The Emergence and Development of Roman Columbaria

Watson, Ethan James

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The Emergence and Development of Roman Columbaria

Watson, Ethan James

Abstract

In Rome during the late first century BC, a new style of tomb challenged the expectations thatfunerary monuments needed a certain level of conspicuousness in order to perpetuate thememory of the deceased they commemorated. These subterranean tombs, called columbaria,featured uniform niches that lined the walls of their burial chambers offering little opportunityfor individual public visibility, unlike their above ground counterparts. Despite their well-knownpresence in Roman funerary culture, the emergence of columbaria has gone relativelyunderstudied and subjected to a regurgitation of the basic explanations provided by thenineteenth-century scholars who first excavated their remains. As a result of this, the motivationsbehind their construction and the inspiration for their novel architecture remains unclear. Tograsp the abnormality of columbaria, it is fundamental to contextualize them within the broaderculture in which they arose by considering the burial practices and funerary monuments thatexisted alongside them. Through a comprehensive examination of academic publications andarchaeological discoveries, this study suggest that the patronage of elite families, the role ofcollegia, and certain economic motivations were instrumental in the development of columbaria. Additionally, this thesis discusses the potential origins of their architectural predecessors byinvestigating the physical remains and scholarly interpretations of structures from Etruria, Alexandria, Lefkadia, and Rome.