N. Iorga is as follows: “... [au o]steanit jupan Stoica titor a [...] [ar]hiemitropolit chir Ghinadie ... [anno Do]mini 1638 ...esc, die 19 Iunius ... Czerafino C. De XSC. W. C”. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, VI; Camariano, “L’organization”, 219, n. 1; Cicanci, Companiile, 159, n. 1. It is improbable that the mention of the name Czerafino refers to Serafim Ilaro of Ivir, who was recorded as a priest of the Company only on July 5, 1640. For the year 1631, see N. Iorga, Neamul românesc în Ardeal și Țara Ungurească [The Romanians in Transylvania and the Hungarian Kingdom], vol. I (Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1906), 153.

[21] Marius Porumb, “Vechi inscripţii româneşti din Transilvania” [Old Romanian Inscriptions from Transylvania], AMN XX (1983): 763.

[22] Ioan Albu, “Comanditarul troitei din piatră de la Boița (1640): un negustor “grec”?” [The Benefactor of the Triptych in Boița. A “Greek” Merchant?], Transilvania 10 (2016): 71, 72; On a stone cross on the altar of the high church of Câinenii Mici (jud. Vâlcea), the inscription from 1632 mentions Stoica, Nica and Stana at the top of the list of founders (Victor Brătulescu, “Biserici din Argeș și Vâlcea” [Churches in Arges and Valcea], BCMI 79 (1934): 40, 41. 

[23] The full content of the Pisania is as follows: “Ἀνηγγέρθη ὁ παρὼν καὶ θεῖος ναὸς τῆς ὑπεραγίας δεσποίνης ἡμῶν θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας ἤγουν τῆς κοιμήσεως ὑπὸ κόπου καὶ δαπάνης τοῦ εὐτελοῦς καὶ φιλοπόνου δούλου τοῦ Θεοῦ ϚΟΙЧУ ὑιοῦ τοῦ Νίκου καὶ μητρὸς Ταμος καὶ χώρας ὀνομαζομένης Πλήκας ἐκ μέρους τῆς Καστορίας καὶ ἀνεκαίνισεν αὐτὸν ἐκ θεμελίων τὸ σωτηρίο ἔτος (δηλονότι τῷ σωτηρίῳ ἔτει) 1638 ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀδὰμ καὶ κτίσεως κόσμου ζρμμς΄(7146) Ἰουνίου ιε εἰς τοὺς χρόνους ῥηγὸς Γεωργίου Ῥακκοτύζκου”. “This divine church has been erected in honor of our Blessed Lady, Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, more precisely, of the Assumption (of her), through the labor and at the expense of the humble and diligent servant of God Stoiciu (son) of Nicholas and Mother Stama, in the place called Plika, in the county of Kastoria, and it was finished and built from the foundation in the year of salvation 1638, and from Adam and the creation of the world 7146 June 15 in the time of King George Rákóczi.”

[24] Metropolitan Ghenadie II of Transylvania (1627-1640).

[25] N. Iorga, Istoria Bisericii Românești și a vieții religioase a românilor [The History of the Romanian Church and of the Religious Life of the Romanians], vol. I (Vălenii de Munte: Editura Neamul Românesc, 1908), 354.

[26] Păcurariu, “Scurtă istorie”, 39.

[27] N. Iorga, Contribuții la Istoria Literaturii Române în veacul al XVIII-lea și al XIX-lea, I. Scriitori bisericești [Contributions to the History of the Romanian Literature in the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth Centuries. I. Church Writers]  (Bucharest: Institutul de Arte Grafice Carol Göbl, 1906), 1.

[28] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 417.

[29] Camariano, “L’organization”, 222, n. 3.

[30] Elena Ciora, “Biserica din Bungard” [The Curch from Bungard], MA 5-8 (1959): 529.

[31] Iorga, Neamul românesc, vol. I, 142.

[32] ”Ενθάδε/ κείται ο δού/λος Του Θεού Ιω/άννης Μάρ/κου από Με/σοποταμια/ ζησασ ετι/ 71 εκοιμήθη/ εν ετων/ 1763, Ιανννουάρίου”. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 71.

[33] Until now, the origin of the Marcu family was hypothetically placed in the locality of Seatiște (Σιάτιστα) in the region of Kozani in western Macedonia. Dumitru Limona, Negustorii “greci” şi arhivele lor comerciale, edited by Loredana Dascăl [“Greek” Merchants and Their Commercial Archives, edited by Loredana Dascăl] (Iași: Editura Universității “Al. I. Cuza”, 2016), 78. 

[34] Ioan Marcu held the position of president of the Company of Sibiu between 1749 and 1760, succeeding Gheorghe Horvat and being succeeded by Gheorghe Manicati Safranu (Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 51, 72, 73). D. Limona exaggerated when he stated that Ioan Marcu was proestos of the Company for two decades. Limona, introduction to Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 8.

[35] “[Ενθαδε]/ κε[τ]α[ι]/ ο δουλο[σ] του [Θεoυ]/ Νικόλασ Θ/εοδώρο[υ]/ [Σ]tοηαν/ ζ[η]σα[σ]/ ετη [1]8/ εκ[οιμη]/θη εν/ Κυριω/ ετει ...”.

