GNEISS SLAB TOMB, C4. PALAEOCHRISTIAN CEMETERY, S. EUSTORGIO, MILAN The early Christian basilica of the Three Magi, now called S. Eustorgio, was built by order of Constantius II in 344 CE just outside the walls of the imperial capital of Mediolanum. But even before its construction, its site had been used for about a century as a Christian graveyard, and excavations under the basilica in 1959-1961 brought this cemetery to light. All the burials were inhumations, not meant to be seen or admired aboveground. This one is a sarcophagus made of slabs of gneiss, and coins of Constantius II and his successor Julian were found in it. It's also aligned with the basilica, so we must conclude that it was a burial within it, or at least under it. Earlier tombs in the cemetery were made in the "capuchin" style, with terracotta roof slabs making a pitched roof over the interment, while children were buried in amphorae which had part of the pottery curve cut out to put the little body in, before the makeshift lid was put back on. The plainness and poverty of these burials is striking: only two have their inhabitants named, one a man named Hilarus from Macedon, and a near-centenarian woman called Varicia Asteria.

Wouldn't it be gneiss if we were buried / in a box of rock that lasts so long? #SarcophagusSaturday takes us to the #palaeochristian #cemetery of the Trium Magorum in #Milan, now the basilica of #SantEustorgio, where the #burials ignore centuries of #Roman #sarcophagus tradition. #AncientBluesky 🏺