The tomba a cassone was well-known around the whole coast of the Mediterranean.
In Rome, however, this type of grave was hardly used. In Portus we find a concentration
of these tombs. It probably tells something about the cosmopolitan character of the population of Portus.
The tombs a cassone were often red painted with green flower motivs on the bottom,
representing a tumuli and they sometimes had a gap in the top for libation purposes.
Besides the semicircular tombs a cassone, a couple of so called "tomba alla cappuccina"
have been found. These are chest like tombs covered by sloping terracotta rooftiles.
Both these types were meant for interment of one person, although in some cases two bodies have been found (see tomb 4a and tomb 6a).
According to several inscriptions on these graves, there must have been place also for family, freedmen and their heirs. Because of the lack of space, this was also an imitation of the inscriptions belonging to the monumetal tombs.







The gap meant for libation in the top of a tomb a cassone (tomb 62).