Pyramid of Cestius

The Pyramid of Cestius (Italian: Piramide Cestia) is a landmark in Rome. In the early 16th century, it concealed the entrance to a Lair of Romulus located within the Catacombs of Rome.

History[edit | edit source]

The pyramid was built between 18 and 12 BCE for Caius Cestius, a Roman magistrate and member of the religious corporation known as Septemviri Epulonum, which was in charge of creating religious feasts for the gods and distributing bounty during parties.^[1] The pyramid was of brick-faced concrete, covered with slabs of white marble standing on a travertine foundation, measuring 100 Roman feet (29.6 m) square at the base and standing 125 Roman feet (37 m) high.^[2]

It was also built into the bulwark, forming a triangular bastion in an effort to cut costs on the snowballing wall project between 271 and 275, during the construction of the Aurelian Walls. The faces of the pyramid were far steeper than its Egyptian ancestors, due to erroneous sketches of the Egyptian pyramids, which acted as the chief reference for its construction.^[1]