Where were the Roman Emperors buried?

• The Roman Emperors were cremated and their ashes placed in Golden Urns put in niches in dedicated Mausoleums in Rome, Italy.

• Mausoleum of Augustus
  • Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, Nerva (last to be buried there)
  • In 410 CE during the Sack of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths, the Mausoleum was desecrated and the ashes permanently scattered.
• Mausoleum of Hadrian Castel San Angelo
  • Julius Caesar, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus, Marcus Aurelius, Caracalla, Commodus
  • In 410 CE during the Sack of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths, this Mausoleum was also desecrated and the ashes permanently scattered.
• Mausoleum of Diocletian
  • Diocletian‘s ashes are buried in his Mausoleum which forms part of the Cathedral of St. Domnius, inside Diocletian's Palace in Split, Croatia.
• Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi
  • Nero‘s ashes were removed by Pope Paschal II from his family’s Mausoleum on the Pincian Hill in Rome during the 12th century CE.
  • A myth arose that they had been moved to the Tomb of Publius Vibius Marianus, but this has been disproved.
• Trajan's Column
  • Trajan‘s ashes lie under the base of his Column in Rome.
• Church of the Holy Apostles Istanbul (no longer extant)
  • The Church was built by Constantine I between 330-337 CE, and was the second most important church after the Hagia Sophia. The Church was destroyed in 1462 CE and no vestiges remain.
  • It was the Mausoleum for the Eastern Roman Emperors of the Byzantine Empire starting with Constantine I, in 337 CE until 1056 CE with Theodora, after which there was no more space. The Emperors were placed in Porphyry Sarcophagi.
  • Seven of the Porphyry Sarcophagi are located in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.

Rome