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Description
Following the sides of the Via Prenestina, as was the case with the main roads in Roman times, there were vast burial areas, mostly consisting of columbaria, funerary constructions intended for the humble class, where the vases (ollae) with the ashes of the deceased were placed in special niches.
The columbarium in question was discovered in 1958 during the widening of Via Prenestina and the opening of Via Olevano Romano.
It was built in opus reticulatum between the first century BC and the first century AD, with a rectangular floor plan measuring 3.75x4.65 metres and an access staircase on the north side. It was covered with a barrel vault and had walls, plastered and painted with squares and floral motifs, marked by five rows of niches with one or two recesses for the cinerary urns. Later, the floor was raised and a new pictorial decoration on plaster with geometric designs was superimposed on the first one. Some traces of painting are still preserved, as well as a Latin metrical inscription, painted above a niche, which is a 'carmen' dedicated by the husband to his dead wife Iunia Formosa. The columbarium was used until the 1st century AD, as shown by the discovery of a sarcophagus from 69 AD in the central part of the monument.