Latin epitaph for a woman, saying that she ‘will live with (unnamed) saints.’ Found in the 'crypt of Saint Cornelius,' at the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia (Rome). Probably third quarter of the 3rd c.
Evidence ID
E04645
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
[Pri]vata,
[vi]bes (hammer)
[cum sa]nctis
2-3. [vi]bes | [cum sa]nctis de Rossi, Ferrua, [- - - bi]bes | [inter sa]nctis Diehl
'Privata, you will live with saints!'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9433.
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Burial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Source
Right-hand fragment of a marble plaque. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.24 m; W. 0.45 m; Th. 0.02 m. Letter height 0.035 m.Found in the debris in cubiculum X by Giovanni Battista de Rossi. First published by de Rossi in 1864. Republished by Ernst Diehl, based on de Rossi's edition in 1927. Republished by Antonio Ferrua in 1964.
Discussion
The inscription is an epitaph for an ordinary woman. The saints mentioned in line 3 are probably the general community of all the redeemed Christians rather than any specific saints or martyrs. The inscription may, however, but certainly not necessarily, refer to the closeness of martyrs' burials.Dating: The inscription is dated to the late 3rd c. by Antonio Felle in the EDB. The formula used in the inscription is characteristic of early Christian epitaphs, and the late 3rd c. date is in concordance with the archaeological context.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB20283, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/20283
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 4: Coemeteria inter Vias Appiam et Ardeatinam (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1964), no. 9433 and Tab. IX e5.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 2 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1927), comments on no. 3356B.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 1 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1864), 324 and Tav. XXIII 5.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
19/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain |
|---|
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