Archaeologists discover friends of Caesars inside Vatican City

Marble funerary shrine with the four-year old child Tiberius Natronius Venustus.

(photo credit: VATICAN MUSEUM)

So far, 250 magnificent burials of the Roman elite have been unearthed inside the walls of the Vatican City.

New burials discovered inside the Roman necropolis of Santa Rosa, standing under what is now Vatican City, have shed light on burials that housed the servants and slaves of the Roman Caesars.

So far, 250 magnificent burials of the Roman elite, servants and freed slaves from the Julio-Claudian era to the times of Emperor Constantin have been unearthed inside the walls of the Vatican City, revealing the life of the rich and poor in Rome.

The Roman necropolis stood on the current hill of the Vatican along the ancient Via Triumphalis. Until now, only a small area of about 1,000 square meters has been investigated by archaeologists.

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