For religious and hygienic reasons, the dead were not allowed to be buried within settlements and towns. Thus, the arterial roads were sometimes lined with burial grounds and larger burial structures.
According to August Kestner's records, this gravestone comes from such a cemetery, which was located on today's Via Nomentana outside the city gates of Rome. There, in the immediate vicinity of the Porta Nomentana, was also the famous Haterian tomb, which was excavated from 1827 onwards. (AVS)
Former August Kestner Collection, Rome
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