the appian way

the appian way was the main roman road leading south from rome. there are sections of the road preserved from the roman era, and although it is closed to traffic, italian drivers--being italian drivers--still drove by us on a regular basis as we walked for a few miles along the road, had a picnic lunch, and walked back to our car.


the ancient romans were known for their engineering marvels, like road building.


also along the appian way were ruins of roman monuments, like the circus of maxentius, a 4th-century emperor.

most common along the appian way were tombs. the ancient romans forbid any burials within the city limits, so all romans were buried along the roads leading away from rome.


the wealthy buried their dead in huge tombs, usually circular in shape, like this tomb of Cecilia Metella, an aristocratic woman who lived in the late republican era. in the later middle ages, this tomb became part of a castle belonging to the caetani noble family.


the poorer families buried their dead in catacombs, tombs dug by the thousands into the soft tufa stone of the region. in this postcard picture, you can see a dozen tombs cut into the walls in the lefthand tunnel.


the tunnels of the catacombs snake around for miles and miles, on many levels below the surface.


the catacombs are best remembered for the christians who were buried there, but non-Christians were buried there, too. it is a common misconception that christians took refuge in the catacombs during periods of persecution. rather, it seems that during periods when christians were not being persecuted, they held religious services in the larger underground rooms, since christians had a special reverence for the dead who had been killed in the persecutions, the so-called martyrs. still, there are many christian symbols etched into the walls of the catacombs, like the fish, the anchor, and the chi-rho.


the catacomb we visited was named after st. sebastian, who is supposed to have been a roman soldier who converted to christianity and then refused to fight in war, so was executed by being shot with arrows. this 17th-century image of him is in the church built atop of the catacombs.

from the appian way, we continued south to campania and the second week of our trip.