Evidence ID
E05109
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions
[Petre] Paule
[beati] martures
[comm]ando bovis
3. commando bovis read commendo vobis
'[O Peter] (and) Paul,
[the blessed] martyrs,
[I entrust] (myself) to you...'
Text: ICVR, n.s., V, no. 13600 = EDB2300.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityBurial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - independent (church)
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
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOther lay individuals/ people
Source
Right-hand fragment of the lid of a sarcophagus. Preserved dimensions: H. 0.14 m; W. 0.58 m; Th. 0.09 m. Letter height 0.025 m. Decorated with a carving of a dolphin.The stone was found in 1933 in a wall behind the apse of the baptistery of the church of San Sebastiano/Basilica Apostolorum. Now in the museum of the church. First mentioned with a transcription in 1933 by Enrico Josi in the appendix to the posthumous collection of the works of Orazio Marucchi. First published with images by Paul Styger (1935) and Josef Wilpert (1936). In 1948 reedited by Giulio Belvederi, and, notably, by Antonio Ferrua in 1971. Two high-quality digital photographs are now offered in the Epigraphic Database Bari.
Discussion
The inscription invokes Peter and Paul on behalf of the deceased. Interestingly, the two saints are here named just as martyrs, although the epithet 'apostle' was considered much more prestigious by the ancient Christians. The epitaph may also conceal a message that the deceased was intentionally buried ad sanctos, at the Basilica Apostolorum, as it says that he 'entrusts' himself to Peter and Paul. Similar invocations are recorded in the graffiti from the 3rd c. Memoria Apostolorum below the church of San Sebastiano (the famous triclia, E05087), see Felle 2012, 493, note 114.Dating: Antonio Ferrua noted that the style of the sarcophagus bearing the inscription resembles that of several others found in different cemeteries on the Via Appia, and that they probably come from the same period. Carlo Carletti in the EDB dates the inscription to the 4th c.
Bibliography
Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB2300, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/2300
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 5: Coemeteria reliqua Viae Appiae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1971), no. 13600.
Belvederi, G., Le tombe apostoliche nell'età paleocristiana (Città del Vaticano: Societa "Amici delle catacombe", 1948), 242 and fig. 48.
Wilpert, J., I sarcofagi cristiani antichi, vol. 3 (Roma: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1936), 2, Tav. 278, n. 1.
Styger, P., Römische Märtyrergrüfte (Berlin: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, 1935), 32 and Tab. 14b.
Marucchi, O., Josi, E., Le catacombe romane. Opera postuma (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1933), 685.
Further reading:
Felle, A.E., "Alle origini del fenomeno devozionale cristiano in Occidente: le inscriptiones parietariae ad memoriam apostolorum", in: P. De Santis, A. Coscarella (ed.), Martiri, santi, patroni: per una archeologia della devozione. Atti del X Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Cristiana (Arcavacata di Rende (Cosenza), 15-18 settembre 2010) (Cosenza: Università della Calabria, 2012), 493, note 114.
Record Created By
Paweł Nowakowsko
Date of Entry
20/02/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowsko, Cult of Saints, E05109 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05109