columbarium

Roman sepulchral chamber. Columbaria were so called because they resembled large dovecotes. They were usually rectangular structures built around open courtyards and lined with niches in which urns containing the ashes of cremated bodies were placed.

Particularly common under the early empire, columbaria were developed from the ancient Etruscan and republican Roman house tomb. They were commonly used for the ashes of the slaves and freedmen of great families, who built and maintained them at their own expense. Others belonged to funeral associations, which guaranteed their members honourable burial; and some were owned by speculators. Examples have been found on the Appian Way. Columbaria became obsolete in the reign of Hadrian (AD 117-38) when burial gradually superseded cremation.