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The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas in Rome: Funerary Art and Myths of the Afterlife in Scipioni Park
In the Parco degli Scipioni, between the Via Appia and the Via Latina, a steep stairway going down 25 steps takes us to one of the best-preserved Roman tombs. The Colombarium of Pomponius Hylas was built between the principates of Tiberius and Claudius (14–54 AD), and remained in use for over a century. In 1831 Marchese Pietro Campana brought it to light, completely intact. It was a small archaeological miracle.
A Freedman Gives His Name to the Tomb
Pomponius Hylas was a freed slave. He purchased a niche for himself and his wife Pomponia Vitalina in the Flavian period (69–96 AD), commissioning a wall mosaic in glass paste bearing their names. It is one of the oldest wall mosaics discovered in Italy. The actual founders of the columbarium were, however, Granius Nestor and Vinileia Hedone, whose portraits are painted in the central aedicule.
Myths for the Journey into the Afterlife
The chamber, just 4 by 3 metres, is covered by a vaulted ceiling frescoed with vine tendrils, birds and cupids. On the walls, stucco work and paintings narrate myths linked to the fate of the soul: Orpheus among the Thracians, Dionysus, the centaur Chiron instructing Achilles, Hercules restraining Cerberus, the punishment of Ocnus. The message appears to be clear: for the cultivated patrons of the age, art and knowledge opened the way to immortality.
