Scarcely legible Latin and Greek graffiti with invocations of Xystus/Sixtus II (bishop and martyr of Rome, S00201), and probably other deceased popes. On a wall at the entrance to the 'crypt of the popes,' Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia, Rome. Probably second half of the 4th - first half of the 5th c.
E04662
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
Sux[ste (?) - - - - - -] roge
Λέωνος
...otia pe[t]ite Κάτ[ελλος (?) - - -]
... et pro parente
f]ratribus eius.....
v]iban sun bono
Ursacia ... TIN ...
Ἑλάφιν dulc
εἰς μνίαν Πολυνείκ[ης]
Ἀχιλλεὺς ἔχεται
ζή<σ>αις ὁρκίζ[ο]υ Διονύσιν
διὰ τὸν (christogram) εἰς μνίαν ἔχεται LS Agnes
Ἐλπιδηφ(όρος)
AM Suggessum Marcia
du]lc[is
anim[a
.. anum matri
'O Xystus, [- - -] ask for [- - -], and intercede [- - -] and on behalf of the the parent [- - -] his brothers [- - -] may they live in prosperity!'
'Of Leon, of Katellis (?)'
'Ursacia [- - -] sweet [- - -]'
'Polynikes.'
'Achilleus, may you live [- - -]'
'Keep in memory Elaphios, I beg you through Christ! Elpidephoros.
'Keep in memory Dionysios!'
'Agnes'
'Marcia'
'Suggessus'
'sweet'
'soul'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9523.
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 ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Visiting graves and shrines
Pilgrimage
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Women
Source
Graffiti in cursive script. Scratched in the plaster, on a wall at the entrance to the 'crypt of the popes'.First recorded by Giovanni Battista de Rossi and published by him in 1854, 1864, and 1867. Revisited and published again in 1964 by Antontio Ferrua.
Discussion
The inscriptions are scarcely legible, they, however, show the variety of supplicants who visited the 'crypt of the popes,' and the diversity of prayers addressed to the saints. Here pope Xystus/Sixtus II (257-258), martyr under the emperor Valerian, is mainly invoked, but as some invocations are formulated in the plural, we can presume that the intercession of other popes buried in the crypt was also desired by the visitors.Interestingly, the Greek invocations εἰς μνείαν ἔχετε closely resemble the Latin ones, 'habete in mente', whilst in the East the dominant formula was a simple request for help, βοήθει.
Dating: Antonio Felle (EDB) places the inscriptions in the second half of the 4th or first half of the 5th c. He gives no arguments, but probably supposes that our anonymous visitors must have venerated the popes buried in the crypt after its refurbishment by pope Damasus in the mid-4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB19167, 18401, 18715, 18716, 18717, 18717.
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. 9523.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma cotterranea cristiana, vol. 1 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1864), 253, and vol. 2 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1867), 18, 381, and Tav. XXIX.
Civiltà cattolica, vol. 3 (1854), 125.
Paweł Nowakowski
24/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00201 | Xystus/Sixtus II, bishop and martyr of Rome | Suxtus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04662 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04662