Tomb Of The Scipios In Rome, Italy Editorial Image

Outside view of the Tomb of the Scipios, also called the hypogaeum Scipionum near the beginning of the Appian Way today Porta San Sebastiano in Rome, Italy. It was was the common tomb of the patrician Scipio family during the Roman Republic for interments between the early 3rd century BC and the early 1st century AD. The tomb stands under a hill by the side of the road behind a wall at numbers 9 and 12 Via di Porta San Sebastiano, where it can be visited by the public for a small admission fee. During the republic the tomb stood in a cemetery for notables and their families located just outside the city not far from where the Via Appia passed through the Servian Wall at the Porta Capena. In subsequent centuries new construction changed the landmarks of the vicinity entirely. The wall was expanded to become the Aurelian Wall through which the Porta Appia admitted the Via Appia. The cemetery was now inside the city. The Appian gate today is called the Porta San Sebastiano. The Via Appia at that location was renamed to the Via di Porta San Sebastiano. It passes through the Parco degli Scipioni where the cemetery once was located.