Vertical Section of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius

This architectural study of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius appeared in Le Antichità Romane, a work that Piranesi intended as a rigorous archaeological treatise. In the third volume of this grandiose publication, Piranesi addressed the tombs and funerary monuments of ancient Rome. This print appears in a series of nine images focused on the pyramid, which was built in the late 1st century BC as a tomb for Caius Cestius. A veduta begins the series, followed by prints that represent other aspects of the
structure, including its plan, the Latin inscription carved into its surface, architectural fragments found near the pyramid,
and the interior tomb chamber.

Piranesi developed many innovative ways to portray architecture, as can be seen in this section, or slice, imagined through the masonry of the pyramid that reveals the small tomb chamber within. He grants the viewer a closer look at this chamber and its decoration on the illusionistic paper that appears to be pinned to the sky behind the pyramid, the top right corner curling inward. The urban context of the tomb is illustrated by a view of the Aurelian fortifications behind it at the lower right. The lengthy caption below labels various parts of the pyramid structure, noting the materials used in its construction and findings from the restoration campaign sponsored by Pope Alexander VII in the preceding century.