Roman cemetery south of the Bonna fortress
About
Along the road leaving Bonna to the south, a cemetery serving both garrison and civilian settlement was already in use by the mid-1st century CE — the tombstone of Quintus Petilius Secundus, a 25-year-old legionary of Legio XV Primigenia (garrisoned at nearby Xanten) who died in 65 CE, was recovered here, showing the site predates even Legio I Minervia's arrival. Grave goods, sarcophagi, and dozens of inscribed tombstones from this and related Bonn cemeteries are now held in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn. The same burial ground later became sacred to the cult of the martyrs Cassius and Florentius, whose veneration eventually gave rise to the church that became Bonn Minster — a Roman cemetery directly shaping the medieval and modern city.
What happened here
The dead are outside the walls because the law requires it, so the approach to every town is lined with them. Tombs face the road in rows, grand ones in front and simpler markers behind, all of them addressed to the passer-by. Burial clubs let ordinary people and slaves pay a monthly subscription for a place in a communal vault and a decent funeral; the alternative is a pit. Families come out on anniversaries and at the February festival, eat at the graveside, and pour wine into a pipe set into the ground. Undertakers, stonecutters and letter-cutters work nearby and compete on price. Ground is bought by the foot, and the frontage on the road costs the most.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →