Tomb of the Plautii
About
Consul Marcus Plautius Silvanus, a friend of Augustus, raised this cylindrical drum tomb for his family right beside the bridge that already carried his own family's name. Its design echoes the grander imperial mausolea going up in Rome at the same time, a senator's family claiming the same architectural language as the emperor's own house. By 117 CE it has stood watch over travelers crossing the Aniene for well over a century.
What happened here
Roman burial is a family matter conducted in public. The dead are carried out of town, cremated or laid in the ground, and mourned with formal noise; the funeral of anyone important is a procession with masks of the ancestors carried by hired men. The tomb that follows is designed to be read by strangers on the road: name, age, offices, sometimes a trade shown in relief, often a line addressed directly to the passer-by. Ordinary people appear here as they nowhere else — a baker with his ovens carved on the front, a freedman naming the woman he could finally marry, a child's age given in days. Anniversaries bring the family back with food and wine.
Sources
Nearby
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