Ancient tomb tied to Roman gladiator discovered by archaeologists

Italian archaeologists recently unearthed ancient Roman tombs during the excavation of a necropolis - including one bearing the epitaph of a gladiator.

The discovery was announced by the Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape (ABAP) Superintendence for the Metropolitan Area of Naples on March 21. 

In a statement translated from Italian to English, officials said that the dig took place in Liternum, an ancient town near the city of Giugliano in Campania.

The excavation site was used as a necropolis from roughly the first century B.C. to the third century A.D. 

Italian officials highlighted two funerary enclosures that still contained fragments of white cladding plaster "with a more recent decoration phase in red, separated by a closed space, and a very deep masonry well," the press release said.

Italian officials said the discovery offered "precious information on daily life, the ritual practices and social dynamics of the communities that inhabited the site."

"Among the most relevant findings, several marble funerary inscriptions stand out, some of which are intact, [including] one bearing the epitaph of a gladiator, [which is] a precious document for understanding the role and memory of these fighters in Roman society," the press release added.

ABAP officials said that the recent discoveries will help historians develop a "better understanding of the physiognomy of the ancient landscape and the urban perimeter of the colony, of which very little is known yet."

"[This will lead] us to propose new hypotheses also with respect to the route of the ancient Via Domitiana, on the sides of which such burials were to be placed," the release said.

A 1,600-year-old Jewish bath was recently uncovered in the Italian province of Lazio, making it the oldest of its kind in Europe.

Around the same time, a 2,000-year-old Roman road was discovered in the heart of London.