Very fragmentary Latin inscription in Philocalian script, with probable remnants of a poem. Argued by de Rossi to have commemorated a refurbishment of the crypt of *Cornelius (bishop and martyr of Rome, S00172) by pope Siricus. Found in the 'crypt of Saint Cornelius' at the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia (Rome). Arguably 384/399.
Evidence ID
E04649
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Literary - Poems
The text, as presented by Antonio Ferrua:
S[---]
[---]
MA[---]
pia [membra re]tentat
'[- - -] holds the holy [limbs].'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9369.
The text, as tentatively restored by Giovanni Battista de Rossi:
S[iricius perfecit opus]
conclusit et arcam
ma[rmore Corneli quoniam]
pia [membra re]tentat.
'S[iricius carried out this work and closed the crypt (arca) of Cornelius with marble, as] it holds the holy [limbs].'
Text: de Rossi 1864, 293.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Cult Related Objects
Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Merchants and artisans
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Cult Related ObjectsInscription
Source
Fragments of a marble plaque preserving a handful of letters. High quality lettering, Philocalian script. Found by de Rossi in 1852 in the crypt of Cornelius.Discussion
The fragments are believed to have once belonged to a commemorative plaque with a Damasan poem, or a work imitating Damasan poetry. Both the physical appearance of the letters, and the last verse, plausibly restored, which resembles classic Damasan phrases, support this identification.Giovanni Battista de Rossi, the finder and first editor of the fragments, hesitated between several entirely hypothetical restorations. Eventually, he favoured the version which we present here. Although it is no more plausible that the others, some scholars do not entirely reject it (see Trout 2015, 120). According to this interpretation, the poem, composed in two hexameter verses, may have commemorated a refurbishment of the crypt of Cornelius by pope Siricius (384-399), successor of pope Damasus credited with a major rebuilding of the crypt (see E04648). We find this extremely doubtful.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB20439, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/20439
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. 9369.
???Ferrua, A., Epigramata damasiana (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1942), 136-137, no. 19.
Ihm, M., Damasi epigrammata (Anthologiae Latinae Supplementa 1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1895), comments to no. 19 (p. 27).
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 1 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1864), 293.
Further reading:
Reekmans, L., La tombe du pape Cornelie et sa région cémétériale (Roma sotterranea cristiana 4, Città del Vaticano: , 1964).
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 1 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1864), 291-293, Tav. II and IV.
Trout, D., Damasus of Rome: The Epigraphic Poetry. Introduction, Texts, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: OUP, 2015), 120.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
21/01/2018
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00172 | Cornelius, bishop and martyr of Rome, and companion martyrs | Uncertain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04649 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04649