Through a study of tombs and burial customs in Rome and its surroundings, this volume demonstrates that the third century was an exciting period of experimentation and creativity, and that ambition continued to be a driving force in all social classes, who paved the way for the new system of late antiquity. This ambitious and daring monograph on a deserving subject is likely to stimulate discussion among specialists in Roman funerary culture and imperial history, but it also provides a welcome synthesis for graduate students and scholars who look for an immersion in the funerary monuments and artistic conventions of the time period.