Latin inscription recording the purchase of a tomb (locus?) sited ‘ad martyres.’ Found in one of the crypts at the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia, Rome. Probably second half of the 4th c.
Evidence ID
E04727
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
ego Eu[- - - locum (?) e]mi ad mart[yres]
cum [- - -]
perhaps cum [uxore mea ab illo] Ferrua
'I, Eu[- - -] bought [this tomb (locus ?)] next to the martyrs, together with [- - -].'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9786.
Cult PlacesWomen
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Places Named after SaintOther
Non Liturgical ActivityBurial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Two non-conjoining fragments of a marble plaque. Preserved dimensions: left-hand fragment H. 0.15 m; W. 0.30 m; Th. 0.045 m; right-hand fragment H. 0.10 m; W. 0.22 m. Letter height 0.022 m.First recorded and assembled only by Antonio Ferrua, in cubiculum Ee in the lower part of the Cemetery of Callixtus. First published by Ferrua in 1964.
Discussion
The inscription records the purchase of a tomb probably by a man and his wife. The expression 'ad martyres' refers apparently to the tomb, which suggests that its owner considered it to have been sited ‘next to the martyrs', in the cemetery famous for tombs of martyrs and popes. This may be a mere mention of the popular name of the cemetery, but may also be an allusion to a burial ad sanctos, a statement that the married couple wanted to be buried ‘ad martyres'.Dating: Antonio Felle (in EDB) dates the inscription to the second half of the 4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB21195, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/21195
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. 9786.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
26/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | martyres | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04727 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04727