Archaeological Museum of Bologna

Museo Civico Archeologico
Via dell'Archiginnasio 2 - 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051.27.57.211

Direzione e Uffici
Via de' Musei 8 – 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051.27.57.211 - Fax 051.26.65.16
mca@comune.bologna.it

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Collections / Ricerca / Roman Bologna: the stones speak. The crafts

Introduction

The Roman necropolis
In Bononia, as in all the other roman cities of the empire, necropolis, areas intended for burial, in respect to hygiene rules established in Rome already in the Archaic period, developed outside the perimeter of the city along the front of important roads.
The largest cemetery was built along the western section of Emilia street, whose path was lined by funerary steles placed as segnacolo of cremation and inhumation tombs and by funerary monuments.
In the Late Period (V - VI century AD), during a deep crisis period of the town, were taken from this necropolis tombstones dating back to the first century AD that, tied with grappes and cemented with concrete were used to build a dam added as an appendix to the ancient Roman bridge over the Rhine River. From this artifact, the "so-called Wall of the Rhine", brought to light in 1894 following a flood of the river, coming about a hundred gravestones and tombstones of great interest, now preserved in the Museum.
Other burial grounds and funerary monuments were located in various parts of the suburbs, near the agricultural centers of plain (pages) and villae.
The stone stele, were decorated in low relief and have inscriptions. These generally have a fixed formulary that includes the name of the deceased and eventually the one who dedicated the monument, an indication of friendship ties or kinship, the lifespan, sometimes the profession or the public office held, measures of the area destined for burial, of which the stelae marked one of the limits. The decorations were mostly symbolic images or relating to crafts carried out by the deceased during his life.

Exhibition rooms | Atrium - Lapidarium

Exhibition rooms | Courtyard – Lapidarium