Il mausoleo imperiale della “Villa dei Gordiani”, tra memoria e oblio

The contribution aims at analyze the monumental mausoleum of the so-called Villa dei Gordiani at the 3rd mile of the Via Prenestina. The building is part of the later phase of a suburban villa that was probably already in imperial ownership by the first century AD. Similarly, the tomb, despite its anonymity, certainly falls within the series of late-antique imperial mausoleums by sharing similar architectural and decorative features. The occasion of the start of the restoration work on the building allowed new considerations to be advanced on the chronology of the structure, based on the rereading of the brick stamps, and on the relationship with the adjacent basilica, which is also anonymous. Having determined the commission and based on the proposed chronology, new hypotheses were thus advanced on the attribution of the tomb and the reasons for its anonymity.