Visitor graffiti from the cemetery Ad Sanctos Marcellinum et Petrum /inter duas lauros, via Labicana, Rome, invoking the eponyms of the cemetery, *Marcellinus and Petrus (martyrs of Rome, S00577). Executed on a wall in a passage close to the crypt/chapel where the two saints were probably venerated. Probably late 4th – 5th c.
E05251
Inscriptions - Graffiti
Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)
1) A group of graffiti executed by different hands with a stylus on a plastered wall in area X 14, next to the entrance of a crypt converted to a chapel where the two saints were probably venerated. Letter height 1.2 - 4 cm.
Priscianu[- - -
[Marcelline et] Petre in [mente habete (?) - - -
Comius
- - -]a tua[- - -
pater fecimus
- - - N]abor[e - - -
'Priscian[- - - O Marcellinus and] Petrus [keep (?)] in [mind - - -] father, we made [- - -] O Nabor (?) [- - -]'
Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 15961 = EDB10904-10905, EDB7165-7167.
2) Graffito executed with a stylus on the same plastered wall in area X 14. Letter height 3.3 cm. Regular, careful script.
Marcelline,
Petre, petite
[p]ro Gallicanu
cristianu
3. ROGALL... Marucchi || 4. cristianu Carletti, [c]hristiano Ferrua
'O Marcelinus and Petrus, intercede on behalf of Gallicanus, the Christian!'
Text: EDB7171 = Carletti 2002, fig. 4 (an improved reading by C. Carletti); cf. ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 15963.
3) A group of graffiti executed by different hands with a stylus on the same plastered wall in area X 14, below the graffito from point 2 and above the group of graffiti we describe in point 1. Some of the texts overlap. Letter height 1.2 - 5.5 cm. The following texts were read by Carlo Carletti (in EDB) from a drawing by Antonio Ferrua:
A: [- - -] | [- - -] | [- - - Vi]ctor [- - -]
B: Maxim|e
C: ⳩ [a]eternae ⳩ aucann
D: Liberali
E: [B]onifatius Maxi[mus] | in nomene Chr(isti) / 'Bonifatius Maximus, in the name of Christ'
F: [- - -] ve[stru] alumnu | Priscianu / '[- - -] your alumnus Priscianus!
G: [Primiti(?)]va ⳩ in <n>ome[ne] Chr(isti) / 'Primitiva, in the name of Christ'
[vi]va in bo(no) Marucchi
H: [V]ernaclus
Text: ICVR, n.s., VI, no. 15964 (drawing) = EDB7172, EDB7460-7465, EDB5451.
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
Pilgrimage
Visiting graves and shrines
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
We present here a selection of texts. More visitor graffiti, in Latin, Greek and runic script, from this and nearby sectors of the catacombs, are published in subsequent entries of the ICVR, but they contain no explicit references to saints.The graffiti from point 1 were first published by Antonio Ferrua in 1975.
The graffiti from point 2 and 3 were first published by Orazio Marucchi in 1898. They were later reexamined and reedited by Antonio Ferrua in 1975. A slightly different reading, and a drawing of the graffito from point 2, are now offered by Carlo Carletti (2002, 2008 and EDB).
Discussion
The graffiti invoke Marcellinus and Petrus, two martyrs of Rome, probably under the Tetrarchs. Marcellinus was a presbyter (priest) and Petrus an exorcist. Their Martyrdom (see E02500 and Lapidge 2018, chapter XXIII) places their burial on the via Labicana, in the cemetery inter duas lauros which was later renamed after the two saints. Region/sector X of the cemetery, where our graffiti were found, houses a crypt (G5) identified as their tomb. The cemetery was marked by Constantine with the construction of a large 'circus-shaped' basilica, named after Marcellinus and Petrus. He also interred his mother, Helena, in a mausoleum annexed to the basilica.In the mid-4th c. the crypt of Marcellinus and Petrus was remodelled by Pope Damasus, as commemorated by a verse inscription, now lost, but preserved through manuscript copies (see 07172). Further significant building works were commissioned by Pope Honorius I (625-638, E00405) and Pope Hadrian I (772-795). This burial complex features in all three of the 7th c. pilgrim itineraries (E00680, E06994 and E07890, which also enumerate other martyrs from this cemetery venerated together with Marcellinus and Petrus. A feast of Marcellinus and Petrus is recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on 2 June (E04833). For a painting showing the two saints, found in our cemetery, see E05246.
Although a small fraction of all the graffiti scratched on this wall mention the names of Petrus and Marcellinus, we can presume that all the visitors whose name we find there, were actually interested in ensuring that the two martyrs would intercede on their behalf. A graffito from the group we discuss in point 1 very likely preserves a habitual request for remembrance addressed to Marcellinus and Petrus (in mente habete). An explicit request for their intercession (petite pro...) is clearly legible in the graffito in point 2. Finally, a graffito from point 3 may contain a reference to a person linked to an institution dedicated to the two martyrs, just possibly their titulus-church in Rome (see EXXXXX), as it mentions 'your alumnus'/vester alumnus).
Dating: Carlo Carletti (in EDB) dates these graffiti to the late 4th or early 5th c. The site was, however, frequented by pilgrims up to the medieval period, and many of the texts published by Ferrua are much later in date.
Bibliography
1) Edition:Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB10904-10905, EDB7165-7167.
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 15961.
2) Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, no. EDB7171.
Carletti, C., Epigrafia dei cristiani in Occidente dal III al VII secolo. Ideologia e prassi (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008), no. 181.
Carletti, C., "Scrivere i santi: epigrafia del pellegrinaggio a Roma nei secoli VIII-IX", in: Roma fra oriente e occidente, in Roma fra Oriente e Occidente. XLIX Settimana del Centro Internazionale di Studio sull'Alto Medioevo (Spoleto: , 2002), 323-360, fig. 4.
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 15963 (with further bibliography).
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1: Religionsgeschichtle und epigraphische Untersuchungen (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), no. 2334.
Marucchi, O., Le catacombe romane (Rome: Desclée, Lefebvre E.C., 1905, 2nd ed.), 267.
Marucchi, O., Epigrafia cristiana. Trattato elementare con una silloge di antiche iscrizioni cristiane principalmente di Roma (Milan: U. Hoepli, 1910), 433, no. 462.
Marucchi, O., "La cripta storica dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino recentemente scoperta sulla via labicana", Nuovo bullettino di archeologia cristiana 4 (1898), 162, Tav. XIII.
3) Edition:
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB7172, EDB7460-7465, EDB5451
De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 6: Coemeteria viis Latina, Labicana et Praenestina (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1975), no. 15964.
Marucchi, O., "La cripta storica dei SS. Pietro e Marcellino recentemente scoperta sulla via labicana", Nuovo bullettino di archeologia cristiana 4 (1898), 162, Tav. XIII.
Further reading:
For the Martyrdom of Marcellinus and Petrus, see Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs. Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford: OUP, 2018), chapter XXIII.
Images
)
Graffiti from the wall. Graffito 2 is visible in the middle right-hand part of the photograph. From: Marucchi 1898, Tav. XIII.
)
A new drawing of Graffito 2. From: Carletti 2008, 281.
)
Graffiti from point 3. From: Marucchi 1898, 162.
)
Plan of this sector of the catacombs with the location of our graffiti marked by number 1. From: Marucchi 1905, 268.
)
Graffito 2. Photo: Bryan Ward-Perkins, March 2025
Paweł Nowakowski
23/03/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00577 | Marcellinus and Petrus, priest and exorcist, martyrs of Rome, buried on the via Labicana | Petrus, Marcellinus | Certain |
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Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E05251 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05251