In the early years of the Augustinian age, M. Virgilio Eurisace had a tomb erected for himself and his wife in the narrow space between via Prenestina and via Labicana, straight after the street forked.
The man was a rich freedman and a baker contracted by the state, as can be seen on his epigraph. According to a relatively common practice of the period, he asked for the tomb to be designed with the type of architecture related to his profession.
At the base made of tuff, a double structure is built in Travertine: the lower level has alternating pilasters and parts having a semi-circular form. These probably represent three dough-mixers, one on top of the other. The upper level is a smooth wall interspersed by cavities which presumably portray those same mixers seen in the lower area. They are placed horizontally, so that they don’t seem real, but portray what was below.
The outside section shows the epigraph to his wife Atistia and the sepulchral stele, portraying both of them, now at the Musei Capitolini.
The frieze with figures, only partially preserved, shows the various steps of bread baking and their sale to the state officers. Following the construction of the Mure Aureliane, the tomb was enclosed in a tower. Consequently, it had to be demolished on the eastern side, mostly the upper level.
The structure was brought to light in 1838, during the excavation works for Porta Maggiore.
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Rione XV - Esquilino
Regio V - Esquiliae
Porta Maggiore |  |
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