The History Blog

The Pyramid of Gaius Cestius reopened to the public last week after three years of renovations. Scheduled admissions are being offered free of charge through the end of October both by day and in the evening so visitors can see its bright white marble cladding illuminated by a new lighting system. The interior has new lighting as well. The restoration project also improved accessibility at the entrance gate, stairs and pathway to the pyramid. It renovated the green area of the park and most importantly, it refurbished the spaces inhabited by the iconic feline community at the base of the pyramid.

The funerary monument was built around 12 B.C. in the Ostiense necropolis outside the Servian walls of Rome on the ancient consular road that led to the sea port city of Ostia. Pyramids were all the rage after Augustus’ conquest of Egypt in 30 B.C., and ancient sources record several of them in having been built in Rome. This is the only one to survive.

It was commissioned by the former praetor and tribune of the plebs Gaius Cestius to hold his ashes in a single inner chamber, modestly painted white walls and small frescoes of winged Victories and ceremonial vessels. Due to a sumptuary law passed by the emperor Augustus in 18 B.C., there were no lavish grave goods, much to the disappointment of the looters who tunneled into it in the Middle Ages.

It was constructed of brick-faced concrete clad in brilliant white Carrara marble slabs. About 100 feet square at the base and 120 feet high, the pyramid has a far steeper incline and sharp point than the great Egyptian monuments that inspired it. The poet Shelley aptly described it as “one keen pyramid with wedge sublime… Like flame transform’d to marble.”

When the Aurelian walls were built in the 3rd century to encircle the expanded perimeter of the city, the pyramid was in their path, so it was simply absorbed into the walls. This fluke of location is why it is the only vanity pyramid to still standing today.

A unique private bath has been discovered at the fortified palace of Roman Emperor Maximinus Daza at the Vrelo-Šarkamen site, near the town of Negotin, Serbia. The imperial balneum (private bath) was located in the bottom floor of the palace’s southwest tower, part of the defenses of the villa. There is no other known example of a private bath installed in a defensive tower in Serbia or anywhere else in the former Roman Empire.

What makes this bath so unusual is its design: it is circular, like the tower itself, and was divided into two areas: an equipment room that contained all the heating mechanisms and a suite of rooms with three pools and a sudatorium (sauna or steam room). The technical section contained a praefurnium, the furnace chamber used to heat the floors of bathing rooms. The base of the copper boiler used to heat the water for the hot pools was discovered there, although the boiler is gone, probably melted down for reuse in antiquity.

Of particular importance is the exceptional state of preservation of the hypocaust system, with its circular pilae, through which hot air circulated under the floors of the various rooms. This level of preservation of the heating system, along with the very discovery of the imperial balneum, represents an extremely rare archaeological find and provides invaluable data for understanding the operation of the thermal complex. […]

The personnel in charge of maintaining the bath and feeding the praefurnium accessed the technical sector of the tower from the western side, through a monumental entrance. This layout allowed the service area to be separated from the part of the balneum intended for the residence’s occupants.

Born in Felix Romuliana, near modern-day Gamzigrad, Serbia, in what was then the province of Dacia, Maximinus Daza was adopted by Galerius, his maternal uncle when he became Augustus of the eastern Empire in 305 A.D. (The Tetrarchy, the system that divided the Roman Empire into an Eastern and Western Empire each ruled by a senior emperor (Augustus) and a junior emperor (Caesar) was established by Diocletian in 286 A.D. to stabilize government after the Crisis of the Third Century.) Maximinus Daza was Eastern Caesar under Galerius from 305 A.D. until 310 A.D. He began to style himself Augustus a year before Galerius died, but divided the Eastern Empire with Licinius and was constantly in conflict with him. Daza was defeated conclusively at the Battle of Tzirallum (modern-day Turkey) in April, 313, and died a few months later.

A 2,400-year-old timber structure in an outstanding state of preservation on the banks of the River Main in Bavaria. It is unique in Germany. No other structure of this age, construction method and condition has been found before.

