Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella and the Castrum Caetani historical timeline

A consul's daughter given a drum of travertine on the Appia under Augustus, and a family of medieval barons who turned it into the keep of their castle.

Chronology

1. 30–10 BC — the tomb is built during the principate of Augustus for the noblewoman Cecilia Metella, as the great funerary inscription walled into the upper part records.
2. Augustan period — Cecilia, daughter of the Roman consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus, was probably also the daughter-in-law of Licinius Crassus, member of the first triumvirate together with Caesar and Pompey; the wealth and prestige of the family explain the dominant position of the mausoleum and its monumentality.
3. Later centuries — the bucrania of the frieze give the locality the name "Capo di Bove".
4. Early 14th century — the mausoleum is incorporated into the castle built by the Caetani family, the Castrum Caetani, and transformed into the main tower of their fortification; the church of San Nicola a Capo di Bove forms part of the same complex.
5. Today — the residential part of the fortification, with its crenellated walls and fine mullioned windows, houses the "Museo dell'Appia", a collection of statues, sarcophagi, inscriptions and reliefs from the funerary monuments that faced onto the road; of San Nicola the external structure with the apse survives, the only testimony of Cistercian Gothic architecture here.

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