Fragmentary Latin inscription, possibly recording the purchase of a tomb from a presbyter of the titulus of *Balbina (virgin and martyr of Rome, S01849). Found on the surface, near the Cemetery of Callixtus, via Appia, Rome. Probably 5th c.
Evidence ID
E04744
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
Ferrua's edition:
[locus Crescen]tionis [quem emit]
[a - - - presb. t̅]t̅ s̅(an)c̅(t)e̅ Ba[lbinae]
2. presb. t̅]t̅ = presb(ytero) t(i)t(uli) Ferrua following de Rossi
'[Tomb (locus) of] Crescentio [which he bought from - - -, presbyter] of the titulus of saint Balbina.'
Text: ICVR, n.s., IV, no. 11502.
Pierno's edition:
[locus Crescen]tionis [quem emit]
[a --- presbi]t̅(eris) s̅(an)c̅(t)e̅ Ba[lbinae]
'[Tomb (locus) of] Crescentio [which he bought from - - -], the presbyters of saint Balbina.'
Text: EDB40216.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - unspecified
Places Named after SaintOther
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Fragment of a marble plaque. There is no published description.Found by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1844, in a vineyard near the Cemetery of Callixtus. In 1877 de Rossi published line 2. The entire text was published by Antonio Ferrua in 1964, from de Rossi's papers, as he did not revisit the stone. Now probably lost.
The text is also presented in the Epigraphic Database Bari by Marida Pierno. Her readings of the preserved letters are essentially the same (presumably based on the earlier editions), but she offers a different completion of line 2.
Discussion
The text, as published by Ferrua is interpreted as a record of the purchase of a tomb. This is based solely on the presence of a damaged name in line 1, and a reference to an institution named after a saint in line 2. As this configuration fits the structure of epitaphs recording purchases of tombs from grave diggers (fossores, see E04646), one can argue for such an interpretation of the text. Other restorations, however, are even more plausible. For example, this could be an ordinary epitaph with an extensive ecclesiastical titulature of the deceased (an acolyte?), perhaps similar to that which we present in E04799 (titulus of Saint Anastasia); cf. also E04745.It was Giovanni Battista de Rossi who briefly suggested that line 2 might contain a reference to a priest of the titulus of saint Balbina, and this was happily accepted by Antonio Ferrua.
Marida Pierno, however, suggests that we may have here mention of (a body?) of 'presbyters of saint Balbina', who sold the tomb, with no reference to the term titulus. Nonetheless, in our opinion the presumed reference to the titulus of saint Balbina is an attractive restoration. Epitaphs with references to tituli of different saints are well attested in the Cemetery of Callixtus (EXXXXX), and it may be that the same designation was also used in the present epitaph.
Dating: Marida Pierno (in EDB) dates the inscription to the 5th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB40216, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/40216
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. 11502.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 3 (Rome: Cromo-litografia pontificia, 1877), 515.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowski
Date of Entry
29/01/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01849 | Balbina, virgin and martyr of Rome | Balbina | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E04744 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04744