Bring Out Your Dead: Creepy Necropolis Uncovered in Rome

October 19, 2008 at 1:50 PM | by Victor Ozols | 1 Comment

Man, Italy gets all the cool history. As if Rome didn't have enough ancient wonders already, workers renovating a rugby stadium recently unearthed what appears to be a vast city of the dead. The collection of tombs mimics the layout of a city, an attempt, perhaps, to give the dearly departed all the luxuries afforded by the Roman empire at the time. While researchers are still figuring out what happened here, some evidence suggests that after several hundred years of people dying to get in during the Roman period, actual living people moved in to the necropolis during the Dark Ages. I guess urban real estate was tight even then.

News of the find was reported on Thursday by the Italian Culture Ministry, who also revealed the discovery of the tomb of general and police commissioner Marcus Nonius Macrinus, who served as the inspiration for Russel Crowe's character in the 2000 movie Gladiator. Very cool, but still, there's more. As CNN reports, archaeologists working on the imperial residences of Palatine Hill think they have found the passageway where the randy, godlike Caligula was allegedly assassinated by his own guards. Maybe they didn't like how he made his horse a priest.

With this explosion of new archaeological finds, visitors to Rome will have to add a day or two to their trip just to see everything.

[Photo: AP]

Related Stories:
· Rome Workers Uncover City of Dead [CNN.com]
· Found: Tomb of the General Who Inspired "Gladiator" [The Independent]
· Archaeological Tourism Coverage [Jaunted]

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