The Porta Laurentina necropolis is situated 200 metres to the south of the Porta Laurentina. It is the small, excavated part of a huge necropolis to the south of Ostia, on the Pianabella. It was excavated by P.E. Visconti in the years 1855-1867, by Dante Vaglieri in 1911, and by Guido Calza in the years 1920-1922 and 1934-1935. The tombs flank the Via Laurentina and two side-streets. The oldest tombs have been dated to the years 50-30 BC. The tomb types are identical to those of the Porta Romana necropolis. Only in this necropolis however, the names of the deceased are sometimes inscribed on travertine cippi.

Tomb 17-18 is also called "Tomba della sacerdotessa isiaca". It has been dated to the late first century BC. It received its name from a painting of a woman holding a sistrum, surrounded by birds and a dog. The ceiling was decorated with stucco reliefs of a dancing maenad (stolen), landscapes with animals, and sacrifices. Also in this tomb a painting of the male deceased on a kline was found. His wife is sitting in front of the bed. One room was decorated with a painting of a Nilotic scene, with a lion, a buffalo, birds and pygmees.

Painting of the deceased on a kline. Tomb 17-18. Helbig 3183. Guida p. 109 nr. 13. Museo Ostiense. Inv. 10108.
Photograph: Giovanni Lattanzi, www.archart.it. Reproduced with permission.



Painting of a Nilotic scene (c. 2.5 x 1.5 m.). Tomb 17-18. Museo Ostiense.

Tomb 32 is also called "Tomba dei Claudii" (a name that has in the past also been used for the entire excavated part of the necropolis). It contains marble urns for the ashes of freedmen and slaves of the Emperor Claudius.

Tomb 33 was built by Decimus Folius Mela in the first half of the first century AD. Here a painting of Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld was found.

Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld. Tomb 33. Vatican museums.
Paschetto 1912, fig. 152.



Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld. Tomb 33. Vatican museums.
Photograph: Giovanni Lattanzi, www.archart.it. Reproduced with permission.

Tomb 34 may perhaps be identified with the "Tomba dei Caecilii", that was excavated by Visconti. Here paintings were found of the rape of Proserpina and a scene from a tragedy.

The Rape of Proserpina. Tomb of the Caecilii. Vatican museums.
Photograph: Giovanni Lattanzi, www.archart.it. Reproduced with permission.



Scene from a tragedy. Tomb of the Caecilii. Vatican museums.
Photograph: Giovanni Lattanzi, www.archart.it. Reproduced with permission.

More paintings were discovered in another tomb, nearby. It was excavated by Visconti, but has not been identified. One painting shows five men participating in a meal in honour of the dead. Their names are painted above them: [---]mus, Felix, Foebus, Restutus and Fortunatus. On another wall were a painting of Mercurius and, next to the deity, the famous painting of the ship Isis Giminiana.

Painting of a meal in honour of the dead. Vatican museums.
Paschetto 1912, fig. 155.


Painting of Mercurius. Vatican museums.
Paschetto 1912, fig. 156.



The painting of the Isis Giminiana.



The painting of the Isis Giminiana, detail.

A description of the necropolis by Dante Vaglieri, from 1914: pp. 114-115, pp. 116-117, p. 118