[36] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, VI.

[37] Cicanci, Companiile, 61.

[38] Ibid., 47.

[39] Ibid., 121.

[40] Ibid., 114.

[41] Brătulescu, “Biserici din Argeș și Vâlcea”, 41, 42.

[42] Cicanci, Companiile, 147.

[43] Moreover, in the same locality there was another church built a few decades earlier by two other companions, on this act of foundation we will come back later. Also, the church in the neighboring village of Câinenii de Argeș (Câinenii Mici, Vâlcea county), built in 1733, was adorned with paintings by other companions: brothers Toma, Gheorghe, Enache and Costea Vilara (Victor Brătulescu, “Comunicări - Câineni Argeș, biserica cimitirului” [Communications - Câineni Argeș, the Cemetery Church], BCMI 79 (1933): 90).

[44] Domnița Tomescu, “Raportul dintre sacru și profan în antroponimia românească medievală (sec. 15-17)” [The Relationship Between the Sacred and the Profane in Medieval Romanian Anthroponymy (Fifteenth-Seventeenth Centuries)], in Oliviu Felecan, ed., Proceedings of the international onomastics conference “Names and Naming”, 4th ed: Sacred and Profane in Onomastics (Cluj-Napoca: Mega, Argonaut, 2017), 412.

[45] Limona, “Catastihurile”, 241.

[46] Limona, “Negustorii “greci”, 87.

[47] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 136, 137.

[48] Bodogae, “Sibiul”, 18.

[49] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 179.

[50] Constantin Oancea, Ioan Ovidiu Abrudan, “The Donation Act of Hagi Constantin Pop’s family for the Annunciation Church in Sibiu”, Religions 11 (March 2020): 1-15.

[51] The “Pomelnic” contains names in two columns. On the first one are mentioned the members of the founding family: PETRU (Hagi Petru Luca), STANA (Hagi Petru Luca), H. CONSTANDIN (Pop), PĂUNA (Hagi Constantin Pop), IOAN LUCA (Ianache Hagi Petru Luca), MARIA (Manicati), ALEXANDRU (H. C. Pop), ZENOVIS (H. C. Pop), CONSTANDIN (H. C. Pop), LUCA, CADIȚA. The second column lists the names of some benefactors of the church - clergy, relatives and close members of the Pop family: IERODIACON BARBU, IOANA, ERINISTITA, DUMITRU, SANDA, IEROMONAH ȘTEFAN, RADA, CONSTANDIN, H. STAN (Hagi Stan Jianu), ȘTEFAN, IOANN, STAN (Stan Ștefan Popovici).

[52] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 70.

[53] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 86.

[54] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 38.

[55] Ianache Petru Luca was also involved in the family business. The last documented reference to his name is in 1808 (Iorga, Scrisori de boieri, V).

[56] Ibid., VII.

[57] From the report on the state of the church on September 6, 1964, drawn up by priest Ioan Albu (parish priest from 1942-1968).

[58] According to the testimonies of those who still remember today the existence of the tombstone, it was located on the longitudinal axis of the nave, just below the large chandelier or a little closer to the solea and the imperial doors, distinguished by the reddish color of the tiles that made up the floor. A similar case is to be found in the church of St Parascheva in Rășinari, where the red stone tombstone of Bishop Ghedeon Nichitici has its epitaph completely erased due to the erosion it has suffered from repeated trampling for over two centuries.  

[59] Nicolae Lupu, Cetatea Sibiului [The Citadel of Sibiu] (Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1966), 56.

[60] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 114, 115.

[61] Meaning “place on which something was built”. Wiki.dexonline, accessed October 20, 2024, https://dexonline.ro/definitie/vatr%C4%83.

[62] “According to ancient tradition, Romanians dug up their dead three years after the death of a child, five years after the death of a young person and seven years after the death of an old person. In our country, the custom of disinterment after seven years was brought from Holy Mount Athos, where the rocky ground made burial sites even more limited. In the Christian tradition, it is customary for disinterment to take place seven years after death precisely because that is when the last Christian service of nominal Christian burial takes place, after which it is included in the family’s common register. Emil Bărboșelu, Mihai Valică, “Deshumarea și reînhumarea” [Exhumation and Reburial], Crai Nou, October 28, 2021, accessed October 19, 2024, https://www.crainou.ro/2021/10/28/deshumarea-si-reinhumarea/.

[63] On the correspondence of Ianache Petru Luca with the Company see Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 141-150.

[64] Iorga, Scrisori de boieri, 45-47, 169.

[65] D. Z. Furnică, Din istoria comerțului la Români, mai ales băcănia, publicațiune de documente inedite, 1593-1855, bogat ilustrată [From the History of Trade in Romania, Especially Grocery Trade, Publication of Previously Unpublished Documents, 1593-1855, Richly Illustrated] (Bucharest, 1908), XXXV.

[66] Iorga, Scrisori de boieri, 75.

