Situated outside the city walls of Pompeii between circa 80 BCE and 79 CE, the necropolis is the largest known burial area of the town. Along the Via dei Sepolcri, dozens of tombs line both sides of the road leading toward Herculaneum, erected by private individuals or awarded by the municipality. Common architectural types include aediculae, exedrae and altar‑tombs built on podiums. Monumental tombs provided benches or public seating for mourners.

circa 150 BCE

From the town’s founding around 80 BCE until its catastrophic destruction by Vesuvius in August 79 CE, the necropolis served both cremation and inhumation burials. Earlier Samnite burials have also been uncovered, including one intact 4th‑century BCE skeleton with grave goods. The site suffered damage later from urban developments, looting, volcanic destruction and Allied bombing in World War II, but excavation has revealed a complex cemetery landscape spanning the Republican and Early Imperial periods.

circa 50 BCE

The Via dei Sepolcri, or Street of Tombs, runs adjacent to the Porta Ercolano gate serving as the necropolis’s spine. In Roman custom tombs had to remain outside the sacred pomerium; thus burials clustered along this main highway outside the gate. Those interred here ranged from freedmen and local officials to wealthy merchants, who chose burial plots visible to all entering or leaving the city toward Herculaneum.

circa 50 BCE

Unfinished Altar Tomb
HGW16

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of Gaius Calventius Quietus
HGW20
The Tomb of Gaius Calventius Quietus, sitated on the west side of the Via dei Sepolcri outside Porta Ercolano, is a monumental cenotaph that exemplifies the altar‑tomb typology common to prominent funerary monuments in Pompeii’s necropolis. Located on the western flank of the Street of Tombs, this masonry structure occupies a prominent position among elite monuments. Architecturally, it follows the same multi‑stepped platform and house‑shaped altar design seen in the neighboring Tomb of Naevoleia Tyche, with comparable base dimensions of approximately 3.83 m by 3.53 m. Though now roofless and inaccessible to the public, it was once adorned with inscriptions honoring Quietus’s membership in the Brotherhood of Augustus and his elevated civic standing. The monument likely served as both a funerary marker and a public display—visible to those departing the city toward Herculaneum—emphasizing the distinguished social position of the deceased within Pompeian municipal life.

circa 50 BCE

Unknown Tomb
HGE09
The unknown tomb with a hemicycle (niche) or public seating structure. The tomb or structure is a semi-circular exedra-style monument constructed in opus incertum, located on the west side of the Via dei Sepolcri in the necropolis of Porta Ercolano. It features a curved stone bench (sedile) built into its façade, inviting public interaction and commemorative use. The masonry is rough yet solid, and the back wall behind the seat bears traces of a central niche, likely once housing a statue or inscription. The architectural form reflects the Roman practice of integrating commemorative spaces with the civic life of the living, turning the tomb into a site of memory as well as repose. No inscription survives, but the structure aligns with the tradition of tombs granted by decree to individuals of distinction, such as priestesses or civic benefactors. The placement along a major roadway ensured visibility and permanence in public memory.

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus
HGW17

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of the Blue Glass Vase
HGE08
The Tomb of the Blue Glass Vase (tomb on the northern—side of the Via  dei  Sepolcri, west of Porta Ercolano) is named for a distinctive clear blue glass cinerary urn discovered within the funerary chamber. Excavated in the presence of King Ferdinand I, the urn was found buried approximately 20 cm below the tomb floor, along with its matching lid and handles shaped like an “M”. The vessel was cremation urn for ashes and is now preserved in the Naples Archaeological Museum with inventory number 13521. The tomb appears integrated into the garden enclosure of the adjacent Villa of the Mosaic Columns, being the only tomb in the group to feature a rear door opening into the villa’s garden —a connection noted by archaeologists as evidence that the tomb and garden were part of the same funerary domain. Although little decoration remains on the simple exterior, its architectural position and the presence of such a fine glass urn suggest a funerary context reserved for an individual of elevated taste or moderate wealth in Pompeii’s civic landscape.

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of Naevoleia Tyche and Munatius Faustus
HGW22
The Tomb of Naevoleia Tyche and Caius Munatius Faustus (identified as HGW22 along the Via dei Sepolcri outside Porta Ercolano) is one of the most elaborate tombs in the necropolis, commissioned in life by Naevoleia Tyche, a freedwoman, to honor herself and her husband, Caius Munatius Faustus, a local magistrate and member of the Augustales. The eastern façade features a richly carved marble relief bordered with floral arabesques; above it appears the Latin inscription crediting Tyche with erecting the monument and noting that the city council, with public assent, granted Faustus the bisellium—an honorary double-seat—in recognition of his services. The relief panel presents two emblematic scenes: one depicts a ship in full sail, likely symbolizing commercial ventures or the voyage of life, and the other a civic banquet couch, attesting to Faustus’s public beneficence and Tyche’s ambition. Set within an enclosed funerary precinct accessible through a small entrance beside the pedestal, the interior contained multiple niches and benches for urns, including three glass urns in lead cases and terracotta vessels—the remains preserved with traces of wine, oil, and water, along with oil lamps used on anniversary rituals.

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of the Garlands
HGE06
The Tomb of the Garlands (Tomba delle ghirlande), located along the eastern side of the Via dei Sepolcri outside the Porta Ercolano, is a striking example of late Republican funerary architecture in Pompeii. It was originally a tall, canopy-topped monument constructed atop a cubic podium. Today, only the lower block survives, but its four sides still bear traces of sculpted festoons—floral garlands draped under a cornice—which give the tomb its modern name. These garlands, rendered in carved tufa or stucco, served both decorative and symbolic functions, evoking ritual offerings and the commemoration of the dead in Roman visual culture. The upper structure, now lost, likely consisted of a conical or domed roof supported by a circular colonnade, forming a kind of baldachin or canopy above the podium. The tomb is constructed from tufa blocks coated in white stucco, and is notable for its lack of an internal chamber, exedra, or bench—features that became common in later funerary monuments. This absence suggests that the cinerary urn may have been buried beneath the podium or housed in a now-missing underground cavity. No dedicatory inscription survives, leaving the identity of the interred unknown, though the scale and decoration imply a family of moderate status, seeking visibility and memory in a prominent funerary zone.

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of the Alleii
HGE37
The Tomb of the Allei, dedicated to Marcus Alleius Luccius Libella (the father) and Marcus Alleius Libella (the son), lies along the eastern side of the Via dei Sepolcri outside Porta Ercolano and dates to the early first century CE, under Emperor Tiberius. The structure is a well-crafted altar‑type monument constructed of travertine in opus incertum, rising to an estimated height of nearly 15 feet (approximately 4.5 metres).

This tomb sits on a raised podium and features classical mouldings and pilasters, giving it an appearance reminiscent of a miniature temple rather than a simple funerary box. Two large marble plaques—affixed to the west and east faces—bear identical inscriptions crediting Alleia Decimilla, daughter of Marcus, public priestess of Ceres, with funding and supervising construction of the monument on municipally assigned land. The inscriptions honour her husband’s roles as aedile, duumvir, and quinquennial prefect, and note their son’s premature death at age seventeen while serving as decurion. Notably, the tomb lacks an internal chamber or visible doorway, suggesting the ashes may have been interred in a separate location or buried beneath the solid altar.

circa 50 BCE

Tomb of Lucius Caltilius Pamphilus and Servilia
HGE34