Crisis and Ambition Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome

Tombs and burial customs are an exquisite source for social history, as their commemorative character inevitably expresses much of the contemporaneous ideology of a society. This book presents, for the first time, a holistic view of the funerary culture of Rome and its surroundings during the third century AD. While the third century is often largely ignored in social history, it was a transitional period, an era of major challenges - political, economic, and social - which inspired creativity and innovation, and paved the way for the new system of late antiquity. Barbara Borg argues that during this time there was, in many ways, a return to practices known from the Late Republic and early imperial period, with spectacular monuments for the rich, and a large-scale reappearance of collective burial spaces. Through a study of terraced tombs, élite monuments, the catacomb nuclei, sarcophagi, and painted image decoration, this volume explores how the third century was an exciting period of experimentation and creativity, a time when non-Christians and Christians shared fundamental ideas, needs, and desires as well as cemeteries, tombs, and hypogea. Ambition continued to be a driving force and a determining factor in all social classes, who found innovative solutions to the challenges they encountered.

1 - Introduction: The third Century
2 - Traditional Cemeteries and Tombs
3 - Innovation and New Designs
4 - Underground Tombs
5 - Long-Term Use and Re-Use
6 - Sarcophagi
7 - Sarcophagi in Context
8 - Interior Decoration
9 - Conclusions

Barbara E. Borg is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She has worked on a wide range of topics, often linking her core subject Greek and Roman art and archaeology with neighbouring disciplines such as Egyptology, Classical Literature, Ancient History, and Geology.