[67] Margit Maria Havlik, “Der Sankt Marxer Friedhof. Die griechisch-orthodoxe Abteilung” (Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des Magistergrades der Philosophie aus der Studienrichtung Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik eingereicht an der Universität Wien, 2006), 55, 61, accessed October 19, 2024, (https://www.byzneo.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/i_byzneo/abschlussarbeiten_ stassinopoulou/Diplomarbeit_Havlik_Margit._Der_Sankt_Marxer_Friedhof..pdf).

[68] Others, which are suspected to have existed in the past, are nowadays nowhere to be found, as is, for example, the case of the tombstone of the associate of the Hagi Constantin Pop firm, Stan Ștefan Popovici (†1850), from Banat, who was also a temporary (1838) “birău” of the Company. The same can also be said about the godson of the Pop family, the oculist Ioan Piuariu Molnar, whose name today marks an “imaginary” tomb, the place in the cemetery where he was buried in 1815 being unknown.

[69] “Ενθάδε κείται o δουλου του Θ[εο]υ Κωνσταντίνου Αρπάση [δε ετη] ?5 έ κοιμηθεί 1796 Μαρτίου 2, έν Σὶμπιννίου”.

[70] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, XX.

[71] Ibid., 47-50.

[72] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 83, 88.

[73] Other known names are those of Veronica Ștefan Arpaș and Antal Arpaș, who were the grandchildren of the merchant from Sibiu Dumitru (Duma) Dutcă (Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 118, 129), the Duma and Arpaș families being in-law, Anastase Hâciu, Aromânii: comerț, industria, arte, expansiune, civilizație [Aromanians: Trade, Industry, Arts, Expansion, Civilization] (Focșani: Editura “Cartea Putnei”, 1936), 310.

[74] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 91.

[75] Aurel Dragne, “Biserică și societate în secolul al XVIII-lea. Situația clerului român din Țara Făgărașului” [Church and Society in the Eighteenth Century. The Situation of the Romanian Clergy in the Area of Făgăraș], Acta Terrae Fogarasiensis V (2016): 85.

[76] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, XXI.

[77] V. Necșa, “Din trecutul bisericii din Orăștie” [Past Days of the Church from Orastie], Telegraful Român (Foișoara), no. 6 (1930): 3.

[78] The form of address is: “Honest and our well-wisher, your master Ioan”.

[79] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 73-76.

[80] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 36, 39-40, 47, 54.

[81] Ibid., 41.

[82] In the diploma of ennoblement the coat of arms is described as follows: “A shield of gold, of course of the kind consecrated to the military, in the field of which is depicted a roe-horse with an azure saddle on its back, and as if trotting, on which stands a man in the dress of a hussar, wearing a green tunic, black trousers and yellow boots, iron breastplate, his head covered with a helmet and armed with a curved sword. In his left hand (the knight) he is holding the harness with which he is harnessing the horse, and in his right hand an hourglass, around which a snake is coiled. Above the shield is a closed-visor military helmet crowned with a royal diadem adorned with gems, from which rise two eagle’s wings painted in a dark natural color, and in the middle of which is an hourglass similar to the one below; clusters of acanthus leaves radiate from the sides of the shield, colored gold and azure on one side and silver and ruby on the other.”

[83] “MNL Coats of Arms - DatabasesOnline (gov.hu) HU-MNL-OL-F 7-No. 33”, accessed October 20, 2024, https://adatbazisok online.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/cimereslevel-adatbazis/adatlap/1406?search=HU-MNL-OL-F%207-No.%2033&term=eyJxIjoiSFUtT U5MLU9MLUYgNy1Oby4gMzMiLCJmcSI6eyJkYl9pZCI6eyJhZDYxYWIxNDMyMjNlZmJjMjRjNj2QyNTgzYmUm2OTI1MSI6Ijc0In19LCJzb3J0Ijoic2NvcmUiLCJhcSI6IiIsImFxVHlwZSI6IiJ9&curr=4); Géza v. Csergheö, Josef v. Csoma, Der Adel von Ungarn sammt den Nebenländern der St. Stephans-Krone [volume four, fifteenth section, supplementary, of J. Siebmacher’s Grosses und allgemeines Wappenbuch] (Nürnberg: Verlag Von Bauer und Raspe, 1894), Tab. 113, accessed October 20, 2024, https://books. google.ro/books?id=w7LYkw3JovoC&pg=PT241&hl=ro&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false.

[84] Daniel Dumitran, “On the History of an Absence: The Community of Greeks in Alba Iulia” (paper presented at the 12th International Congress of South-East European Studies - Political, Social and Religious Dynamics in South-Eastern Europe Dynamiques Politiques, Sociales et Religieuses dans le Sud-Est Européen, Bucharest, September 2-6, 2019).

[85] Radu Nedici, “Confesiune și promovare socială. Elita laică greco-catolică din Transilvania în disputa latinizării de la mijlocul secolului al XVIII-lea” [Confession and Social Promotion. The Transylvanian Greek-Catholic Lay Greek-Catholic Elite in the Latinization Dispute of the Mid-Eighteenth Century], AUA hist. 14, I (2010): 121.

