Overview
After the conquest of Egypt by Octavian Augustus in 31 BC, Egyptian inspiration began to become fashionable for Roman funerary construction. One of the people who chose a pyramid as his tomb was the politician Caius Cestius. An inscription on the façade tells us that the construction work was meant to take a maximum of 330 days. The tomb was built along the Via Ostiense between 18 and 12 BC and was incorporated into the Aurelian city walls four centuries later. The pyramid is about 36 metres high with a square base with 30-metre sides and is entirely covered with marble slabs. The burial chamber is frescoed with figures of nymphs and winged victories on a light background holding a crown and ribbon in their hands. The cinerary urn and some pieces of the decoration were lost following the first violation of the tomb, which probably dates back to the Middle Ages.