The Iron Age timbers were discovered by construction workers in a rainwater overflow basin at the Willigis Bridge in Aschaffenburg. They were part of a larger stone wall. Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD) used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the timbers and the analysis found the oak trees were felled between 372-352 B.C.

“We don’t yet know what the complex was used for. We suspect that it protected the access from the Main up to the settlement. Immediately in front of the large structure made of dry stone walls and an elaborate wooden beam construction was the a wooden platform towards the river. Perhaps boats docked here, goods were and loads,” says Dr. Stefanie Berg, Head of the Department of Archaeological Monument Preservation at the BLfD. The complex testifies to astonishing craftsmanship and construction knowledge. In its construction it must have been adapted to the difficult requirements of the damp subsoil, which could only be realized with considerable effort.

Dr. Stefanie Berg: “A structure like this was no small undertaking. It required many people, sound planning, and a great deal of work. The oak timbers were felled and processed in the Spessart region and—like the stonework—transported here via the River Main. On site, dry-stone walls were erected, and the heavy beams were precisely fitted into the structure. The building would have been visible from afar, clearly signaling that this was a place of significance—and one that its inhabitants knew how to defend.”

To ensure their long-term preservation after discovery, the timbers will be recovered, cleaned and placed in a basin of water to keep them from drying out. Each beam will be laser scanned and 3D models made for remote study. Marks from Iron Age axes and adzes have already been recorded and will provide new insights into carpentry techniques Already the first third of the heavy timbers has been raised by a crane. After the wood is stabilized, a selection of the timbers will be displayed to the public at the Aschaffenburg Abbey Museum.

Excavations will continue through the end of the year. A multi-disciplinary team that includes archaeologists, architects, geoarchaeologists and archaeobotanists are examining the structure, the soil around it and traces of plant material at the find site. Visitors will have the chance to view the excavation on September 13, Open Monument Day, with a BLfD archaeologist serving as guide.

The importance and uniqueness of the structure underscores the regional significance of the Celtic settlement that would become Aschaffenburg. In conjunction with Open Monument Day, the Aschaffenburg Abbey Museum will display Celtic artifacts found in the city, some of which have never before been exhibited.

The skeletal remains of man who appears to have sought shelter in a dolium, a giant storage amphora, only to be trapped there and die, have been discovered in the ancient town of Deultum, Bulgaria. Archaeologists’ preliminary date of the event is around 400 A.D.

The dolium was discovered in the northern turret of the western gate in Deultum’s Roman walls, built around 300 A.D. It is comparatively small by dolium standards, the largest of which could hold as much as 260 gallons. Only the lower part of it survives, and it is three feet in diameter.

The deceased had two iron knives with him, one clutched in his hand and a smaller one hanging from a ring on his belt. These were apparently for self-defense. They are not the weapons of a professional warrior.

In the 5th century, Deultum was repeatedly attacked by Germanic tribes and Huns. There is evidence of a fire on the dolium and around it, but no evidence that the deceased made any attempt to leave the dolium to save his own skin. He likely suffocated from smoke inhalation. Ashes in the bottom of the amphora suggest the fire was already burning when he climbed inside.

The recent discovery seems to represent one of those “extraordinary circumstances,” Vagalinski said. The team found a significant amount of burned materials around the dolium, including ashes and coals; broken bricks, tiles and shards; blackened walls; melted glass fragments; and bones from domestic animals. The likely scenario is that, upon hearing of an imminent attack, people brought their livestock into the fortress. The archaeologists also found many bronze coins that were probably lost in the chaos. […]

“In any case, he made no attempt to get out of the ceramic vessel,” Vagalinski said. The team determined this based on the individual’s position, similar to that of a sleeping man. “After the attack, the inhabitants of the city leveled the ruins of the tower and covered them with a new, higher floor.” They did not know that a fellow citizen was lying at the bottom of the dolium.

The skeletal remains have now been transferred to Sofia where they will be examined and analyzed in detail by a forensic anthropologist. The archaeological team will return to Deultum next summer to continue to excavate the western gate, including the northern turret.