The Roman antiquities, t. 3, Plate XXIV. More insight into the burial chambers above (Drawing by Antonio Buonamici, inc. By Girolamo Rossi). 

This print, made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, depicts the burial chambers of the servants of the family of Augustus. Piranesi was an artist working in 18th century Italy, at a time when there was a renewed European interest in classical antiquity. His prints of Roman ruins fed a market of wealthy Europeans who were touring Italy in search of the origins of western culture. But these prints were not just documentation. Piranesi was fascinated by the social life of ancient Rome, and by the relation between its physical remains and its history. In this print, he painstakingly reconstructed the architecture of the burial chamber, but he also imagined the lives of the people who were buried there. He emphasizes the contrast between the grandeur of Roman architecture, and the grim realities of social hierarchy and servitude. The historian can use sources such as guidebooks and travel journals to learn more about the cultural context in which Piranesi was working, and to understand the complex relationship between art, history, and social life.