This content was created by Avery Freeman.

This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

The Digital Piranesi

Pyramid of Caius Cestius

This page has annotations:

This page is referenced by:

View of the Tomb of Caius Cestius Architecture (Ancient) Exterior View Vedute Vedute di Roma Ruins Pyramid Gate; Text under the image Two pages Horizontal Orientation; Exterior Pyramid Gate Wall Porta San Paolo Aurelian Walls; Tuff Travertine; Brick-faced concrete; Exterior perspective; Axial perspective? ; Perspective, axial ; Exterior ; Human; Citizens; Citizen ; Tourists; Tourist; Beggars; Beggar ; Men (male humans); Trousers ; Breeches (trousers); Jackets (garments) Hat; Rags; Sitting Leaning; Mingling; Walking; Kneeling; Gesturing/Pointing; Shrubs; Sky; Rock (inorganic material); Trees
One of only two surviving pyramids in Rome, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius—here called, in Italian, the Sepulchre of Cajo Cestio—was built c. 18-12 BCE for Gaius Cestius Epulo. The subject of three views (in Views of Rome and Antichità Romane, v. 3) and a few architectural studies (including a bird’s eye view and a cut-away view in Antichità Romane, v. 3), the pyramid of Caius Cestius held an “obsessive attraction” for Piranesi (Wilton-Ely 1988, 33). It appears in this veduta as one element among many. The ground, built up over centuries, ascends from the base of the pyramid to the Wall of Rome that Piranesi notes in the key. Trees to the left and right emphasize the pyramid’s natural setting. This is the first of the large vedute devoted to this monument, completed in 1755, and it forms a notable contrast with the second, completed in the following year. This image emphasizes the function rather than the shape of the monument: the title casts the image as a view of the tomb [sepolcro]. Surrounded by diminished human figures that are engaged in speaking, gesturing, and, in one case, apparent contemplation with downcast eyes, the pyramid is spotted with delicate foliage in this rendering. Dwarfed by the height of the image, the pyramid—which is in fact rather small—appears enlarged by the small human figures. The monument’s inscriptions are sketchy and incomplete. The upper inscription, which appears on both the pyramid’s east and west sides, reads “C CESTIUS L F POB EPULO PR TR PL VII VIR EPULONUM” [Gaius Cestius Epulo, son of Lucius, of the Poblilian district, chief magistrate, tribune of the people, one of seven priests in charge of public banquets in honor of Jupiter and other religious festivals]. The lower inscription, only on the east side, is legible on the left but does not include the date, on the right: “INSTAVRATVM AN DOMINI MD CLXIII” [Restored in 1663]. During these restorations, by Pope Alexander VII, the two columns, noted in Piranesi’s key to the following image, were discovered and placed in their original locations. What this image might lack in the historical details of archaeological reconstruction, the following image makes up for in its detailed key, which is placed inside its visual frame. (JB)

To see this image in Vedute di Roma, vol 17 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.
Pyramid of Caius Cestius In this view, titled “Piramide de C. Cestio,” a seemingly massive structure, lengthened by a low vantage point, fills the full height of the image. Piranesi indicates the elevated ground level of the city, with its ancient level revealed at the base of the monument. The succinct numerical key describes this excavated earth as “Terreno sgombrato” (1) and then names the product of the excavation as “sgombro” (3). Twice using a form of the archaeological term “sgombrare,” Piranesi lends an additional layer of antiquarianism to his description of the discovery of the two columns, which have, as the key further explains, been restored to their original positions at the pyramid’s corners (3). Absorbed by the wall of the ancient city (4), which is indicated by numbered captions to its left and right, the pyramid marks the boundary of Rome. Piranesi’s etching techniques also emphasize a boundary between nature and culture, with the dramatic, erratic chiaroscuro of the trees and foliage on the right sharply contrasting with the gentle, linear shading and slight plant growth on the surface of the pyramid. The dramatic shading extends to the expansive banderol that serves as the image caption, in front of which a gesturing figure seems to recline. The prominence of this human figure, and particularly his pointing index finger, summons a consideration of the relationship that Piranesi persistently reimagines between word and image.

This figure is set off against the white of the banderol and at least twice the size of the men who surround the pyramid’s door, which the first annotation explains was opened during the excavations under Alexander VII. While John Wilton-Ely has argued that this key’s appearance “serves to minimalize human identity in the gesturing figure placed in front of it” (1978, 37), the key and the reclining man are also equalized in their shared act of gesturing. A man who points with his finger reclines in front of and in fact interrupts a key that itself points, with annotations, to the monument, the surrounding wall, and the excavated earth. In this doubling of pointing gestures that are bodily and verbal, the immensity of the pyramid combines with the specificity of the key’s contents—both the pyramid’s physical features and its built environment, details of archaeological rediscovery and restoration. Jeanne Zarucchi has called attention to Piranesi’s titles, observing that his “vedute” and “altre vedute” of certain monuments often suggest different visual and cultural perspectives of the same structure. Perhaps the title of this image, one of a few not to include the word “veduta,” extends from its emphatic gestures so as to suggest a near equivalence with the monument itself. (JB, ZL)

To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 17 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.