Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker

An unusual tomb of the late 1st century BC next to the Porta Maggiore at the junction of Via Praenestina and Via Labicana. The builder Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces was a freed slave turned wealthy bread contractor who used the tomb to monumentalise his own and his wife Atistias success. The round openings in the facade probably represent dough kneading machines or grain measures, and a frieze above shows scenes of bread production from grain measuring to baking. The tomb was only uncovered in 1838 when Pope Gregory XVI had medieval towers around the Porta Maggiore demolished. It documents the self-confidence of the freedman class in Rome who made money and built status monuments outside the senatorial aristocracy. Today it stands freely accessible, circled by trams and commuters — ancient economic history on a traffic island.