Marble
University of Notre Dame
Loading navigation...

Tomb of Caecilia Metella: Overall view, showing fortifications

Date

Circa 1910

Location

Architecture Library, Hesburgh Libraries

Caecilia Metella , or Caecilia Metella Cretica (fl. 69 BC) was daughter of the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, who was consul 69 BC, and a daughter-in-law of Crassus. The tomb is of the type having a cylindrical body set on a square base. This cylinder, faced with travertine marble and crowned with a marble frieze in relief with festoons between bucranes, is 11 metres high and 29.5 metres in diameter. In 1302 the Caetani family incorporated the tomb in their castle (Castrum Caetani) which they equipped with battlements. The fortifications, stretching along both sides of the Via Appia, defended the strategic approach to the city.

Cite This
Caecilia Metella , or Caecilia Metella Cretica (fl. 69 BC) was daughter of the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, who was consul 69 BC, and a daughter-in-law of Crassus. The tomb is of the type having a cylindrical body set on a square base. This cylinder, faced with travertine marble and crowned with a marble frieze in relief with festoons between bucranes, is 11 metres high and 29.5 metres in diameter. In 1302 the Caetani family incorporated the tomb in their castle (Castrum Caetani) which they equipped with battlements. The fortifications, stretching along both sides of the Via Appia, defended the strategic approach to the city.
Open external viewer application
G. Massiot & cie
Circa 1910
photographs
https://curate.nd.edu/show/9w03223095h

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Architecture Library, Hesburgh Libraries at asklib@nd.edu.

Also from

Architectural Lantern Slides of Italy