The Third-Century Mausoleum ('Hypogaeum') of the Aurelii in Pagan or Mixed-Religion Collegium Tomb

This dissertation reconsiders one of the most extensively decorated but poorly understood private funerary monuments to survive from the third century in Rome: the Mausoleum of the Aurelii (usually, but incorrectly, called the Hypogaeum of the Aurelii). For more than half a century after its discovery near the Viale Manzoni in 1919, most scholars believed this tomb to be Gnostic; more recently, studies have assigned the monument either to a pagan household or to a newly converted Christian family. In all cases, the literature has concentrated on the highly idiosyncratic iconography of the paintings. The present study relies on not only the frescoes but also two largely neglected pieces of evidence: the single original inscription in the sepulcher, in which one Aurelius Felicissimus commemorates three fratres et colliberti with the same nomen as his, and the design of the mausoleum itself, particularly the number and disposition of the burials. Based on this evidence, the author argues that the patrons of the tomb may have been members of a small club, or collegium, formed among the freedmen of a non-imperial master named Aurelius. The dissertation makes use of the textual and archaeological record to suggest that Christians could occasionally belong to collegia. To elucidate the religion or religions of the patrons, the study turns to the paintings, proposing a new reading of the imagery. The author submits that the frescoes are most readily explained in terms of pagan belief, with the exception of one possible sign of Christian influence, the depiction of the afterlife in urban terms. According to the interpretation proposed here, the paintings celebrate the closeness of the fratres Aurelii, possibly as fellow club members, both in this life and beyond the grave.