„Dwellings of the dead” is nearly a synonym for burial chambers of the imperial period that does not arise from poetical imagination alone, but seems to be corroborated by archeological findings. In the present study it is for the first time that all the preserved or otherwise documented interior decoration of the sepulchral chambers in the urban area of Rome is coherently presented, analysed, and illustated by numerous photographs quite often not published before. Although the focus is on the decorative elements that were fixed inside the sepulchral cambers (paintings, mosaics, stucco-works), the overall-perspective is essentially context-related: funeral decoration is examined exclusively in its original, formative and conditioning connections. Of particular importance are the architectonic aspect and epigraphic evidence, not only when it comes to examining the single tombs, but also in trying to find a solution to the following paramout questions: What did interior decoration in tombs of the imperial period look like? Who commissioned it? How did the fixed funeral decoration develop in comparison to mobile funeral decoration develop in comparison to mobile funeral ornaments? How ‘sepulchrally’ were the tombs decorated?