Skip to main content

Go to:   
Guardian Unlimited
Search:
Guardian Unlimited Web
Guardian UnlimitedThe Guardian
Home UK Business Audio Guardian Weekly The Wrap News blog Talk Search
The Guardian World America Arts Special reports Podcasts News guide Help Quiz

International
 
  Search this site




In this section
Two children die as Iraqi poison plot recalls Saddam's assassination method of choice

Tourism miracle has turned water into profits

Doctor arrested over Indian kidney racket

Bhutto killed by blast, not a bullet, Scotland Yard concludes

International news in brief

EU gas supplies at risk if Ukraine does not settle bill with Russia

Israel reduces power supply in move to 'disengage' from Gaza

Turtle takes record-setting voyage

Super Bowl, Super Tuesday but little super fashion

Clinton team braced for Obama to take the lead


Ancient Roman treasures found under Vatican car park



Barbara McMahon in Rome
Tuesday October 10, 2006
The Guardian


Detail of an engraving found in an ancient necropolis unearthed at the Vatican
Detail of an engraving found in an ancient necropolis unearthed at the Vatican. Photograph; AP
 
Archaeologists yesterday unveiled a 2,000-year-old burial ground discovered by chance inside the Vatican City.

The necropolis, which traces pagan Rome to the birth of Christianity, was discovered three years ago while excavations were being carried out for an underground garage to ease the Vatican's parking problems.

It contains more than 40 elaborately decorated mausoleums and 200 individual tombs. Headstones, including one that belonged to a slave of Nero, funerary urns and elaborately decorated frescoes and mosaic floors have also been uncovered on the site.



The historical importance of the find is being described as second only to the necropolis below St Peter's Basilica, which is believed to contain relics of St Peter, the first pope.

Giandomenico Spinola, director of the project, described the necropolis as being in an excellent condition because it had been protected by a landslide at the end of the second century. "We found the kind of things that have usually been lost in past excavations in Rome," he said.

Most of the tombs date from between the era of Augustus (23BC to 14AD) to that of Constantine (306-337).

The necropolis is unusual because the rich were buried alongside the poor. Next to tombs of middle-class Romans - one a tabellarius (letter carrier) and another a hortator (circus horse trainer) - are elaborately carved sarcophagi of Romans with more money. The headstone of a young nobleman called Publius Caesilius Victorinus indicated his love of hunting. The headstone of Nero's slave Alcimus reveals that his job included designing sets for the theatre at Pompeii.

Terracotta tubes inserted into graves through which mourning family would pour honey to nourish the dead have also been uncovered.

The necropolis is being restored as part of the Vatican Museum's 500th anniversary celebrations. The public will be able to visit from next week.




Special report
Italy

Archive
Italy articles

News guide
The Italian media

Useful links
Italian government
Italian parliament
Ministry of foreign affairs (in English)




Printable version | Send it to a friend | Save story

 
 



UP


Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007