Necropolis of Herculaneum Gate – Regio VI, North-Western Suburb

The Necropolis of Herculaneum Gate extends along the road that left the city towards the north-west, now known as Via dei Sepolcri. The burial ground was in use from Pompeii’s early phases, although most of the monuments visible today date to the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.

The necropolis is distinguished by the tombs of high-ranking individuals, probably reflecting its proximity to Regio VI, one of the main residential districts of Pompeii’s aristocracy.

Immediately outside the gate are distinctive schola tombs, formed by large semicircular stone benches. One belonged to Mamia, a public priestess whom the city granted a burial plot free of charge.

Another of the best-known monuments is the tomb of Naevoleia Tyche and Caius Munatius Faustus. Its reliefs depict symbols of the public honours awarded to the deceased and a ship entering harbour, an image probably connected with the family’s commercial activities.

Further along the road, tombs increasingly alternated with residential and production buildings, marking the transition from the city to the suburb of large villas, including the Villa of Diomedes and, further away, the Villa of the Mysteries.