Against the prevailing view that we do not and cannot know much about senatorial burial customs after the Julio-Claudian period, this chapter demostrates that a contextual approach to a wide range of evidence results in a rich and remarkably consistent picture that is different in key aspects from sub‐elite preferences. The first order preferred temple tombs erected entirely of marble, which resembled the temples of the gods and imperial divi, and were strategically placed at the entrances to their villas. For the decoration of tomb interiors and their containers of ashes and bones, they opted for monumentality and simplicity rather than busy ornamentation. The messages conveyed through inscriptions and image decoration predominantly revolved around public offices, virtues and values that are known from, and were inspired by, imperial precedent, and that demonstrated the family’s superiority in the public and semi‐public realms. Rather than being places of retreat, after private individuals were largely banned from promoting themselves in the city's public spaces, elite mausolea became prime locations for advertising all that added prestige and status to the family concerned.