PART IV
THE TOMBS
CHAPTER L
POMPEIAN BURIAL PLACES.—THE STREET OF TOMBS
The tombs of Pompeii, like those of Rome, were placed in close array along the sides of the roads that led from the city gates. Only a few have been uncovered; how many still lie concealed under the mantle of volcanic débris that rests upon the plain, no one has yet ventured to conjecture. The tombstone of a magistrate of one of the suburbs was found at Scafati, a mile and a half east of the ancient town; and others have been brought to light on the east, south, and west sides. The most interesting and best known tombs are those of the Street of Tombs, in front of the Herculaneum Gate; but important remains have been found also near the Stabian and Nocera gates, and burial places of a humbler sort lie along the city wall near the Nola Gate.
Most of the tombs thus far excavated belong to the Early Empire, having been built between the reign of Augustus and 79 A.D. Two or three date from the end of the Republic; and a small corner of an Oscan cemetery has been uncovered on the northwest side of the city. Remains of skeletons were found only in the Oscan graves; the Roman burial places were all arranged with reference to the practice of cremation, the ashes being deposited in urns.
The tombs present so great a variety of form and construction that it is impossible to classify them in a summary way, or to dismiss them with the presentation of two or three typical examples. The character of the monument varied not merely according to the taste and means, but also according to the point of view or religious feeling of the builder. Some deemed it more fitting that the ashes of the dead should be covered over with earth; others preferred to place them in a conspicuous tomb that would please the eye and impress the imagination of the beholder. To many the matter of paramount importance seemed to be the provision for the worship of the dead, the arrangement of the tomb so that offerings could easily be made to the ashes. Others still desired to have the sepulchre convenient for the living, who at times would gather there, and tarry near the resting place of the departed. And there were not a few who attempted, in the construction of a monument, to accomplish at the same time several of these ends. The architectural designs were suggested by the form of an altar, a temple, a niche, a commemorative arch, or a semicircular bench, schola.
On account of this diversity of aim and of type, it will be most convenient to study the tombs in topographical groups, commencing with those at the northwest corner of the city.
The highway that passes under the Herculaneum Gate runs almost directly west, descending with a gentle grade. Above it on the north side is the ridge formed by the stream of lava on the end of which the city lay; here, before the eruption, were sightly villas. Below, to the south, was the sea, not so far away as now, over the shimmering surface of which the traveller, as he rode along, could catch charming glimpses of the heights above Sorrento and of Capri. A short distance from the gate on the left, a branch road, which for convenience we may call the Bay Road, led directly to the sea. Another branch, on the right, followed the direction of the city wall; further from the gate on the same side, a third, which may be designated as the Vesuvius Road, ran off from the highway in the direction of the mountain. The highway itself, so far as excavated, has been named the Street of Tombs.
The tombs that have been uncovered here are distributed in four groups. The first, on the left side, extends from the gate to the Bay Road; it comprises Nos. 1-4a on [Plan V]. The second, on the right (Nos. 1-9), includes the tombs between the gate and the beginning of the Vesuvius Road. The third group, on the left, lies between the ruins of the villa to which the name of Cicero has been attached and the villa of Diomedes; the tombs are numbered on the plan 16-23. The monuments of the fourth group occupy the tongue of ground at the right between the highway and the Vesuvius Road (33-43). The outer parts of the two villas by which the continuity of the series of tombs on both sides is interrupted, appear to have been used as inns; along the street in front of each there was a colonnade supported by pillars, behind which were small rooms opening toward the street.
At the further end of the villa on the right (10-29) is the potter's workshop (29-30), mentioned in a previous chapter ([p. 386]). Beyond this are the Oscan graves (31-32), several of which have been explored. In them were found rough stone coffins, made of slabs and fragments of limestone, containing remains of skeletons together with small painted vases, of the sort manufactured in Campania in the third and second centuries B.C. Two coins were found, in separate graves, with Oscan legends that have not yet been deciphered; apparently they were from Nola. The burial places lie close together, and evidently belong to a cemetery for people of humble station; there are no headstones to mark the graves. This is the only place at Pompeii in which painted vases have been found.
A narrow strip of land on each side of the road belonged to the city, and burial lots therein were granted by the municipal council to citizens who had rendered public service. Others, however, might obtain lots by purchase; private ownership may be assumed unless the gift of the city is indicated in the inscription. The location of several tombs—1, 3, 4, 6 on the right, 3 on the left—shows that the direction of the street near the gate was changed after sepulchral monuments had begun to be erected.