Egypt in the wall
A true pyramid fused into Rome's walls โ an era's mania preserved.
Livioandronico2013 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Chabe01 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Livioandronico2013 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Livioandronico2013 โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Pure imperial fashion: Egypt fell (30 BC) and Rome was swept by its obelisks, gods and styles โ the rich competing in Egyptian tombs. Cestius's inscription records office, will and the 330 building days โ silent on the shape's why: his era's obviousness needed no note. Rome's other pyramids went to the quarries โ the wall's prisoner survived.
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Rome holds a genuine Egyptian pyramid: the rich magistrate Gaius Cestius built it as his tomb (c. 12 BC) at the peak of Rome's Egypt mania after Cleopatra's kingdom was annexed โ thirty-six metres of concrete sheathed in white marble at an angle sharper than Giza's, finished in 330 days as its inscription boasts โ then saved from the quarrymen's fate by absorption into the Aurelian wall, leaving it nearly Rome's most complete ancient building. Its rear neighbour outshines it among the knowing: the Non-Catholic Cemetery โ "the world's most beautiful burial ground" of cypress and cats โ where Shelley's heart rests, Keats lies nameless ("whose name was writ in water") and Gramsci too: a romantic contemplation garden on token donation, worth its half hour. The pyramid shows whole from street and square โ its interior on rare bookable tours.
A true pyramid fused into Rome's walls โ an era's mania preserved.
Keats and Shelley amid cypress and cats โ the loveliest garden of rest.
Piazzale Ostiense, 00153 Rome