The  general  form  of  the  tombs  on  the  Appian  Wav
has  been  correctly  described  as  that  of  a  cylinder  or  a  trun-
cated cone,  with  a  cubic  base,  and  a  convex  top.  "  This
combination,"  says  Forsyth,  "  conveys  the  idea  of  a  funeral
pyre,  and  has  some  tendency  to  the  pyramid*,  the  figure
most  appropriate  to  a  tomb,  as  representing  the  earth
heaped  on  a  grave,  or  the  stones  piled  on  a  military
barrow."

Tomb  of  Cjecilia  Metella. — The  Roman  tombs
usually  consisted  of  a  vault,  in  which  the  urns  and  sarco-
phagi were  deposited,  with  a  chamber  above,  in  which
the  statues  or  effigies  of  the  dead  were  placed,  and  the
libations  and  obsequies  performed.  Some  were  places
of  family  interment,  others  solitary  tombs,  like  that  of


*  Though  the  tombs  on  the  Appian  Way  have  a  tendency  to  the
pyramidal  form,  yet  the  only  actual  instance  of  a  pyramid  at  Rome
is  the  tomb  of  Caius  Cestius,  close  to  the  Porta  S.  Paolo ;  where  it
forms  a  part  of  the  wall  itself — Aurelian  having  drawn  his  new
line  of  walls  so  as  to  cross  it.  The  height  of  it  is  121  feet;  the
width  at  the  base  96.  It  is  built  of  brick  cased  over  with  white
marble,  now  blackened  by  age.  In  the  interior  are  some  paintings
on  the  walls,  consisting  of  five  female  figures,  in  tolerable  preserva-
tion.
Nothing  is  known  of  this  Caius  Cestius  except  from  the  inscrip-
tion on  the  monument  itself,  which  informs  us  that  he  was  one  of
the  Epulones,  whose  business  it  was  to  prepare  the  Lectisternia,  or
banquets  for  the  gods,  on  occasion  of  any  public  calamity  or  rejoic-
ing.
