Twins columbaria

Panel 13 - Location

Built in the first half of the 1st century AD, these two independent tombs, which originally had a north-facing entrance (A), are identical in their layout. Both had an unroofed vestibule (B) and a roofed funerary chamber (C) with niches for the cinerary urns along the walls. Funerary banquets could be held on the terrace roofs, accessible along a staircase. In a space created between the two tombs was the ustrinum (D), the area where the bodies of the deceased were cremated; in the 2nd century AD, it was occupied by an inhumation burial.

Panel 13 - Figure 1Reconstruction drawing of the façade of a necropolis at Ostia
(A. Pascolini)

Panel 13 - Figure 2Plan and sections of the Colombari Gemelli Panel 13 - Figure 3Reconstruction of the niches with cinerary urns inside

See also:

The Via Ostiensis Necropolis