Porta Romana Necropolis
Location
City/Town
Ostia
Modern Country
Italy
Culture
Roman
Site Type
Necropolis
Description
The oldest burials in this necropolis were cremations. There are also several funerary monuments, and only one person was buried for each monument. The earlier urns were buried in the ground and the ones from the Imperial Period were placed in niches in a columbarium. Along with this came more arched recesses in funerary chambers, sarcophagi made of marble or terracotta. There are many funeral chambers here and some are made to replicate a temple.
Tombs and columbarium
Tomb A3b
This tomb was a square monument that was decorated with marble. It contained a sarcophagus, and next to the tomb was an inscription. It described that this tomb was for C. Domitius Fabius Hermogenes. The city council had honored him with an equestrian statue on the Forum and a public funeral.
Praetorian Tomb
A round funerary monument from the early first century AD. The inscription states that it was a tomb for a Roman soldier who died fighting a fire, and was given a public funeral by the city.
Tomb of the Arches
This tomb is famous because of the north face which was divided in sections by red brick pilasters. In between the pilasters were red brick arches that gave the tomb its name. Inside the tomb was a polychrome mosaic of a boar-hunt. On the south face was an inscription: H(oc) M(onumentum) H(eredes) N(on) [S(equetur).\
Columbaria
This columbaria had two floors, the second which was a place used for funerary banquets. It was originally an ustrinum and later became a tomb. Then an aedicula was later added for urns.
Key Words
Columbarium
Aedicula
Ustrinum
Niches
Necropolis
Tomb
Pilaster