From the tombs into the city: Grave robbing and the reuse of funerary spolia in late antique Italy

Abstract

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that funerary spolia (e.g. sarcophagus lids, funerary altars, epitaphs, reliefs and statues) were frequently reused to decorate the interiors of public and private buildings from the third to the sixth century. Therefore, the marble revetments of high imperial tombs must have been spoliated. Imperial edicts, which tried to stamp out the overly common practice of tomb plundering, confirm that the social practice of tomb plundering must have been far more frequent in late antiquity than in previous periods. This paper discusses the reuse of funerary spolia in private and public buildings from Latium and Campania and contextualises them by examining legal sources addressing tomb violation. Furthermore, this study considers the extent to which the social practice of tomb plundering and the reuse of funerary material in late antiquity can be connected with larger urbanistic, sociohistorical, and political transformations of Italian cityscapes from the third to the sixth century.