Latin epitaph recording a burial near a saint whose name is lost. Found in the lower part of the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia, Rome. Probably second half of the 4th c.
Evidence ID
E04734
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
[B]asileus e[t - - -]
feceru[nt sibi locum]
ad dom[inum - - -]
et filia[e quae vixit - - -]
mesis [- - -]
ma[- - -]
1. Basileus de Rossi, [B]asileus Ferrua || possibly ad dom[inos de Rossi
'Basilues and [- - -] made [for themselves this tomb (locus)] next to the lord [- - -], and to (his/their) daughter [who lived - - -] months [- - -].'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 9698 = EDB20228.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Non Liturgical ActivityWomen
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 ActivityBurial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Children
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Left-hand fragment of a marble plaque, broken into three conjoining parts. H. 0.34 m; W. 0.34 m; Th. 0.022 m. Letter height 0.033 m. The upper and left-hand margins are preserved. Decorated with a carving of a dove and a palm branch.First recorded by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in staircase LI at the Cemetery of Callixtus. Now in area L, near the crypt of Saint Cornelius. The fragment from the left-hand corner, visible in de Rossi's drawings, was lost when Antonio Ferrua revisited the stone. Republished by Ferrua in 1964. Included in the collection of Roman inscription referring to the cult of saints by Paola de Santis (2010).
Discussion
The inscription records a burial close the tomb of a saint whose name is lost. For a similar, better preserved epitaph, see E04729 (a woman buried ad domnum Gaium, i.e. *Gaius, pope and martyr of Rome, S00145). In our case, we are unable to identify the saint or martyr mentioned in the epitaph. De Rossi rightly noted that a group of martyrs could also be referred to, as line 3 can be alternatively restored ad dom[inos - - -]/'next to lords/masters'. It is also not clear whether the expression ad dominum/ad dominos was understood by the author of the epitaph as a reference to a burial ad sanctos, or was a topographical description of the location of the tomb.Dating: Antonio Felle dates the inscription to the second half of the 4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB20228, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/20228
De Santis, P., Sanctorum monumenta. 'Aree sacre' del suburbio di Roma nella documentazione epigrafica (IV-VII secolo) (Bari: Edipuglia, 2010), 213, no. 63.
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. 9698.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), comments to no. 2132.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 3 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1877), 224, and Tav. XXXI.
de Rossi, G.B., "Roma: Scavi nel cimitero di Callisto", Bullettino di archeologia cristiana (1875), 136.
?Giornale degli scavi I, p. 149, n. 6.
Images
)
From: De Rossi 1877, Tav. XXXI.
)
From: De Rossi 1875, 136.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
27/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain | S01744 | Saints, name lost or very partially preserved | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04734 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04734