Life and Death at a Port in Roman Greece: The Kenchreai Cemetery Project, 2002?2006

Abstract

This article summarizes the goals, methods, and discoveries of the Kenchreai Cemetery Project (2002-2006), an interdisciplinary study of burial grounds at the eastern port of Corinth during the Roman Empire, from the mid-1st to 7th century A.D. Work has concentrated on the main cemetery of cist graves and chamber tombs immediately north of the harbor on the Koutsongila ridge. The contextual study of the geology, topography, architecture, epitaphs, bones, wall painting, and artifacts has illuminated funerary ritual and its relationship to social structure during the early Empire. These burials attest to a diverse and prosperous community with a distinct elite stratum.