A society’s way of treating its dead, which can be observed archaeologically in burial usages and customs concerning grave goods, allows important conclusions to be drawn with regard to its social structure and values. A colloquium dedicated to this subject was held at the DAI in 1998. At the same time the volume also gives an overview of the present status of research on the cemeteries of Rome, Ostia and Pozzuoli on the basis of new investigations and the results of excavations. Another point of interest to the colloquium consists of the question of which specific elements of the roman burial customs reached the northwestern provinces of the empire by way of the Po Valley and how this furthers our understanding of the problem of the process of Romanisation.