[86] Dumitran, “Spre o reală toleranță”, 273.

[87] The Latin epitaph inscribed on the tombstone reads: “HIC QUIESCIT IN DOMINO MARIA MAGDALENA IVASKO CONSORS A[CTUA]LI SPEc. (spectabile) D. IOANNIS DE THURNA S.C.R.A. MAESTATIS POSTÆ PRÆFECTI ALBÆ CAROLINENSIS. QV. ANNUM MDCCCLXXI DIEM V AUGUSTI S[UP]REM[UM] HA(BUIT) [...] ÆTATIS ANNO SUÆ LX”. Here rests in the Lord Maria Magdalena Ivascu, wife of the distinguished Mr. Ioan de Thurna of His imperial and royal apostolic Majesty, Prefect of the Post Office of Alba Iulia. She was buried in 1771, August 5, 1771, [...] aged 60 years”.

[88] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 51, 52.

[89] Ibid., 85, 89; Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 38, 63, 70.

[90] “Acte ținând de procesul de pretenții față de masa succesorală a negustorului Nicolae Ivașcu (1773-1775)” [Documents Relating to the Claim Process Against the Estate of Merchant Nicolae Ivașcu (1773-1775)], Fund Magistratul orașului și scaunului Sibiului. Judicat - Acte neînregistrate [Magistrate of the City and Seat of Sibiu. Judged - Unregistered Documents], no. 607, Serviciul Județean Sibiu al Arhivelor Naționale [Sibiu County Service of the National Archives], accessed October 20, 2024, https://arhivelenationale.ro/site/download/arhive_judetene/sibiu/Magistratul-Orasului-si-Scaunului-Sibiu.-Judicat-Acte-Juridice -Neinregistrate-1592–1879.pdf. The complaint against the heir of the late merchant Nicoae Ivașcu, Ioan Nicolae Ivașcu, concerned an outstanding debt to the Viennese wholesaler Franz Wilhelm Natorp. His firm, which supplied camp apothecaries and garrisons of the Habsburg army in Transylvania and Banat with medicines and other medical supplies, owned pharmacies in Timișoara, Sibiu and Alba Iulia, where Natorp had a representative (“plenipotentiary”), Franz Handelmayer, who is also mentioned in the trial documents.

[91] “Лѫнгъ ачастъ/ круче съ ѡдихнҍще роa/ба луи дзеу преотҍса/ Марѩ дин [...]/ [прео]тулуи г.о./ [...] бeсѣричи дин Іѡзе/фщат Букур Бобеш/ фииінд [...]/ ръпос[...] 180[4?].”

[92] A certain Ion Bobeș was among the “elders” from the village of Bungard who testified, in 1694 and 1695, about the authenticity of the deeds of sale of some lands in the locality to Maria Cantacuzino Bălăceanu and to the merchants of the Company of Sibiu. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 4-6.

[93] Eugen Gagyi de Etéd, “Documente istorice: Regulatio Diocesis Transilvanicae Disunitae anno 1805” [Historical Documents: Regulatio Diocesis Transilvanicae Disunitae anno 1805], Transilvania, no. 3 (May-June 1911): 276, 277.

[94] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 121.

[95] Matei Voileanu, Icoane din viața Bisericii - anul 1804 [Icons from the Life of the Church – Year 1804] (Sibiu: Tipografia Arhidiecezană, 1926), 5.

[96] Gagyi de Etéd, “Documente istorice”, 276, 277.

[97] “Ένθάδε κείται η δυλη τ[o]ϋ/ Θε[o]υ Αικατερινα σύζυγος τ[o]υ/ Κυρ Ραδυτζ Στοηκα ζήσασα/ ετη 53 έ κοιμήθη[κε] εν Κύριο/ εν ετει 1806 μαιυ 20,/ έν Σὶμπιννίω.”

[98] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 8; Bodogae, “Câteva momente”, 98-101.

[99] “Ένθάδε κείται ό/ o δ[ο]υλος τοϋ Θεοϋ/ Χριστόδουλος Νικολάου Γκούμα/ έξ Ίωανιννών αποχωρίου Νεγάδος:/ ζήσας χρονους 33,/ εκοιμήθη εν Κυριω 1808, Ίίουουν 4,/ Σιμπινί”. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 181.

[100] N. Iorga, “Fundațiunile Domnilor români în Epir” [The Foundations of the Romanian Lords in Epirus], Boabe de Grâu, excerpted from AARMSI XXXVI (1914): 6 (886).

[101] Marcu Beza, “Urme românești în Epir” [Romanian Traces in Epirus], Boabe de Grâu 11 (1935): 664; Virgil Cândea, Mărturii româneşti peste hotare: creaţii româneşti şi izvoare despre români în colecţii din străinătate, II. Finlanda - Grecia [Romanian Testimonies Abroad: Romanian Creations and Sources about Romanians in Collections Abroad, II. Finland - Greece] (Bucharest: Editura Biblioteca Bucureștilor, 2011), 674.

