Each corpse was wrapped in a sheet before being placed in the tomb, which often contained two or more members of the same family. The name of the deceased was painted or sculpted on the brick or marble slab serving as its door, together with other information, usually the day and month of death. Small terracotta lamps and vases for perfume were often placed above the tomb, like the lights and flowers in cemeteries today. Rectangular burial niches in the Catacomb of St Priscilla, Rome The somber galleries lit by the dancing lamp flames must have made an impressive sight. See at right the rectangular burial niches in the Catacomb of St Priscilla, Rome. The simplest were the loculi, rectangular cavities dug one above the other in the tufa walls.
