Sepolchre of Emperess Priscilla

Opposite the “Domine quo Vadis ?” church, at the crossroads between the via Appia and the via Ardeatina, stands the sepulchre that is thought Tito Flavio Abascanto, influential liberto of the emperor Domitianus, had built for his wife Priscilla, who died young and whose funeral is described by the poet Statius (Silvae,V,1).

The base of the sepulchre is quadrangular, it was originally covered in blocks of travertino stone and contains a burial chamber set out as a Greek cross in which the sarcofagi were placed and upon which a cylindrical structure with thirteen niches rests. The entrance to the tomb was from the side opposite the via Appia: the original access is occluded by an early twentieth century farm house, where cheese was made until a few decades ago. In late mediaeval times a watch tower made of re-used brick and pieces of marble was added to the sepulchre