[102] Church Protocol, Ms. 57, Biblioteca Mitropolitană din Sibiu [Metropolitan Library of Sibiu].

[103] “Ενθάδε κέπτεtαι ό/ δ[ο]υλος τ[ο]ϋ Θ[εο]ϋ Άναστάσιος/ Ζηγούρης ἐκ πόλεως Καστοριά,/ ζήσασ/ ετη 72, kαi/ Αναπαω/ έη K[υρι]ω/ τοϋ 1810, Nοεμϐ. 8”. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 180.

[104] Unless he is the same as Stan N. Ziguri, mentioned in 1804 as a juror of the Company of Sibiu. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 156.

[105] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 199.

[106] Ibid., 442, 449.

[107] Inventar-Indice pentru Ms. 703 (Colecția Manuscrise) din Fondul arhivistic Casa Comercială Hagi Ianuș Consta Petru și frații [Inventory-Indices for Ms. 703 (Manuscript Collection) from the archival fonds Casa Comercială Hagi Ianuș Consta Petru și frații], Serviciul Arhive Medievale, Fonduri Personale și Colecții, Arhivele Naționale ale României [Medieval Archives Services – Personal Fonds and Collections, National Archives of Romania] (Bucharest, 2019), 56, 60, 68.

[108] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, X, 181; Limona, Negustorii “greci”, 340.

[109] Φιλίππου Αν. Ζυγούρη, Ιστορικά σημειώματα περί Σιατίστης και λαογραφικά αυτής (Σιάτιστα: Επιμέλεια Θεοδώρα Ζωγγράφου-Βώρου, 2010) [Philip An. Ζiguri, Historical Notes about Siatiste and Its Folklore].

[110] “MEMORIAE/ ILLIADIS MANASZY/ MEDIC. ET PHILOS. DOCTORIS/ NATI MELENICI/ DIE XXV FEBR. MDCCXXXIII./ DENATI CIBINII/ DIE XV OCTOBR. MDCCCXIII. – INSIGNI DOCTRINA VIRO/ PRINCIPIS VALACHORUM ARCHIATRO/ MORUM URBANITATE VITAE INTEGRITATE/ COMMENTABILI/ CIVI PROBO AMICO INDULGENTI PATRI FAMILIAS/ SUORUM STUDIOSISSIMO/ GEORGIUS DE MANASZY/ DE SEX LIBERIS UNUS SUPERSTES/ PATRI DESIDERATISSIMO/ L.L.O.P.”.

[111] Constantin Erbiceanu, Bărbați culți greci și români și profesori din Academiile domnești din Iași și București din epoca zisă fanariotă (1650-1821) [Greek and Romanian Learned Men and Professors from the Princely Academies of Iași and Bucharest During the So-Called Phanariot Era (1650-1821)] (Bucharest, 1905), 162; Ion Ionașcu, “Academia domnească de la Sf. Sava în perioada 1716-1775” [The Princely Academy of St. Sava During the Period 1716-1775], București. Mat. Ist. Muz. 5 (1967): 31.

[112] N. Iorga, Byzantium after Byzantium, Avant-propos d’Alexandre Paléologue (Paris: Éditions Balland, 1992), 225.

[113] Ibid.

[114] Béla Borsi-Kálmán, “Újabb adatok a Manasses-Manaszy család származásáról és Eliadész Manaszisz életéről” [New Data on the Origin of the Manasses-Manaszy Family and the Life of Eliades Manassisz], in József Juhász et al, ed., Kelet-Európai Sorsfordulók, Tanulmányok a 80 éves Palotás Emil tiszteletére [Eastern European Changes of Fortune. Studies in Honor of the 80th Anniversary of Emil Palotás] (Budapest: L’Harmattan - ELTE BTK BTK Kelet-Európa Története Tanszék, 2016), 25.

[115] Dascăl, Din arhiva, 27.

[116] Borsi-Kálmán, “Újabb adatok”, 32.

[117] Ibid.

[118] Erbiceanu, Bărbați culți, 162.

[119] Eudoxiu de Hurmuzaki, Documente privitoare la Istoria Românilor [Documents on the History of the Romanians], vol. VII (1750-1818) (Bucharest, 1876), 374 (CCXXVIII).

[120] Iorga, Contribuții, 186.

[121] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, 79, 80.

[122] Camariano, “L’organization”, 247, 248.

[123] Hurmuzaki, Documente, 374.

[124] Theodosius studied chemistry, while George probably studied law, eventually becoming a district judge of Torontal County. Two photographs of George Manase survive, one from his grammar school years and another of him with his wife, dressed in hussar uniform.

[125] MNL Coats of Arms - DatabasesOnline (gov.hu) HU-MNL-OL-A57-63-0237, accessed October 20, 2024, https://archives. hungaricana.hu/hu/libriregii/hu_mnl_ol_a057_63_0237/.

[126] Son of Gheorghe Manicati Safranu Sr. († 1801).

[127] MNL Coats of Arms - DatabasesOnline (gov.hu) HU-MNL-OL-A 57-66-0529, accessed October 20, 2024, https://archives. hungaricana.hu/en/libriregii/hu_mnl_ol_a057_66_0528/.

[128] “[...] Ελισάβετ Δήμου ανπ [ἀναπαύω] τη 8 Ιανυαρ 1823”.

[129] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 424.

[130] Voileanu, Icoane din viața Bisericii, 104-106.

[131] “Εδω κείται η δυλη τϋ Θευ/ Αικατερινη μεγαλη βορνιτσέσ/σα Στηρβαιη ένnημενη έκ/ Κρατσουnέσηων εν Βυκκυρεστι/ οισ ζησασα δε εετη 60/ έκοιμήθη έν Κyριω τη 24 Μαρτιυ / 6 Απριλιυ 1823/ εν Ερμανυπολει”. Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, 180.

[132] Iorga, Scrisori de boieri, LXIX.

[133] Ibid., 60.

[134] “Τω αριστω παtρι/ Ιωωαννη Π. Στεριου/ μετασταντι εισ Κισ Κυριον/ τη 6/18 Απριλιου 1836/ ετων 55/ παρα/ των ευχαριστων τεκνων”.

[135] Limona, Documente din Arhivele Statului Sibiu, vol. I, 424.

[136] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. I, X.

[137] “He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall dwell under the covering of the God of heaven.” Ps. 90, 1.

[138] “Τῷ του ὑψίστου θεράποντι, Aρχιμανδριτη Β. Μελετιω, ευεργέτη και εφημεριω του εν Ερμανουπολει γραικικου παρεκκκλησιου, αποδημησαντi προσ Κυριον, 21 Ιουνουνιου 1863, ετη 74”.

[139]Telegraful Român, no. 52 (June 27, 1863): 208.

[140] Onisifor Ghibu, “Un semicentenar” [A Semicentenary], Luceafărul, no. 24 (1913): 813.

[141] Camariano, “L’organization”, 221, 222.

[142] Telegraful Român, no. 52 (June 27, 1863): 208.

[143] Ghibu, “Un semicentenar”, 814.

[144] Hâciu, Aromânii, 310.

[145] Necșa, “Din trecutul”, 2.

[146] Telegraful Român, no. 69 (Sept. 1/13, 1866): 274.

[147] Telegraful Român, no. 79 (July 8, 1880): 313.

[148] According to the testimony of professor and publicist Victor Păcală. Hâciu, Aromânii, 330, n. 10.

[149] “In numele lui Domnedieu/ celu pre-bunu și pre-potinte/ se puse/ estetu monumentu/ spre a se signare locul/ repausare osemintelor/ familiei Bechnitiu/ cu spesele lui/ Antoniu Bechnitiu/ negutiatoriu în Sabiiu/ anul D. MDCCCCCLXII (1862)”. [In the name of the almighty this monument was laid for the burial of the bones of the Bechnitiu family, at the expense of Antoniu Bechnitiu, merchant from Sibiu/ year of the Lord. MDCCCCCLXII (1862)].

[150] The names of the representatives of the patronage of the special epitropy are mentioned in several administrative documents issued between 1854-1881. Archives of the Hagician Foundation (unpublished collection).

[151] Anuarul I. al Reuniunii Sodalilor Români din Sibiu, cuprinzând unele date de la întemeierea ei până la 31 decembrie 1899 [Yearly I. of the Romanian Sodalists’ Meeting of Sibiu, Containing Some Data from Its Foundation to December 31, 1899] (Sibiu: 1900), 77 sq.

[152] Ioan Slavici, “Lumea prin care am trecut” [The World I’ve Been Through], excerpt from Convorbiri Literare (Bucharest: Artele Grafice Socec&Co., S.A., 1930), 92.

[153] Bechnițiu had a shop in the Small Square (in the building at no. 24).

[154] Anuarul I., 77, italics in the original.

[155] “Necrolog” [Obituary], Familia, no. 31 (1887): 372.

[156] Soroștineanu, “Cimitirul”, 144.

