The Grave Road: Rome's Fear of Being Forgotten

 Images: A Roman pottery kiln in Mainz used for making funerary offerings. The image of the ditch depicts a depression that was used for water in cremation and pottery services. Another image depicts a Roman kiln, and an information board that shows what some of the Roman grave monuments looked like.

The stories we leave behind are etched not only in memory but also in stone. For the ancient Romans, the desire to be remembered was a powerful cultural force that literally shaped the landscape of their cities. In Mogontiacum, the Roman city that would one day become Mainz, Germany, this belief created a remarkable and poignant landmark: the Grave Road. This is a deeper look into the history behind the graves like the one where I met Ignatius, and the powerful beliefs that placed them there.

Mainz was founded as a military base of operations on the Rhine for Rome's Germanic campaigns in the second decade BC. Above the marshy Uterzone, southwest of today's old town, opposite the mouth of the Main, a 36-hectare camp was built, strategically located to house two legions. From here, an advance route led through the lower Main valley and the Wetterau into inner Germania. Another base opened up the landscapes south of the Main. On the same plateau, about 3.5 km upstream, a second camp was built above an old Rhine crossing, perhaps next to an existing local Celtic settlement, on the site of today's quarry.

A well-maintained gravel road and an unpaved track connected both military bases. The road served as a connecting route between the camps and a long-distance route along the Rhine southward, making it one of the main traffic routes in early Mainz. Individual pottery workshops quickly settled along it, and it was soon lined with loose graves. Gradually, a grave road developed, equipped with representative burial areas, where burials continued until the 4th century. The burial of the dead outside of residential areas along busy arterial roads was in keeping with Roman custom and was explained by the desire not to be forgotten. (Sounds like our friend Ignatius, doesn't it? That cultural belief was maintained well beyond death.) The purpose was to draw passersby's attention to the graves and commemorate the deceased. Therefore, efforts were made to position the burial site as close to the road as possible.

Burials were carried out on both sides of the road and extended over 2.5 km in length. Around 1 km of the route was occupied by enclosures highlighted by brick fences and monuments, which were built on the southern side of the road from the 40s AD until the 2nd century. The enclosures were located, sometimes in close rows, facing the road. In addition to smaller areas with gravestones embedded in the front, there were larger enclosures with an additional, central tombstone several meters high and a sculptural representation of the deceased. The corresponding burials were located within the enclosure, which either enclosed a family grave or simply housed a single grave. Other graves were marked by freestanding stone gravestones or in ways no longer recognizable today.

The models for these enclosures originated beyond the Alps. They were conveyed by soldiers recruited in northern Italy and the stonemasons who followed in their entourage. By the middle of the 1st century, an independent local sculptural style had already developed, and the form of grave monuments had undergone further development. No other Mainz burial ground boasted a comparably rich array of grave architecture. People of diverse origins and social status, both military personnel and civilians, were buried here and had a tomb erected according to their financial circumstances. As a heavily frequented traffic artery, the connecting route between the military camps and the southern Rhine crossing was particularly well-suited to pursuing self-expression beyond death through representative graves. The proximity to Mainz's most famous memorial, the memorial tomb of Drusus in what is now the citadel, further enhanced the significance of this road.

The graves from the 1st/2nd century and predominantly from the 3rd century contained cremations, with the exception of infants, who were buried in the body, and in special cases also adults. Cremation was usually carried out away from the graves, often behind the enclosure walls. The size of the pyre and the lavishness of the cremated goods also offered an opportunity to demonstrate wealth and social status. A second, intact set of goods was placed in the grave along with the cremated remains and sometimes also with the fire debris. The inventory of grave goods was an expression of care for the dead, but also of the concept of the afterlife, and varied considerably depending on the population's origin. Rich inventories of tableware had their roots in Celtic tradition and were unusual in Roman grave goods customs, which were dominated by oil lamps, coins, or balsamic tinctures.

During the course of the 2nd century, numerous potteries were established along the parallel street, close to today's Göttelmannstraße, and at the same time, the focus of settlement shifted from the quarry area to this location. At this time, the Grave Road declined in splendor. Older tombs were dismantled and reused for later burials; instead of building new enclosures, open spaces were walled up and reinterments were made in large complexes. A shift toward greater uniformity had also taken place in the grave goods. By the late 3rd century, the shift to inhumation became more prevalent, accompanied by a further change in the composition of the grave goods. Apparently, large sections of the Grave Road were plundered for building materials as late as the 4th century.