Hypogeum of the Octavii

An entire modern neighborhood in northern Rome is named after this ancient aristocratic tomb, discovered in the 1920s along Via Trionfale during the construction of some new buildings. It is the hypogeum today in Via della Stazione di Ottavia, one of the most interesting archaeological monuments in the city’s suburbs.

The tomb can be dated to the early third century AD, when there were a number of rustic villas in the area, and its monumentality reflects the social position of the owner, Octavius Felix, who is buried here with his daughter Octavia Paolina and two other female relatives. The hypogeum first welcomed Octavius’ “sweetest” and “dearest” little daughter, who died when she was only six years old. Octavia Paulina was laid in a sarcophagus with the case decorated with children games and competitions. The world of children also inspired the fresco in the arcosolium, populated by children intent on playing and picking giant roses in the presence of Hermes, the god of the dead.

Two other women were laid in side niches within exquisite sarcophagi decorated with marine scenes, an allusion to the journey to the afterlife. Octavius Felix was buried in the center of the hypogean room, in a simple sarcophagus with an inscription bearing his name and that of the freedman who handled the burial. This is the only sarcophagus still preserved in the hypogeum; Pauline’s is now in Milan, in a private collection; one of the two sarcophagi with marine scenes is in the Museo Nazionale Romano at Palazzo Massimo, while the other is in a corridor at the Ministry of Education.

Photo: Simona Sansonetti - soprintendenzaspecialeroma.it