Pyramid of Couhard
About
Set within Augustodunum's Champ des Urnes necropolis, this square-based pyramid rose 22.65 meters on a 10.5-meter base, its outer facing stone long since stripped away. No burial chamber has ever been found inside it, leaving its exact purpose a mystery archaeologists still argue over. Most evidence points to a 1st-century CE build, so it had already watched over the Aeduan dead for decades by the time news of Trajan's death reached Gaul in August 117 CE.
What happened here
The tomb is built where the traffic is: on the road out of town, facing the carriageway, close enough to read at walking pace. That is the design brief. Inside there may be a single chamber for one family or niches for dozens, with cremation urns or, increasingly, bodies laid out. Outside there is a portrait, an inscription giving the dead their offices and their years, and often a bench, because visitors come back. The family returns on the anniversary and at the February festival of the dead, brings wine and food, and eats a meal at the graveside. Endowments are left to keep it up and lawsuits follow when they are not honoured. A grand tomb is the last public building a family gets to commission.
Sources
Nearby
_17.jpg?width=800)
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 →