Via Celle Necropolis
About
Fourteen barrel-vaulted columbaria lined the start of the consular road out of Puteoli toward Capua, most built in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Niches inside held cremation urns for the dead, and some chambers still carry traces of their original stucco and mosaic decoration. One building has been read as the seat of a burial club, a collegium funeraticium, that pooled dues so ordinary members could afford a decent send-off. Rediscovered in the 1930s, it opened fully to the public only in 2022.
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 →