Tour through the Late-antiquity Burial Ground of St Maximin

There’s one thing the early Christians of the late antiquity really can’t be accused of: Not properly utilising the space available to them. Those who enter the burial ground under the former St Maximin’s Abbey will be amazed at how closely the stone sarcophaguses are stacked next to, behind and, particularly, on top of one another. But the closer you were to the saint, the closer you were to salvation: In the 4th century, anyone who died and had themselves buried here outside the northern city wall was not only doing so to fulfil the Roman Law of the Twelve Tables, which forbade burials within the city boundaries; they were also doing it to rest as close as possible to the saints, especially Bishop Maximin. After all, this could only be beneficial to them on Judgement Day.