Location & Construction

Pyramid of Cestius. Detail, map view. (Photo: Margaret Justus, 2016. Courtesy of Wellesley College Special Collections)

The pyramid, which was completed in a little under a year (330 days), was constructed with materials characteristic of Roman architecture: a travertine foundation and blocks of Italian (Luna) marble veneered over a brick-faced concrete core.¹

For hygienic reasons, the construction of tombs within the city was a privilege reserved for a select few emperors. For a non-imperial tomb this area would have been considered a prime location, just outside the city. The heavily-trafficked Via Ostiensis (which lead to the seaport at Ostia) and a smaller street (which led to the Circus Maximus) formed a fork, meaning that viewers could view the pyramid from either street.² The inscriptions were placed on the northwestern and southeastern faces of the pyramid to maximize visibility from the road.

In 271-5 CE, the Aurelianic Walls and the Porta Ostiensis were built, including the semicircular towers which are still visible today.³ The pyramid was incorporated into the wall. (Today, the Porta Ostiensis is known as the “Porta S. Paolo,” which refers to the church of St. Paul just down the road.⁴)

MJ

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1. Amanda Claridge, Judith Toms, and Tony Cubberley, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 399.

2. Molly Swetnam-Burland, Egypt in Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 86.

3. Amanda Claridge, Judith Toms, and Tony Cubberley, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 397.

4. ibid, 397.