Necropolis Carmonensis
About
Wealthy families of Carmo lined this hillside along the Via Augusta toward Hispalis with rock-cut chamber tombs during the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Cremation dominated the burial rite here, with ashes placed in holes cut directly into the bedrock beside elaborate underground chambers. Accidental discovery in 1830 led to full excavation from 1882 onward, uncovering one of the largest and best-preserved Roman burial grounds on the Iberian Peninsula. It opened to the public in 1885, the first Spanish site of its kind to do so.
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
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 →