[157] “Ioan Bechnitz, terminând o viață plină de iubire și de suferințe, a răposat azi la ora 1 din zi, în vârstă de 50 de ani. Partea pământescă a neuitatului frate și unchi se va înmormânta Duminică, în 30 August (11 Septembrie), din locuința sa, Strada Pintenului Nr. 25, în progadia bisericii greco-orientale din suburbiul Iosefin. Cuprinși de durere aduc această știre jalnică. Sibiu, în 28 August (9 Septembrie) 1898. Emil Cosmutza, c. și r. sublocotenent în batalionul de pionieri 12, ca nepot; Sofia Cosmutza n. Bechnitz, ca soră.” [John Bechnitz, ending a life full of love and sorrow, passed away today at 1 o’clock, aged 50 years. The earthly portion of his unforgettable brother and uncle will be buried on Sunday, Aug. 30 (Sept. 11), from his home, 25 Pintenului St., in the progadia of the Greek Eastern Church in the suburb of Iosefin. Grief-stricken I bring this pitiful news. Sibiu, August 28 (September 9) 1898. Emil Cosmutza, imp. and royal. second lieutenant in the 12th pioneer battalion, as nephew; Sofia Cosmutza b. Bechnitz, as sister]. “Necrolog”, Telegraful Român, no. 93 (Aug. 29 v. / Sept. 10 n. 1898): 375; “† Ioan Bechnitz, proprietar  și particular în Sibiu, a răposat în 9 Septemvre n. c. în etate de 50 ani. Răposatul a fost cunoscut și stimat ca un bărbat erudit cu deosebire în stiințele juridice. Dânsul a desfășurat câtva timp activitate și pe tărâmul ziaristicii române, însă cu modestie, fără pretenția de a-și face reclamă personală înaintea publicului. N-a ocupat niciun post, nici n-a exercitat vreo profesiune liberală, ci a trăit ca un om cu stare materială independentă, dedicându-se numai studiilor sale private și căutându-și de sănătate, căci avea o constituție debilă. ‒ Fie-i memoria binecuvântată! [† Ioan Bechnitz, proprietor and private individual in Sibiu, died Sept. 9 according to the new calendar aged 50. The deceased was known and esteemed as a learned man especially in the legal sciences. He also worked for some time in the realm of Romanian journalism, but modestly, without the pretense of personally advertising himself to the public. He did not hold any post, nor did he exercise any liberal profession, but lived as a man with an independent material state, devoting himself solely to his private studies and seeking health, as he had a weak constitution. May his memory be blessed.] “Necrolog”, Gazeta Transilvaniei, no. 195 (Sunday, September 6/18, 1898): 3.

[158] Iorga, Scrisori și inscripții, vol. II, X; Grigore Matei is survived by several family members – his wife (Elena Matei b. Stamati Teodor), his mother-in-law (Zenovia Stamati Teodor), his two daughters (Elena Greg. Matei and Anastasia Florian) and one of his sons-in-law (Ioan Florian).

[159] This is possibly the case of the tombstone in the church, the commemorative plaque of the founders of the Hagi Constantin Pop family, the monument dedicated to Ecaterina Știrbei, the one dedicated to Archimandrite Meletie, to Elena Nedelcovici, to George Zaharia or to the Bechnițiu family.

[160] In the case of the monument of Ioan Panaiot Steriu, the monument of Dumitru Andronic and that of Grigore Matei.

[161] In the case of the cross of Ioan Marcu, from Bungard, and the tombstone of Constantin Arpaș.

[162] The case of Ecaterina Stoica’s tombstone.

[163] In the case of the funerary monument of the Vlad family and that of the protopope Ioan Panovici.

[164] Petru Görög de Târnova appears in the Conscription of the nobles of Zarand county in 1704 (Ionuț-Cosmin Codrea, Istorie, societate și viață culturală în Țara Zarandului: secolele XVI-XIX [History, Society and Cultural Life in the Land of Zarand: 16^th–19^th Centuries] (Cluj-Napoca: Argonaut, 2020), 366, Appendix I.

[165] Marius Porumb, “Inscripții inedite de la Orăștie” [Unpublished Inscriptions from Orăștie], AMN hist. 31, II (1994): 275, 276.

[166] “Fac cunoscut onor. p. t. public, că am preluat prin cumpărare atelierul de pietrărie a repozat. tatălui meu și îl voi conduce sub noua firmă «Prima pietrărie sibiană și depozit de monumente pentru morminte al lui Daniel Roubischek mai înainte Iosif Roubischek sen. Sculptor și măiestru pietrar. Sibiu, Bahnhofplatz nr. 4». Cel mai mare depozit de cruci și monumente pentru morminte din cea mai tare și mai durabilă peatră de nisip, și trachyt, divers marmoră, granit, silez, andesyt și granit sved, negru, syenit, labrador etc. [...].” [I make known to your hon. public, that I have taken over by purchase the stonemasonry workshop of my reposed father, and will run it under the new firm “First stonemasonry and deposit of monuments for tombs in Sibiu, of Daniel Roubischek, formerly Iosif Roubischek sen. Sculptor and master stonemason. Sibiu, Bahnhofplatz nr. 4. The largest warehouse of crosses and monuments for tombs of the hardest and most durable sandstone, and trachyte, various marble, granite, siliceous, andesite and Swedish granite, black, syenite, labrador etc. [...].” Foaia Poporului, no. 39 (October 1907): 509. 

[167] Camariano, “L’organization”, 240.

Fig. 1. Tombstone of the merchant Ilie Cujmăreț from Cyprovice (1719). Cemetery of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Sadu (Sibiu county). Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 2. Funeral cross of the merchant Ioan Marcu. Cemetery of the Orthodox church in Bungard (Șelimbăr commune, Sibiu county). Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 3. Funeral cross from the cemetery of the wooden church in Broșteni (Șelimbăr commune, Sibiu county). Collection of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Sibiu. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 4. Funeral cross from the cemetery of the wooden church in Broșteni (Șelimbăr commune, Sibiu county). Collection of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Sibiu. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 5. Funerary cross from the cemetery of the wooden church in Broșteni (Păuca commune, Sibiu county). Collection of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Sibiu. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 6. Funerary cross from the cemetery of the wooden church in Broșteni (Păuca commune, Sibiu county). Collection of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Sibiu. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 7. Funerary cross from the cemetery of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Lipoveni, Alba Iulia. Credits: Wikimedia Commons.

