Polychrome Brickwork of II Century A.D. in Funerary Chamber Monuments in Rome
A peculiar architecture, characterized by a polychrome decoration realized with
opus testaceum
in view,
developed during II Century AD. In Rome this technical solution was used only for families and craftsmen
tombs in suburban cemeteries.
The one or more storeys isolated funerary chapels, such as the temple-shaped Tomb of Annia Regilla,
in the Caffarella Park, and other funerary monuments along Appia Antica, Appia Nuova, Latina and
Nomentana roads, exhibited their exterior fully faced by yellow and red brickwork with surfaces and
mouldings, sometimes enriched by architectural orders.
A second architectural typology consisted of contiguous chamber tombs such as the examples in the Portus
Cemetery or in the Vatican Necropolis. In both these burial grounds similar small buildings, repeating
the image of a living town, were characterized by few decorative brick elements on their elevation realized
with brickwork using selected red and yellow bricks.
