In 1938, numerous interesting discoveries were made in a tomb erected in the time of Trajan or Hadrian in the necropolis of Isola Sacra in Porto, which became known as the "Tomb of Julia Procula." Among the finds was a bust that, according to Giovanni Beccatti, depicts Hippocrates of Kos, the father of medicine (460 – 370 BCE). Paolino Mingazzini argued that it was Pindar, but his view hasn’t gain support due to strong circumstantial evidence. Firstly, the tomb was built by the Greek physician, archiatrus Quintus Marcius Demetrius, and his wife Munatia Helpis (Julia Procula was Munatia’s daughter from a previous marriage). The second find was a column with a Greek inscription beginning with the words "Life is short" from Hippocrates’ famous aphorism, known in Latin as "Vita brevis, ars longa." The subsequent text, however, differs from the aphorism: "Life is short, but long is the time we mortals spend underground after death. Everyone is given a share in divine destiny, whatever it may be." Furthermore, Julia’s name appears on a portrait statue depicting her as Hygieia and on an urn containing her ashes.
This expressive, elegant statue was created in the first decades of the 2nd century. It was identified by three inscriptions from the same tomb.
Julia Procula was the daughter of Munatia Helpis, who remarried the physician Quintus Marcius Demetrius, who thus became Julia’s stepfather. Outside the tomb a Greek inscription was found that confirms her relationship with Demetrius.
The deceased is depicted with the attributes of the goddess Hygieia: in her hands she holds a patera and a pyxis, indicating her origin from a family of physicians, and possibly that she herself was a physician. Whether Julia practiced medicine is unknown. However, the coincidence of the features of her statuary image with the fact that she was the daughter (or stepdaughter) of a physician, like Hygieia, daughter of Asclepius, still allows for the assumption of her connection to medicine.