Fig. 8. Funerary cross from the cemetery of Holy Trinity Church in Maieri, Alba Iulia. Credits: Wikimedia Commons.

Fig. 9. Tombstones of merchants from the Greek Company of Sibiu. Orthodox church in Bungard. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 10. Tombstone of Nicolae Teodoru-Stoian. Orthodox church in Bungard. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 11. Fragment of a broken tombstone. Cemetery of the Orthodox church in Bungard. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 12. Cadastral sketch of the ensemble of Hagician settlements in Iosefin suburb, Sibiu, 1849. Archive of the Hagician Foundation. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 13. Cadastral sketch of the ensemble of “Hagician” settlements in Iosefin suburb (detail).

Fig. 14. Epitaph on the grave of the founders of the Hagi Constantin Pop family. The Cemetery of the Church in the Pit, Sibiu. Credits: Traian Zaharia (before 1934).

Fig. 15. Epitaph on the grave of the founders of the Hagi Constantin Pop family. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 16. Tombstone of Constantin Arpaș. Sibiu, The Cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 17. Tombstone of Maria Magdalena Ivașcu. Alba Iulia, the old Lipoveni cemetery. Credits: A. Buda.

Fig. 18. Coat of arms of the Dragoș de Thurna and Ivașcu de Turda families, on the gravestone of Constantin Arpaș. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 19. Tombstone of Maria Magdalena Ivașcu: result of the photogrammetric analysis. Credits: Dr Călin Șuteu.

Fig. 20. Coat of arms of the Dragoș de Thurna and Ivașcu de Turda families, on the ennoblement diploma. Credits: “MNL Coats of Arms – DatabasesOnline (gov.hu) HU-MNL-OL-F 7-No. 33”.

Fig. 21 (a). Coat of arms of the Dragoș de Thurna family. Credits: Csergheö, Csoma, Der Adel von Ungarn sammt den Nebenländern der St. Stephans-Krone, Tab. 113.

Fig. 21 (b). Coat of arms of the Ivașcu de Turda family. Credits: Csergheö, Csoma, Der Adel von Ungarn sammt den Nebenländern der St. Stephans-Krone, Tab. 113.

Fig. 22. The funerary monument of Maria Görög (Grecu) de Făgăraș († 1 May 1701) and her three children. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Orăștie. Credits: A. Buda.

Fig. 23. The tombstone of Despa Pulpas. Cluj-Napoca, Holy Trinity Church on the Hill. Credits: Wikimedia Commons.

Fig. 24. “Hogback” tombstones. Alba Iulia, old cemetery, Lipoveni. Credits: A. Buda.

Fig. 25. “Hogback” tombstones. Alba Iulia, old cemetery, Lipoveni. Credits: A. Buda.

Fig. 26. “Hogback” tombstones. Alba Iulia, old cemetery, Lipoveni. Credits: A. Buda.

Fig. 27. “Hogback” tombstone. Armeni (com. Loamneș, Sibiu county). Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 28. Funeral cross of priestess Maria Bobeș. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 29. Tombstone of Ecaterina Stoica. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 30. Ecaterina Stoica’s tombstone (detail).

Fig. 31. The funerary monument of Archpriest Gheorghe Petrașcu (hieromonk Gherasim). The cemetery of the Greek Church in Făgăraș. Credits: Vasile Stan.

Fig. 32. Tombstone in the cemetery of the Greek Church in Brașov. Credits: Daniel Dumitran.

Fig. 33. Tomb of the Guma family. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 34. Cross of Anastasie Ziguris. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 35. Tomb of Eliade Manase. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 36. Tomb of Eliade Manase. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 37. Tomb of Eliade Manase. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 38. Coat of arms of George Manase de Hodoni applied to the funerary monument dedicated to his father. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 39 (a). Coat of arms acquired by George Manase together with the ennoblement diploma of 1813. Credits: Királyi Könyvek – 63.237, Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára. Manaszy György nagyszebeni polgár | Királyi Könyvek | Hungaricana.

Fig. 39 (b). Coat of arms of George Manase.

Fig. 40. Funerary cross of Elisabeta Dimu. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 41. Funerary monument of Ecaterina Ştirbei. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 42. Funerary monument of Ioan Panaiot Steriu. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 43. Tomb of Archimandrite V. Meletios. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 44. Funerary monuments of Elena Nedelcovici and Elisabeta Foliovici. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 45. Funerary monument of Elena Nedelcovici. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 46. Funerary monument of the merchant Gheorghe Zaharia. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 47. Funerary monument of the Bechnițiu family. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 48. Funerary monument of the merchant Gheorghe Vlad. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 49. Funerary monument of Dumitru Andronic. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.

Fig. 50. Funerary monument of the merchant Grigore Matei. Sibiu, cemetery of the Church in the Pit. Credits: I. Abrudan.