Columbarium
Subterranean columbaria were built only in the Augustan period. Their design shifted focus from Republican aristocratic achievement (the large family tomb) to one that promoted ‘collective uniformity,’ creating a new ‘non-elite mode of burial,’ particularly important for the many slaves and freedmen now in Rome.
Subterranean columbaria comprised large chambers that were fairly uniform in design; all semi-circular niches were of similar shape, size and decoration. Between 200 and 1000 people were buried in these tombs. Visitors descended underground, down long staircases to honour the dead after burial on their birthdays and at other religious festivals.
They brought with them votive lamps and offerings of roses, and poured libations into terracotta tubes sunk into the floor. Over time, however, columbaria evolved as occupants sought more individualised forms of burial (often marked with a stone inscription). By the end of the 1st century AD, all columbaria were above-ground, and also accommodated funerary altars and more elaborate niche covers and inscriptions.